Find a Guide

Explore the world’s most trusted directory of battlefield guides

The guide directory details all those Accredited Members who have chosen to advertise their expertise and services as guides on the Guild website.  Each of these has passed our Accreditation Programme in which they have demonstrated the skills needed for us to say that they are high-quality guides who will give you a great tour.

You can filter by battle/campaign or country and then click on the name of an Accredited Guide to read their biography. Most Accredited Guides have contact details by which you can contact them directly. If not, or if you want to pass a message to them, please contact them via the Guild Secretary  via our Contacts Page.

Many Guides can develop bespoke personalised tours and can research where particular ancestors might have fought or died. If you want to advice on following a particular ancestor and you have not identified a particular Accredited Guide, please contact the Guild Secretary. We guarantee we’ll have somebody that can help you!

Please note, the Guild does not recommend or endorse any of the commercial products or companies of the members listed below. We are not responsible for checking that those listed below have complied with the relevant legislation or regulations in the jurisdictions they are based or guide in. Many are members of ETOA or other local guiding associations and some have a local permit to work with children or vulnerable adults. But it is your responsibility to ensure they meet all the criteria you need for them to work with your group.

Finally, this list shows only our Accredited Guides. Our Ordinary Members are not listed here and if you would like to check whether a particular individual is a member of the Guild, or for any other further help, please contact the Guild Secretary via our Contacts Page.

Some of our Accredited Guides have experience of researching military aspects of family history, and may be able to assist with your genealogical enquiries.  A list of those members is here; if you would like to seek their assistance, contact details can be found by selecting their profile from those shown on this page.

Battle

Frank Baldwin

Accredited Guide Number: 8

I am a freelance guide, historian and heritage professional. After retiring following ten years in the army as a Royal Artillery Officer, I became increasingly involved in interpreting and presenting battlefield heritage for the Battlefields Trust and The Royal British Legion. My interest in battlefield touring was triggered by noticing that the part of Germany in which we were training in the 1980s had been a battlefield in 1757. I had always been interested in military history and both my father and grandfather had fought in the world wars.

As a guide, my clients include  small and large groups, businesses as well as educational and military groups. I was an early supporter of the Guild of Battlefield Guides and been part of its validation team, responsible for assessing guides’ competence, since 2008. I instruct on courses teaching battlefield guides and have been Guide Co-ordinator for the Liberation Route Europe.

In 2012 I was elected to the British Commission for Military History. My published work includes two books on D Day and Normandy, chapters in British Army Guide to the Western Front, and articles in military history journals. I write a military history blog https://theobservationpost.com

My interest and knowledge of military history stretches from Caesar to the Cold War and my guiding experience covers much of Europe. Besides the world wars and the Napoleonic era, I am also interested in the mid C19th wars between Prussia, Austria and France and the Severn Years War.

Two of my books are on artillery in Normandy and I am currently writing a battlefield guide to artillery on the First Day of the Somme in publication. The artillery story of both world wars is a little neglected and I offer battlefield tours to tell the artillery story under the brand www.gunnertours.com

One speciality is providing military background for people researching their ancestry. I have been a researcher for a company that makes a popular ancestry-based TV programme and have appeared on television myself.

I have been privileged to support some of the British Army centenary staff rides as a subject matter expert alongside academic historians. My clients include many military units and headquarters. I run a website offering advice to military units planning staff rides, battlefield studies or realities of war tours. www.staffrideservices.com

The links between military and business strategy fascinate me. I offer a service to help organisations to learn from other people’s mistakes using examples from statecraft and military history. www.businessbattlefields.com

I chaired the Battlefields Trust from 2008-2015 and was involved in many projects to preserve, interpret and present many of the Battlefields of Britain, including the re-discovery of the battlefields of Bosworth.

