About

Roderick MacArthur is a former British Army Officer who served in Royal Engineers for 30 years, from 1962 to 1992.  His service included postings in Aden, now Yemen (1 year), Germany (11 years), Cyprus (4 years) and Northern Ireland (6 months), plus short trips to Canada, USA, Denmark and France.   He commanded a Bomb Disposal Squadron in UK in 1976-77 and the only Royal Engineer Squadron in Cyprus from 1977-80.   He was Regimental Second in Command of an Amphibious Engineer Regiment in Germany from 1982-84.  During his second tour in Cyprus he was Public Information Officer for the United Nations Force in Cyprus, briefing international journalists and diplomats on the Force’s role and activities.  His final Army appointment was responsible for major capital building projects for half of UK. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Before he left the Army he had qualified as Chartered Secretary (mixture of accountancy and law) then worked at a large secondary school as Head of Finance and Administration from 1992 until he retired in 2005.

Rod gives talks on Military History (PowerPoint presentations) to raise funds for Military Charities.  Details of these talks may be found via the Top Menu of 18th Century Talks, Napoleonic Talks and Modern Talks.

He also has a hobby of wargaming with his massive collection of model soldiers, assembled over 60 years.  Details of that activity can be found on his other website: https://rodwargaming.wordpress.com/

Rod and his wife celebrated their 55th Wedding Anniversary in 2022.  They used to spend 3-4 months per year in their second home in Spain, however they have recently sold that house, which they had owned for 20 years.  During those visits to Spain Rod has visited several Peninsular War battlefields.

For the last seven years he has helped his daughter with her WordPress website by running her business accounts on a Cloud based Xero accounting package, however he has recently handed that over to free up more of his time. He has set up and manages two other WordPress websites, one his own hobby website and one for his Branch of the Aden Veterans Association.

Rod is:

The President of the South East Branch of Aden Veterans Association.
A former Chairman of the Royal Engineer Bomb Disposal Officers Club.
A Past President of the Probus Club of Royal Tunbridge Wells.
A Former President of the Torre del Mar Branch (in Spain) of the Royal British Legion
A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (FCIS)
A Member of the Institution of Royal Engineers (MInstRE)
A Member of The Royal British Legion (Mayfield Branch)
A Member of the Probus Club of Velez-Malaga (Spain)
A Member of the Society for Army Historical Research
A Member of the Royal Engineer Historical Society
A Member of the Friends of the Royal Engineers Museum
A Member of the Bexhill Hanoverian Study Group