Mark Mackenzie Carnegie-Brown OBE MID

Mark attended RMA Sandhurst from January 1956 to December 1957. He was posted to the Second Battalion in January 1958 as a Platoon Commander in Right Flank, in Chelsea Barracks.

From December 1958  to March 1960  he served in K Coy, Guards Depot, in Caterham. This was followed by being Anti-Tank Pl Comd in 2SG, in Tidworth initially, and then at Wellington Barracks .  

From 1961 until September 1964 he was the Signals Officer in 2SG  in London and then from early 1962, he served for two years with 2SG in Kenya having just got married in London prior to the Battalion’s  move to Kenya.

Mark then served from October 1964 to September 1966 as 1 Troop Commander 1st (Guards) Independent Company The Parachute Regiment based at Pirbright and Windsor. This tour included 6 months active service in Borneo in a Special Forces role operating out of base camp in Brunei.

From September 1966 until December 1968 he returned to 2SG at Chelsea Barracks to sit the Staff College exam.  Then, in early 1967 he moved with the Second Battalion to join 24 Guards Brigade in Germany (based initially in Iserlohn and then in Munster) ending up commanding Left Flank.  His high point there was a memorable large-scale exercise in the Libyan desert ending with each Company carrying out a live-firing Company attack with live fire support from tanks of 14/20 Hussars and Royal Artillery field guns.

After attending the Army Staff College in Camberley in 1969 he became MA to (German) Chief of Staff, HQ Northern Army Group Co-located with HQ BAOR at Rheindahlen.

From 1973 to 1974, Mark commanded the 1st (Guards) Independent Company The Parachute Regiment (the Company was disbanded on the 24 October 1975 under Defence cuts with many of its members volunteering for transfer to ‘G’ Squadron 22 SAS Regiment)

In 1975 he was the Battalion Second in Command back in 2SG, on active service in Belfast followed by a tour in Belize and then a 6 months posting to the US Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk Virginia.

As a Lieutenant Colonel he commanded 1SG, based at Chelsea Barracks from September 1976 to January 1979. 1977 was the Silver Jubilee year and consisted of a New Colours Parade presented by Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace followed by the Queen’s Birthday Parade. He then completed a highly successful tour of active service in Armagh, Northern Ireland in 1978 where he was awarded a Mentioned-in-Despatches.

From February 1979 to  August 1981 he was a DS at Nigerian Army Staff College, and from 1982 to 1984 MA to CINCENT (a German 4-star General), in Allied Forces Central Europe HQ in The Netherlands.

Mark was promoted to Colonel in 1984. He served in the MOD and then in 1985 as Chief of Staff to the Governor of Gibraltar. This was followed by a stint in HQ UKLF based in Wilton and then as Chief of Staff to Major General Christopher Airey in Horse Guards. (He recalls his windows being blown out by an IRA mortar attack on  Number 10 Downing Street  while he was conducting a Heads of Department meeting!)

Retiring  from the Army in September 1991, he spent the next eleven years working in The Mansion House in the City of London, initially as The City Marshal and then for the last 5 years as the Sword Bearer. On retirement from The Mansion House in 2002, he was awarded an OBE for services to the Mayoralty and to The Corporation of London.

Mark sadly died 1 August 2024. His funeral was held at St. Anne's Church, Hessenford.