On Tuesday January 18, Her Worship the Mayor Freeman Mrs Raina Chatel JP hosted an afternoon tea at Douglas town hall for His Excellency, the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer KCB DSO MBE and his wife, Lady Philippa Lorimer MBE where they were joined by the Mayoress, Mrs Deirdre Chatel. the Mayor's chaplain the Rev’d Dr Michael Brydon and Members of the Council. 

His Excellency and Lady Lorimer with the Mayor and Mayoress and Council leader Councillor Claire Wells

Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer was educated at Marlborough College, Wiltshire and Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. He joined the British Army in 1981 and was commissioned into the Parachute Regiment a year later. He served in all three regular Parachute Regiment battalions and commanded 3 PARA from 2000 to 2003. His service saw multiple operational deployments in Northern Ireland, Iraq, the broader Middle East and Afghanistan.

At higher command, Lieutenant General Lorimer commanded 12th Mechanized Brigade and 3rd (United Kingdom) Division. He also completed a year-long tour in Kabul as Deputy Commander of the NATO force in Afghanistan. He was Chief of Joint Operations from October 2014 until June 2017, commanding all of the UK Armed Force’s global operations. His final military appointment was as Defence Senior Adviser Middle East and North Africa, a role he held for three years.

Lieutenant General Lorimer is a graduate of the Army Staff College (1994), the Higher Command and Staff Course (2004) and the Royal College of Defence Studies (2008), He served in staff appointments in the MOD, at the Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood and in the USA.

Lieutenant General Lorimer is married to Philippa. They have three grown-up sons. His outside interests include shooting, deer stalking, most sports, skiing, walking and reading.