George Burns (British Army officer)

Major-General Sir Walter Arthur George Burns GCVO, CB, DSO, OBE, KStJ, MC (January 1911 – 5 May 1997) was a British Army officer and native of Hertfordshire.

Military career
Burns was born in January 1911 and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He obtained a commission in the Coldstream Guards in 1932, and served as aide-de-camp to the Viceroy of India, the Marquess of Linlithgow from 1938 to 1940.

He then held several staff posts during World War II: Adjutant 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards 1940 to 1941 (in which service he received the Military Cross), Brigade Major 9th Infantry Brigade 1941 to 1942, Support Group Guards Armoured Division 1942 and 32nd Guards Brigade 1942 to 1943.

After the end of World War II, Burns commanded the third battalion of the Coldstream Guards in Palestine from 1947 until 1950. He then served as Assistant Adjutant General at the London District Headquarters 1951 to 1952, as lieutenant colonel of the Coldstream 1952 to 1955, as commander of the 4th Guards Brigade 1955 to 1959, and as Major-General commanding the Household Brigade and General Officer Commanding London District from 1959 to 1962. In 1962, he was made a KCVO and received the colonelcy of the Coldstream, which he held until 1994. The previous year, he had been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire and served in that office for the next 25 years.

In 1972, he was appointed a Knight of the Venerable Order of St John and received the GCVO on 31 December 1990.

Burns was a patron of cricket, serving as President of the North Mymms Cricket Club from 1931 until his death. He lived at North Mymms Park.