Richard Foster Carter Foster

General Sir Richard Foster Carter Foster, (27 January 1879 – 3 April 1965) was a Royal Marines officer who served as Adjutant-General Royal Marines and later as colonel of the East Surrey Regiment.

Biography Born on 27 January 1879, Foster grew up and was educated at Stubbington House School, a boys' preparatory school near Fareham in Hampshire, where his grandfather and father, and later his brother, served as headmaster. The school specialised in preparing pupils for armed forces officer entrance examinations, particularly for the Royal Navy.

Foster was commissioned into the Royal Marine Artillery in September 1897. In the next few years he held a number posts, including adjutant of the Royal Carmarthen Artillery (Militia) from 1905 to 1908. He attended the army Staff College, Camberley, from 1912 to 1913. serving as assistant adjutant and quartermaster general, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division until August 1918 and then assistant quartermaster general, 10th Army Corps until February 1919. an officer of the Belgian Order of Leopold with the Croix de Guerre in October 1919 and was four times mentioned in despatches. Foster was appointed Adjutant-General Royal Marines in October 1933, at the time the highest appointment within the Royal Marines, taking over from Richard Ford. He retired from the Royal Marines in October 1936, and elevated to Knight Commander of the Order in 1935.

Foster was colonel of the East Surrey Regiment from March 1939 to 1946. The 31st Foot, which became part of the East Surrey Regiment in 1881, had been first raised as a regiment of marines and Foster did much to develop the ties between the Royal Marines and the East Surreys. He was also honorary colonel commandant of the Chatham Division of the Royal Marines from 1941 to 1949.