John MacMillan (British Army officer)


Sir John Richard Alexander MacMillan KCB, CBE is a Scottish officer in the British Army who served as General Officer Commanding Scotland.

Early life and education

MacMillan was born in London to General Sir Gordon MacMillan and Marion Blakiston-Houston. He attended Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Military career

MacMillan was commissioned into the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1953.
He was appointed Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion the Gordon Highlanders in 1971 and Commander of 39th Infantry Brigade, a unit permanently stationed in Northern Ireland, in 1977. He was given the colonelcy of the Gordon Highlanders from 1978 to 1986.
He became General Officer Commanding Eastern District in 1982, Assistant Chief of the General Staff in 1984 and General Officer Commanding Scotland and Governor of Edinburgh Castle in 1988. He retired in 1991.
In 1995, he became Chairman of the Erskine Hospital in Renfrewshire.

Family

In 1964, MacMillan married Belinda Webb, daughter of Lt-Col Richard Henry Lumley Webb. They have one son, Gordon John, and two daughters, Elizabeth Mary and Diana Belinda.