Major General Sir George Arthur French, KCMG (19 June 1841 – 7 July 1921) was an Irish soldier who served as an officer in the British Army, as the first Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police, from October 1873 to July 1876, and as Commandant of the colonial military forces in Queensland (1883–91) and New South Wales (1896–1902) George Arthur French was born at Roscommon, Ireland.

In 1871, at the request of the Canadian government, he was sent to Canada as a military inspector, eventually becoming head of the School of Gunnery at Kingston, Ontario.

French was appointed to organise the North-West Mounted Police on its creation in 1873, and the next year he led the force on its famous March West to suppress the illegal whiskey trade in the wake of the Cypress Hills Massacre.

French resigned in 1876 and returned to duty in the British Army, eventually attaining the rank of major general.

Colonel French retired in 1891, and returned to England, but was back in Australia as commandant in North South Wales from 1896 until 1902.