30 Corps7 YearsANZACS on the Western Front...AachenAdvance to VictoryAgincourtAlmarazAnglo/Zulu WarAntiquityAnzioArdennesArnhemArrasArrasAspern – Essling & WagramAubers RidgeAusterlitzAusterlitz CampaignBadajozBand of BrothersBapaumeBastogneBattle of AmiensBattle of AnzioBattle of BritainBattle of CalaisBattle of HalbeBattle of LewesBattle of Lys & Op BlucherBattle of MindenBattle of OverloonBattle of SicilyBattle of Teutoberger ForestBattle of The AisneBattle of the BulgeBattle of the SommeBelleau WoodBlenheimBoer WarBosworthBritish Civil WarsBruneval RaidBullecourtCambraiCanadians on the Western FrontCassinoCiudad RodrigoCombined Bomber OffensiveCrecyCullodenD-DayDelville WoodDieppeDunkirkEdward I’s conquest of North WalesEindhoven & NijmegenEnglish Civil WarEshoweFall of BerlinFall of FranceFestubertFromellesFuentes de OnoroFulfordGerman Airborne Invasion of CreteGingindlovuGothic LineGustav LineHastingsHastings CampaignHindenburg LineHlobaneHürtgen ForestIsandlwanaLansdownLe HamelLiberation of the NetherlandsLignyLondon BlitzLoosLorraine CampaignLudendorff OffensivesMarlborough's campaignsMarston MoorMessinesMeuse-ArgonneMiddle AgesMindenMonmouth RebellionMonsMonte CassinoNapoleonNeuve ChappelleNorman Conquest of EnglandNormandy CampaignNormandy LandingsNormandy Preparations in UKOperation AintreeOperation AmherstOperation BerlinOperation BlockbusterOperation FranktonOperation HuskyOperation InfatuateOperation JubileeOperation Market GardenOperation MichelOperation OverlordOperation PlunderOperation ShingleOperation VeritableOrtonaPassage of the Alps and MarengoPasschendaelePolygon WoodQuatre BrasReichswald ForestRetreat to the MarneRhine CrossingRoman Invasion of BritainRorke's DriftRoundwaySalamancaSalernoSambre CrossingScheldt Estuary - Breskens Pocket & WalcherenSedanSedgemoorSt. MihielStanford BridgeTalaveraThe 100 Years WarThe Jacobite RebellionsThe Last 100 DaysThe Somme 1918TowtonUK Home FrontUS Soldiers on the Western Front 1917 - 1918UlundiVerdunViking battles in YorkshireVillers-BretonneuxVimyVimy RidgeVitoriaWWIWWIIWars of the RosesWaterlooWaterloo CampaignWavreWellington's campaignsWellington’s Peninsular battlesWellington’s Pyrenees battlesYpres

AustriaBelgiumCrete...Czech RepublicFranceGermanyHungaryItalyNetherlandsUnited Kingdom

Bespoke GroupCollege GroupsFamilies...IndividualsLeadership & Management TrainingManagement DevelopmentPilgrimage GroupsSmall Groups

Stephen Chambers

Accredited Guide Number: 75

Steve is one of the leading military historians on the Gallipoli campaign. Even though this is his prime passion, he also has in-depth knowledge of many British military campaigns and battles that include Waterloo to the end of the Second World War. Stephen is a freelance battlefield guide, author and researcher specialising in British military history, from the redcoats to khaki.

He has written several books; his first book in the Battleground Europe series, Gallipoli – Gully Ravine (Pen & Sword 2002) had high acclaim, along with its follow-on volumes; Anzac The Landing (Pen & Sword 2008), Suvla: August Offensive (Pen & Sword 2011) and Anzac: Sari Bair (Pen & Sword 2014). British and commonwealth military history has continued to have been a successful theme, with Uniforms & Equipment of the British Army in World War One (Schiffer Books, 2005), the first serious work on the subject. Recently Stephen co-authored Gallipoli: The Dardanelles Disaster in Soldiers’ Words and Photographs (Bloomsbury 2015) with Richard van Emden and is working on Walking Gallipoli, to be published in 2018. Stephen’s Battleground Europe guidebooks have all been translated in to Turkish.

When not writing, Stephen is on the Battlefield, continuing his research and guiding groups. The best way to study a campaign is to walk in the footsteps of those involved, whether in the grasslands of Zululand, the mud of Flanders or the beaches of Gallipoli.

Stephen is a Trustee of the Gallipoli Association and a member of the Western Front Association and Orders and Medals Research Society. He is also a director of Great War Digital Ltd (http://www.greatwardigital.com/), home of the WW1 mapping Linesman GPS product.

Christopher Finn

Accredited Guide Number: 42

Christopher Finn served in the RAF for 33 years as a navigator, primarily on the Buccaneer, and was a weapons and tactics specialist.  As a Wing Commander he was the UK’s LGB specialist in AHQ Riyadh during Operation GRANBY.  His final flying tour was as OC the Navigator & Airman Aircrew School.  A graduate of the Joint Services’ Defence College, in 2000 he gained an MPhil in International Relations from Cambridge University.  His last 5 years in the RAF were spent at Shrivenham, firstly on the Directing Staff of the Advanced Command and Staff Course and then, on promotion to Group Captain, as the RAF’s Director of Defence Studies.  In this role he lectured extensively on air power to UK and international audiences, published articles on air power and ran the RAF’s staff ride programme.

