Peter Sturges was a distinguished Fourth Hussar and Irish Hussar for eighteen years before taking early retirement in 1970.
During his time he became an expert Squadron Leader and indeed he was selected several times as a stand-in Leader; over the troublesome time of amalgamation to which he contributed a certain steadfastness and a quiet resolve; teaching many of the young officers to maintain the high standards of both Regiments.
He was Adjutant to Colonel Tim Pierson overseeing the new Regiments first move overseas to Aden in 1961.
Unusually he was unlucky not to be selected for the Staff College although he had passed the entrance exams with flying colours. He then generously spent many hours trying to teach the rest of us how to pass the exams.
A full congregation assembled for his funeral in the leafy Chiltern family village of St Andrews where Peter was to be buried alongside his lovely wife Gill who had sadly died before him; his sadness at this loss marked the last years of his own life, during which he became her devoted carer. His son Hugh gave a moving address at the service in which he described their delightful family life after his retirement from the Regiment.
He became a senior personnel manager in Rank Xerox commuting daily to London. Their army life together had taken them from Catterick in Yorkshire, to Germany, Aden, Malaya, Singapore, then a spell in Germany again and ultimately the Regular Commissions Board in Westbury in Wiltshire from where they left the Army in 1970.
Peter loyally kept up with Regiment because he often travelled to London with the Regimental Secretary David Innes Lumsden and as long as he was fit to travel he attended the Fourth Hussar Dinner. He and Gill gave a magnificent and most generous party for all their friends in Berry Bros before they both became too unwell to travel.
They also had several good horses with Henrietta Knight and Terry Biddlecombe, in a partnership with other owners which Peter managed: thus maintaining and enhancing the racing and cavalry traditions of the Regiment.
