Robert Sturges

Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Grice Sturges KBE, CB, DSO (1891–1970) was an officer in the Royal Marines.

Military career
Sturges joined the Royal Navy in 1908. Commissioned a sub-lieutenant on 15 May 1912, he transferred to the Royal Marines as a lieutenant from the same date (confirmed on 19 December 1914) He served in World War I, seeing action in the Gallipoli Campaign and the Battle of Jutland, receiving promotion to captain on 30 January 1917. He was officially transferred to the Royal Marine Light Infantry on 30 January 1917.

Between the wars, he was promoted to major on 17 June 1929 and to lieutenant-colonel on 1 April 1936. He was brevetted colonel and promoted to colonel on 3 April 1939 (seniority 31 December 1938).

During World War II he was the commander of the British occupation of Iceland in May 1940. He was promoted to acting colonel commandant and temporary brigadier on 4 June and was mentioned in despatches in July. He was Commander of the British occupation of Madagascar in 1942. He went on to be Commander of the Special Service Group (Commandos) in 1943. He was described as "intrepid in action, ruddy in countenance, and forcefully bucolic in language". He retired in 1946.