On leaving the RAF in 2005 he spent ten years as a Senior Lecturer in Air Power Studies with Kings College London, later Portsmouth University, based at the RAF College Cranwell.

Since 2003 Chris has developed and led over 30 staff rides and battlefield tours covering the subjects and battles listed below.  These have predominantly covered the influence of air power on the battlefield but also areas such as joint fires, logistics, command and control, intelligence, campaign planning, leadership at all levels and the political aspects of warfare.  However, he has also covered maritime battles (Malta & NEPTUNE) and land battles (Monte Cassino & Berlin).

 Chris also lectures on Military History to a wide range of audiences including, recently, a lecture on the role of the Royal Artillery in the Imjin River Battle of the Korean War.

He is a Fellow of both the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Higher Education Academy, and works as a volunteer Guide at the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

A member of the Guild since 2008, Chris gained his Badge in 2009, became the Chief Validator in 2015 and became the Director of Validation (now Accreditation Director) in 2017.  He was elected the fourth Fellow of the Guild at the 2020 Annual Conference.

Dudley Giles

Accredited Guide Number: 26

Dudley Giles has been an active battlefield guide for over 25 years and was an early member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides.

A former British Army officer, Dudley managed, in a career spanning nearly 34 years, to serve a third of his time in North West Europe (Germany and Belgium), a third in the UK (including three residential tours in Northern Ireland) and a third in ‘exotic’ locations such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Canada, Croatia, Kosovo and the flanks of NATO (Norway and Turkey). In 1990 he attended the Army Command and Staff Course, and, in 2001, was serving as NATO’s senior military police officer during the climactic events post 9/11. In 2006/7 he deployed to Afghanistan as General Richards’ senior police advisor and his last appointment in the Army before finally retiring in 2012 he was Deputy Provost Marshal (Army).

In 2006/7 Dudley found himself on the modern battlefields of Afghanistan and was able to help soldiers, diplomats and journalists understand the historical similarities between the present and past experience of British soldiers in that country. On his return he acted as the chief battlefield guide for the very first Help for Heroes Big Battlefield Bike Ride and continued to support the charity in that capacity until 2013. This experience eventually led him to set up a specialist touring company -‘Battlefields by Bike.

Dudley took his first degree in Law (LL.B (Hons) at the University of Leeds in 1979 and later a Masters Degree in British First World Studies (2010) – graduating with Distinction.

When not running his own tours or carrying out research, Dudley works as an independent contractor for schools, military groups, families and other battlefield touring companies.

30 CorpsANZACS on the Western FrontAdvance to Victory...AnzioArdennesArnhemArrasArrasAubers RidgeBand of BrothersBapaumeBastogneBattle of AmiensBattle of AnzioBattle of CalaisBattle of HalbeBattle of Lys & Op BlucherBattle of MindenBattle of SicilyBattle of The AisneBattle of the BulgeBattle of the SommeBritish Civil WarsBruneval RaidBullecourtCambraiCanadians on the Western FrontCassinoCold WarCombined Bomber OffensiveD-DayDelville WoodDieppeDunkirkEastern Front - EstoniaEindhoven & NijmegenEnglish Civil WarFall of BerlinFall of FranceFestubertFromellesGallipoliGothic LineGustav LineHindenburg LineKurskLe HamelLiberation of the NetherlandsLondon BlitzLoosLorraine CampaignLudendorff OffensivesMessinesMeuse-ArgonneMiddle AgesMonsMonte CassinoNeuve ChappelleNormandy CampaignNormandy LandingsNormandy Preparations in UKNorway 1940 CampaignOperation AvalancheOperation BerlinOperation BlockbusterOperation ChariotOperation DragoonOperation HuskyOperation InfatuateOperation JubileeOperation Market GardenOperation MichelOperation OverlordOperation PlunderOperation Sea LionOperation ShingleOperation VeritableOrtonaPasschendaelePolygon WoodReichswald ForestRetreat to the MarneRhine CrossingSalernoSambre CrossingScheldt Estuary - Breskens Pocket & WalcherenSt Nazaire & DieppeThe Great Patriotic WarThe Last 100 DaysThe Somme 1918Villers-BretonneuxVimyVimy RidgeWWIWWIIWaterlooYpresYugoslav Wars (1990s)

AfghanistanBelgiumEngland...EstoniaFranceGermanyHollandItalyNetherlandsNorwayNorwayScotlandSicilyTurkeyUnited KingdomWalesincl. Sicily

Adult Coach GroupsBattlefield StudiesBattlefield Walks...Bespoke GroupClubs and SocietiesCorporate ToursCultural ToursCycling battlefield toursEvening PresentationsFamiliesIndividualsLeadership & Management TrainingLong ToursManagement DevelopmentMilitary & VeteranPilgrimage GroupsSchool GroupsSelf-drive ToursShort ToursSmall GroupsStaff Rides

Graeme MacPherson

Accredited Guide Number: 115

Graeme is a serving Army officer with a background in military logistics. He has served full time and part time for over 34 years in a range of command and staff appointments.

