Deputy Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom) explained

Post:	Deputy Chief
Body:	the General Staff
Incumbent:	Lieutenant General David Eastman
Incumbentsince:	June 2024
Department:	Army Headquarters British Army
Member Of:	Army Board
Reports To:	Chief of the General Staff
Nominator:	Secretary of State for Defence
Appointer:	The Monarch
Termlength:	No fixed length
Precursor:	Vice Chief of the General Staff
Formation:	1914, 2015
First:	Sir Henry Merrick Lawson
Abbreviation:	DCGS
Deputy:	Assistant Chief of the General Staff
Insignia:	BritishArmyFlag2.svg

Deputy Chief of the General Staff (DCGS) is the title of the deputy to the Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army. From 1942 until 1968 the Deputy Chief was the third-ranking member of the General Staff, subordinate the Chief and Vice Chief. As of September 2015, the role of Deputy CGS is to be "responsible for representing the Army Top Level Budget (TLB) within Head Office and outwards to relevant TLBs and dependencies, provides oversight of the Army Operating Model and provides overall personnel policy direction as the Principal Personnel Officer (PPO)."^[1]

Subordinate Commands

The commands under DCGS include:^[2]

• Director Reserves
• Director Support
• Director Personnel
• Director Resources - civilian post
• Assistant Chief of the General Staff
• Chaplain-General
• Director Basing and Infrastructure
• Director Army Legal Services
• Director Capability
• Director Information
• Director Engagement and Communications

List of post-holders

Post-holders have been as follows:^[3]

Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff

• Major-General Sir Henry Lawson November 1914 – January 1915
• Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Murray February 1915 – September 1915
• Major-General Sir Launcelot Kiggell November 1915 – December 1915
• Major-General Robert Whigham December 1915 – April 1918
• Major-General Sir Charles Harington 1918–1920
• Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Chetwode, 1920–1922
• Lieutenant-General Sir Ronald Adam 1938–1939
• Major-General Hugh Massy 1939–1940
• Lieutenant-General Sir Ronald Weeks 15 June 1942 – 29 May 1945
• Lieutenant-General Sir Sidney Kirkman 1945–1947
• Lieutenant-General Sir Kenneth Crawford 1947–1949
• Lieutenant-General Sir John Whiteley 1949–1953
• Lieutenant-General Sir Dudley Ward 1953–1956
• Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Hull 1956–1958
• Lieutenant-General Sir Harold Pyman 1958–1961
• Lieutenant-General Sir John Anderson 1961–1963
• Lieutenant-General Sir John Hackett 1963–1966
• General Sir Charles Harington 1966–1968
• Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Freeland April 1968 – December 1968

Deputy Chief of the General Staff

• Lieutenant-General Mark Poffley Spring 2015 – December 2015^{[4] [5] [6]}
• Lieutenant-General Nick Pope 2015–2019^[7]
• Lieutenant-General Christopher Tickell 2019–2022
• Lieutenant-General Dame Sharon Nesmith August 2022–June 2024^[8]
• Lieutenant-General David Eastman June 2024–present^[9]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Land Forces senior, as of September 2015. 5 March 2016.
2. Web site: How Defence Works version 6.0 . . 23 September 2020 . assets.publishing.service.gov.uk . UK Ministry of Defence . 7 November 2020 . page 30.
3. Web site: Army Commands . 12 December 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112744/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201860-.pdf . 4 March 2016 .
4. Web site: Strategic Land Power. RUSI. 17 August 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20151004180356/https://www.rusi.org/downloads/assets/20150622-RUSI_LWC_Programme_PUBLIC.pdf. 4 October 2015.
5. Web site: J.P. Morgan Signs Armed Forces Corporate Covenant . Investor.shareholder.com . 2015-06-25 . 2015-08-17.
6. Web site: DSEI 2015 - East Theatre (Land, Ministerial Keynote, Rising Stars) . Dsei.co.uk . 2015-08-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150829203227/http://www.dsei.co.uk/Content/East-Theatre/18_145/ . 2015-08-29 .
7. Web site: QG Signals bid farewell to its Colonel of the Regt, Maj Gen N A W Pope CBE. Gurkha Brigade Association. 10 December 2015. 12 December 2015.
8. Web site: Major General Sharon Nesmith appointed as the Army’s next Deputy Chief of the General Staff . www.army.mod.uk . 4 April 2022.
9. Web site: Deputy Chief of the General Staff: Lieutenant General David Eastman MBE BEng(Hons) MSc CEng FIMechE . army.mod.uk . British Army . 20 June 2024.