Major General Sir David Calthrop Thorne, KBE, CVO (13 December 1933 – 23 April 2000) was a British Army officer who commanded the 1st Armoured Division from 1983 to 1985.
[2] He also played minor counties matches for Norfolk from 1954 to 1962, as did his twin brother, Michael (1955–1958), and uncle, Gordon Thorne (1914–1925).
[1] He was appointed commander of the 3rd Infantry Brigade in Northern Ireland during Operation Banner in 1977, in which capacity in 1979 he was the first officer to brief Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on the Warrenpoint ambush.
[1] In that role he gave support to the idea of then-Captain Geoffrey Cardozo to locate, retrieve, and respectfully bury every dead Argentine soldier left after the war ended.
[5] Thorne went on to be General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 1st Armoured Division in 1983 and Director of Infantry in 1986, in which role he secured the rejection of a proposed reform in the Ministry of Defence for the posting of officers which he believed would undermine the British Army's regimental system.