Skip to content
You are here: Home | Online directories | Military Galleries | 16. General Sir John Akehurst dress uniform

Record details

Dress uniform

This is the dress uniform of General Sir John Akehurst, KCB, CBE, It includes medals, a sword belt with ceremonial sword and an officers cane.

He had a significant career in the British Army and was one of the most impressive post war military commanders from the Northamptonshire Regiment. Upon his retirement he served as President of The Northamptonshire Regiment Association.

1930-2007
Fabric, natural materials and metal

He was born on 12 February 1930 and educated at Cranbrook School in Kent. He signed on as a regular soldier in 1947 before going to Sandhurst and being commissioned into The Northamptonshire Regiment in 1949. He volunteered for the Malay Regiment in 1952 during the communist insurrection and was mentioned in despatches.

He graduated at the Staff College and various appointments took him to Hong Kong, Germany, Cyprus, Aden, Kenya, Gibraltar and the Far East. In 1974 he took command of the Dhofar Brigade in the Sultan of Oman’s armed forces at the time of the communist backed insurrection. In 1984 he was appointed commander of the United Kingdom Field Army. His final appointment was as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe at NATO Headquarters at Mons from 1987 to 1990.

After retirement he became chairman of the council of Territorial Army and Volunteer Reserve Associations, a member of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and a member of the Council of the Royal United Service Institution. From 1991 to 1997 he was President of The Northamptonshire Regiment Association. 

On display in the Military Galleries at Abington Park Museum