Talk:David Richards, Baron Richards of Herstmonceux

Fair use rationale for Image:Icelandic troops.jpg
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BetacommandBot 07:54, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Sierra Leone Civil War
Was he also in command of Operation Barras or any other operation (not just in Sierra Leone) ? --Cyrus Grisham (talk) 15:48, 15 May 2010 (UTC)
 * This article might be of interest: The brigadier who saved Sierra Leone Dormskirk (talk) 23:07, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Exploits as a 2nd Lt
I've removed from the introduction the statement that Richards served in three different theatres before his promotion to Lieutenant. This appears to be based on the first sentence under 'Army Career', which summarises part of his career just before giving his first promotion date. Unfortunately it's not obvious how much of his career this is summarising, so I haven't tried to sort this section out. (For instance is the "service in Germany" different to his being Chief of Staff in Berlin, mentioned later?) Can someone else help? Antrim Kate (talk) 15:33, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

"Styles and honours" section
Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Military_history/Archive_104 is just one of many archived discussions about sections like these, each resulting in a broad consensus that they are not useful. The main arguments that apply to this article are:
 * They are duplicative of the article body
 * They are unsourced, original research, or just plain guesswork
 * They provide little to no encyclopaedic value, and are little more than trivia
 * The images are just clutter, and they look unsightly when forced into tables to look like medal bars
 * Notable awards will be included in the prose and the infobox
 * Awards which come with post-nominal letters and haven't been superseded by higher honours are in the very first sentence

I should also point out that there are three featured articles on British generals: Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay, Mike Jackson, and Richard Dannatt, Baron Dannatt, none of which contain a section like this. So far, my removal of this section has been reverted twice, but neither reverter has explained why they believe it to be worthy of inclusion. HJ Mitchell &#124;  Penny for your thoughts?  04:43, 24 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I don't know who the first reverter is but I (the second) do agree with (the first). Also I did give "some sort of reason" - 'I fail to see any consensus let alone mention of it, however i now refer to debate' The type of Styles layout (you removed) is also used on members of the royal family for example. I therefore I oppose your opinion of this matter. Nford24 (talk) 00:25, 26 January 2012 (AEST)


 * Yes, showing medal ribbons is duplicative of the prose sections, but so are the Infobox and the Introduction, and, in the same way, ribbons are a good summary of the subject's career. Unsourced? It took less than 10 seconds to find a photograph of Richards wearing precisely the ribbons that were previously depicted in the article. Trivia? I think not - any medal awarded by the Crown is hard-won recognition of service to one's country, and a visual record that we should be displaying, and explaining to readers. Clutter? No. Unsightly? No. Featured articles that don't contain a section like this? Not a reason not to do it - this could improve them. I also agree with Nford24, that there was certainly no consensus in favour of deletion in the discussion you referred to, and was particularly convinced by the arguments that a visual display such as this will draw people to the article, and that this could be exactly the type of information that people come here to obtain. Antrim Kate (talk) 18:59, 26 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Thankyou Antrim Kate for you support and opinion. HJ Mitchell - your removal of this type of section from 3 other pages (of which I have reverted) was in bad taste, if the section was really disliked by so many then the wiki org should do a blanked ban on them but until that happens I believe they are important, having a select number of honours splatted throughout an article is a poorly written article in my opinion. Nford24 (talk) 22:14, 27 January 2012 (AEST)
 * Your accusation of bad faith is misplaced, and itself in bad taste. As to the rest, I have referred it for discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history, where we can get broader input. HJ Mitchell  &#124;  Penny for your thoughts?  13:15, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

New infobox
I've started a discussion on WT:MILHIST regarding this. Antrim Kate (talk) 11:07, 30 June 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070610183336/http://www.army.mod.uk/servingsoldier/senior_appts/announcements.htm to http://www.army.mod.uk/servingsoldier/senior_appts/announcements.htm

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March 4 2019 Edit
Addition of The Order of the Rokel to the categories section. Only a small number of non-Sierra Leoneans have received this honour. The gratitude it expresses is a testament to the success of the British intervention in Sierra Leone. Hawanatu (talk) 15:40, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

Overseas Awards
The following titles are currently missing from Lord Richards' page:


 * Special Honour Award - Gambia (2000)
 * ISAF Medal - NATO (2006)
 * Meritorious Service Medal - NATO (2007)
 * Distinguished Service Medal - Afghanistan (2007)
 * Member 1st Class Meriti Militar - Italy (2007)
 * Commander of the Legion of Merit - USA (2013)
 * Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Polar Star - Sweden (2013)
 * Commander of the Og Gud Kon - Denmark (2013)

Amelia Powell (talk) 17:01, 27 April 2021 (UTC) (Executive Assistant to Lord Richards)
 * These awards could be added to the page as long as a suitable citation was added for each award. See the article Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke for how this can be done. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 09:53, 25 May 2021 (UTC)