He has been a member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides since 2014 and became a badged guide in 2021. His interest in the military started at a young age as he learned of the service of his grandfathers in the Second World War, one as a Royal Engineer, the other as a Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineer in 79th Armoured Division.

He has led a number of military group tours to the WW2 sites of Normandy, Monte Cassino, Sicily, Arnhem and Berlin before developing an interest in the Western Front during WW1.

Graeme has designed and led the Commonwealth Soldier programme taking school and community groups from SE England to the battlefields of France and Belgium to study the contributions made by Commonwealth troops in WW1. He has also delivered a number of tours in the UK and overseas has had the opportunity to lead a tour to the Falkland Islands. In 2018 he supported the Army Cadet Armistice 100 programme to the Somme and the National Muslim Armistice commemorations at Woking’s Indian Army Muslim burial ground memorial.

He is particularly interested in the human aspects of conflict and bringing the personal stories of those who served to life. In addition to leading groups, Graeme also has an interest in research and has delivered a number of WW1 community research projects, presentations and events as well as delivering individual bespoke research projects for families wanting to know more about their relatives.

He is a volunteer speaker for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and a member of the Western Front Association.

AnzioArnhemArras...Battle of AnzioBattle of SicilyBattle of the SommeDelville WoodDunkirkFalklands WarFall of BerlinLoosMonte CassinoNeuve ChappelleNormandy CampaignUK Home FrontYpres

BelgiumFalkland IslandsFrance...GermanyItalyUnited Kingdom

Adult Coach GroupsBattlefield WalksBespoke Group...Clubs and SocietiesCollege GroupsFamiliesIndividualsMilitary & VeteranPilgrimage GroupsSchool Groups

Paul Oldfield

Accredited Guide Number: 51

In a military career spanning 36 years, Paul served in most of the usual hotspots, including three years in Ulster, plus the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq. Other appointments included running the MOD’s Africa team for three years, commanding a mountain and arctic warfare unit and a tour with the Gurkhas. With his military experience he is able to bring a soldier’s insight to battles of the past.

Paul was educated in Sheffield and at Victoria College, Jersey, where he became interested in the German occupation and fortifications. He ran his first tour in 1983 on the Somme and has been involved in WW1 and WW2 tours since. Paul is a member of the Western Front Association and Gallipoli Association. He joined the Guild in April 2008 and was presented with Badge 51 on 20th November 2010. He was heavily involved in the Guild’s support for Help for Heroes’ annual Big Battlefield Bike Ride from 2012, including leading the guiding team 2014-18.

In 1988 he co-authored Sheffield City Battalion in the Pals series. Cockleshell Raid was published in Pen & Sword’s Battleground Europe series in 2012 and Bruneval followed in 2013. He is currently writing a series of sixteen books, Victoria Crosses on the Western Front. The first was published in July 2014 and the final volume is expected in late 2025.

John Pratt

Accredited Guide Number: 68

I retired from the army after a 34-year career in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. During my career, I served with a variety of regiments, including operational service in The Gulf, Bosnia and Afghanistan. From the very beginning of my career I was fascinated by each regiment’s unique history and battle honours. This soon developed into a quest for more knowledge, especially that of The Great War.

My interest in military history probably goes back even beyond my military service to my childhood, listening to my father who was a proud regular soldier who served with the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Second World War and saw service with the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk and later with the 8th Army at El Alamein.

I studied at Birmingham University under Professor Gary Sheffield and Dr Spencer Jones and in 2013 was awarded the MA in British First World War Studies. My thesis focused on the mechanical challenges of British armoured warfare in the Great War. I also have an MSc in Battlespace Technology gained at Shrivenham.

I have particular interests in trench raiding in the First World War and armoured warfare up to the modern day. I have been organising and guiding battlefield tours and conducting individual research for many years.

I completed the Guild’s validation scheme in 2014 and became one of the few accredited members not referred during validation. I was very proud to be awarded Badge Number 68 in 2014 by Professor Gary Sheffield.

