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Major I W Kelly
Late The Life Guards
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Ian Kelly, who died on 21st March 2024 aged 76, joined The Life Guards as a trooper and retired as a major in 1997. During a highly successful career, he excelled in all the disciplines for which the Household Cavalry is known, both military and equestrian. A man of charisma, humour, kindness, and energy, he was one of the most talented of his generation. To quote his former Squadron Leader and Commanding Officer, James Ellery, Ian was always ‘immaculate, whether on parade or on operations, and was a great role model’.
Ian’s mischievous sense of humour was legendary. His contemporary, Chris Slater, recalls his audacious ‘April Fool’s Day’ spoof at Knightsbridge that landed him in considerable trouble. On 1st April in the mid-1970s, just before 10am, Corporal of Horse Kelly informed the Orderly Officer that he had just received a telephone call from the Adjutant to say the Queen’s Life Guard had to be at Horse Guards by 10.30, not 11.00. The Orderly Officer ran to the square, hurriedly inspected the QLG, and set them on their way to Horse Guards. In the meantime, Ian’s cry of ‘April Fool’ was drowned by laughter in the squadron office which only ended as the sound of horses was heard. The QLG was now on the move and could not be stopped, despite Ian chasing them down the South Carriage Drive shouting at the Guard Commander, (a Corporal of Horse), to slow down and lose time. Despite Ian’s attempts, the oncoming QLG arrived 15 minutes early, watched curiously and with some irritation from his office window, by the Major General, Jim Eyre. Ian was soon in front of the Commanding Officer, Trevor Morris, who had some difficulty keeping a straight face as he handed out the extra duties. ‘The Household Cavalry have been mounting guard at 1100hrs for the last 250 years’ he said ‘so it’s not your place to instigate a change’.
Ian Kelly joined The Life Guards in 1966, serving in the newly formed A Squadron on a regimental tour in the Far East, with squadrons deployed to Borneo, Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The Regiment returned to Windsor in 1968, and in 1969 Ian married Lynne following a whirlwind romance. They were two strong and dedicated people who made an excellent team. Lynne’s support to Ian and commitment to the Regiment was unfailing. An early test of their marriage was that three weeks after their wedding, Ian departed on a 9-month unaccompanied tour in Sharjah. It was a long and happy marriage which continued for a further 55 years and produced two sons, Jamie and Andrew, who have both pursued highly successful careers, a tribute in all respects to their parents.
By the early 1970s, the Regiment was converting from the armoured reconnaissance to the armoured role prior to a move to BAOR and Detmold in the autumn of 1971. With only a brief period to settle into armoured soldiering, The Life Guards were now warned for a 4-month emergency Northern Ireland tour the following year. It was during the work-up training to this deployment that Ian had a serious car accident, breaking his right leg and damaging his femur. He was in hospital for some time, and so remained in Germany with the rear party. In 1973 and having fully recovered from his injuries, he was sent to BATUS in Canada for six months as part of the Gunnery Safety Staff.
His next move was to Knightsbridge, a posting he initially resisted but one that he embraced with characteristic style and determination. During his time on mounted duty he did much more than become merely a ceremonial horseman. He attended the Long Equitation Course at Melton Mowbray, joined the Riding Staff (‘The Blue Mafia’), and became a skilled equestrian, both on parade, as a competitor in events, and later in the hunting field with the Weser Vale.
Back in Germany in the early 1980s, Ian became the Squadron Corporal Major of the newly formed D Squadron prior to a Northern Ireland tour at the Maze Prison. As James Ellery, the Squadron Leader, remembers, some called the Squadron the ‘Depot Squadron’ because the average age was below 20 and only a small number of its 140 members were married. Ian demanded high standards, and when, on a parade, his eagle-eye spotted a well-turned-out trooper with a pierced ear, his sharp Scottish voice left no one in doubt. ‘If ever I see you wearing an earring, I will rip it out’, a phrase that still makes James Ellery wince all these years later!
The stakes during the Northern Ireland tour were high, and particularly so for D Squadron, charged with ‘keeping a few hundred IRA and other terrorists secure in the Maze Prison and in the infamous H-Blocks’. Under a previous regime, the inmates had broken out and burnt down part of the prison, and Ian was key to making sure that this would not happen under D Squadron’s watch. He quickly set about convincing the prisoners that they were safer in prison than out! It worked: the next escape attempt was long after The Life Guards had left!
When the time came for promotion to Warrant Officer Class One, Ian Kelly proved to be equally qualified to become the Regimental Corporal Major of either The Life Guards or the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, such was his proven ability in both roles. In the event, it was The Life Guards who benefited from Ian’s high standards on the parade ground and in the field. Throughout his career, and in all his appointments, Ian was always a patient tutor and mentor to everyone, regardless of rank.
Ian Kelly was commissioned in 1987 while the Regiment was in Windsor, serving as Technical Quartermaster and later, in Sennelager, as Quartermaster, and finally as Quartermaster and HQ Squadron Leader at Knightsbridge. In retirement from the Army, he was the Deputy to the Crown Equerry at the Royal Mews, and later worked for the International League for the Protection of Horses, now known as World Horse Welfare.
James Ellery recalls Ian’s time as Quartermaster in Germany ‘during an unsettling time in the run-up to the somewhat incoherent deployment to the Middle East’. He was ‘of incalculable value as an advisor to me for the 1st Gulf War where the Regiment won a battle honour. Ian Kelly will remain an example to all’. A perfect epitaph for one of the most distinguished members of The Life Guards in more than a generation. He will be remembered by all as a professional soldier of the highest standards, and also a man of great warmth, humour, kindness, character, and generosity.
With thanks to James Ellery and Christopher Slater
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