Cecil Blacker

Educated at Wellington College and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Cecil Blacker was commissioned into the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in 1936.[1] He was adjutant of the regiment during the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940.[2] He later transferred to the 23rd Hussars which then formed part of 11th Armoured Division.[2] He was awarded the Military Cross in 1944 following Operation Goodwood[2] and went on to become Commanding Officer of the 23rd Hussars in 1945.[2]

Blacker commanded the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards from 1955 to 1957. He was then Military Assistant to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Sir Gerald Templer from 1958 to 1960.[2] He was appointed Commander of 39th Infantry Brigade in Northern Ireland in 1962 and was then General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 3rd Division from 1964 to 1966.[2]

He was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command in 1969[1] and then went on to become Vice Chief of the General Staff in 1970[1] before becoming Adjutant General in 1973:[1] he held this post until he retired in 1976.[1] In 1974 his home was badly damaged by an IRA bomb[3]

He was ADC General to the Queen from 1974 to 1976.[1] He was also Colonel of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards from 1972 to 1981.[4]

Blacker was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1967, a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1969 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1975.[1] He was also appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1960.[1]

He lived in Hook Norton near Banbury in Oxfordshire.

Blacker was an Amateur Steeplechaser and International Showjumper. He rode in the 1948 Grand National. He rode Pointsman to win the Grand Military Gold Cup at Cheltenham in 1954.[2] He represented Great Britain in Showjumping from 1959 to 1961.[2] He was President both of the British Showjumping Association from 1976 to 1980 and of the British Equestrian Federation from 1980 to 1984.[1] He was a member of the Horse Race Betting Levy Board from 1980 to 1983.[1]

In 1947 he married Felicity Mary Rew and together they went on to have two sons, writer Terence Blacker and sculptor and former jockey Philip Blacker.[2]