General the Lord Houghton of Richmond GCB CBE DL

General the Lord Houghton of Richmond was born in 1954 in Otley, West Yorkshire. He was educated at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and St Peter’s College, Oxford, where he did an in-service degree in modern history. Commissioned into the Green Howards in 1974, Lord Houghton was both a Company Commander in and Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion in the Mechanised and Air Mobile Roles, and in Northern Ireland. He was later deployed as Senior British Military Representative and Deputy Commanding General, Multi-National Force – Iraq. He then became Chief of Joint Operations at Permanent Joint Headquarters and served as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, before being appointed Chief of the Defence Staff in 2013.

In 2016, Lord Houghton became the 160th Constable of the Tower of London and was elevated to the House of Lords in 2017, where he sits as a Crossbench Peer. He also has a portfolio of directorships and strategic advisory appointments in a number of technology-related companies.