Nicholas Cottam
Major General Nicholas Jeremy Cottam, is a retired senior British Army officer who served as Military Secretary and thereafter Registrar of St Paul's Cathedral.
Early life
Cottam is the son of Brigadier Donald Cottam. He was educated at Durham University, where he gained a degree in Modern History. Cottam was President of the Durham Union for Easter term of 1972.Military career
Cottam was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets in 1973. He became commanding officer of his regiment and was deployed to Northern Ireland in the early 1990s, being appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and mentioned in despatches for his service there. In 1994 he went to South Africa as part of a Commonwealth Peace Keeping Force.Cottam became Director of Personnel Services for the Army in 2001, and went on to be General Officer Commanding 5th Infantry Division in 2003. He became Military Secretary in 2005. In that role he increased the retirement age for officers in the Territorial Army to 60, and carried out a review of the reserves, recommending that they be used for augmentation as much as for maximum effort.