Sharon Nesmith

Nesmith was born in June 1970,^[1] and is from Northumberland.^[2] Her father was an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, and her brother served in the British Army for 16 years.^[2] She studied biological sciences at the University of Edinburgh.^[2] She was sponsored through university by the British Army, having been awarded a university cadetship.^[3]

Nesmith was commissioned in the Women's Royal Army Corps of the British Army as a second lieutenant (on probation) on 4 September 1988 as part of her university cadetship.^[3] Following university and Sandhurst,^[2] she was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals on 11 July 1991, with seniority in that rank from 5 August 1989.^[4][5] She was promoted to lieutenant on 5 August 1991.^[6] She served in the Balkans, Iraq and Latvia.^[2] She was promoted to captain on 1 April 1995,^[7] to major on 30 September 2000,^[8] and to lieutenant colonel on 30 June 2008.^[9] She was promoted to colonel on 30 June 2012.^[10]

In August 2014, Nesmith became the first woman to command a British Army brigade when she was chosen to command the 1st Signal Brigade.^[5] She was promoted to brigadier on 30 June 2015.^[11] Her role was formally announced by Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon in September 2015, almost a year after she started in the role.^[2][12] The brigade consisted of between 1,500^[2] and 5,000 troops.^[5] This was the highest role ever taken by a woman in the British Army.^[5][11]

Nesmith was a Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers from 1 November 2018 to 1 November 2023.^[13][14]

General officer

On 8 March 2019, The Times reported that Nesmith was to be appointed as Director (Personnel) at Army Headquarters and would sit on the Army Board.^[15] She assumed the appointment on 14 March 2019 and was promoted to major general.^[16] On 15 March 2019, she was appointed to the honorary position of Assistant Colonel Commandant of the Adjutant General's Corps;^[17] she relinquished the appointment on 6 November 2019.^[18] On 1 August 2019, she was appointed Colonel Commandant of the Royal Corps of Signals.^[19] She was appointed Master of Signals on 1 October 2020, succeeding Lieutenant General Sir Nick Pope.^[20][21] She became General Officer Commanding of Army Recruiting and Initial Training Command in January 2021.^[22]

Nesmith was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff on 11 August 2022, becoming the first woman to hold lieutenant general rank in the British Army.^{[23][24][25][26]} She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB) in the 2024 New Year Honours, and thereby granted the title dame.^[27]

In May 2024, it was announced that Nesmith would be appointed the next Vice-Chief of Defence Staff in succession to Gwyn Jenkins, and would thus become the first woman to hold the rank of general in the British Army and therefore the highest-ranked female officer in British history.^[28] On 10 June 2024, she took up the appointment, was promoted to general, and was made an aide-de-camp general (ADC Gen) to King Charles III.^[29]

Between 1995 and 2000,^[7][8] Sharon Patricia Moffat married Walker Nesmith, a tree surgeon.^[2][12] She has two sons.^[2]

Nesmith has been a vice-president of the Army Football Association.^[30]