Battle of AmiensBattle of the SommeCambrai...D-DayDunkirkLe HamelNormandy LandingsVillers-BretonneuxWWIWWIIYpres

BelgiumFranceGermany...United Kingdom

Adult Coach GroupsBespoke GroupClubs and Societies...College GroupsFamiliesIndividualsMilitary & VeteranSchool Groups

Tim Pritchard-Barrett

Accredited Guide Number: 71

Advance Battlefield Tours mission Statement is: To create and deliver – private, corporate & school tours which will entertain, educate, inform, teach, to even test individuals or groups of any size, tailored to any level of complexity, with any style of accommodation, over any length of time.

Our tours are delivered with care, great flexibility, knowledge, clarity, understanding, humour & unbridled enthusiasm for client needs & subject matter!  Therefore we want you to “Smell that black powder & taste the cordite! “

Tim followed his family tradition and was commissioned into the Welsh Guards in 1974, where he served in every theatre upon which the regiment partook for nine years.

He has served for a total of 29 years.  After the “regular” army Tim continued with the Territorial Army; – (similar to the US National Guard), in The Queens Own Yeomanry (A cavalry regiment in the role of deep penetration, armoured reconnaissance) up to the appointment of Squadron Leader but later as a staff officer, second in command and training officer for other regiments.  His experiences in the military have included both operational command and staff appointments.

He been a member of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides since 2007, and holds Badge number 71.  Widely experienced and well read, as a professional Battlefield Guide, Tim has led many dozens of tours across Western, Southern and Central Europe; (the majority, small business and personal tours) for 18 years.

New recent additions are the mystical secret Suffolk coast’s military heritage and the vast array of USAAF 8th Air Force Bases across East Anglia with the “Masters of the Air” Series having been on Apple TV.

All these tours have consistently reviewed Politics, Strategic aims, Operational Requirements, Ego, Command, Control, Intelligence (Gathering, Interpretation, Analysis & Dissemination), Leadership, Morale, Training, Weaponry, Logistics, Ground and Conditions. Most of all, to ensure a clarity of message and understanding to the tour participants, no matter their previous knowledge.

Always keen to research something new, Tim welcomes the challenge of conducting new tours, for forgotten wars, to unsung places.

David Winn

Accredited Guide Number: 46

David has been guiding the battlefields since 1997, with his main interests in WW1 & WW2.

His enthusiasm for military history originated from several sources, not least his 20 years in the British Army, predominantly with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, serving in many parts of the world. Also, his father was a Battle of Britain pilot, while his mother was one of the decoders on the Enigma machine at Bletchley Park. Hence his desire to become passionately involved in military history, and especially the personal stories of those who partook.

Though he works as an independent guide, he is presently guiding for four companies, including one in America and another in Canada, taking schools, universities, adult and military groups (including Staff Rides), and offering private bespoke tours. All tours always include any research to meet client requirements.

As one company recently requested, when they contacted David. ‘Can you do a Normandy tour in one day? The reply being, ‘but it takes at least 4 hours just to drive there’ (from England). The company’s response being; ‘no, it’s only 45 minutes by private aircraft’. What a tremendous tour!

ArrasBattle of AnzioBattle of the Somme...CambraiCassinoDieppeDunkirkMonsNormandy LandingsSalernoVerdunVimyWWIWWIIYpres

EuropeWestern Europe

Adult Coach GroupsBespoke GroupGroup Types...IndividualsMilitary & VeteranSchool Groups

Allan Wood

Accredited Guide Number: 66

Allan served for 22 years in the Regular Army in the 17th/21st Lancers and Queens Royal Lancers, a career which ended at the Armoured Fighting Vehicle Gunnery School, Lulworth.  Allan was later commissioned into the TA serving for a further 9 years firstly with the Dorset and later the Royal Wessex Yeomanry in Bovington where he began guiding battlefield tours.

Allan’s first battlefield tour as a guide was for the Yeomanry to Normandy in 1999.  He has since guided nearly 200 battlefield tours for both Regular and Territorial Army units, schools and numerous adult groups to the Western Front, North West Europe plus other campaigns outside of the two World Wars including Waterloo and Agincourt.  Allan has guided many ANZAC focused tours of the Western Front, 1916-1918.  Allan retired from teaching to give himself the time to be an active Battlefield Guide and works freelance for several companies and organisations.  Allan also regularly gives talks on Military History to a wide variety of audiences from those including very senior serving officers to local groups in the Dorset area and wider afield.

Allan is an Accredited Member of (Badge Number 66) of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides and a current Validator for candidates on the Path to their own Badge.  He is a member of the Western Front Association, Royal Lancers Regimental Association and a Trustee for the Dorset Yeomanry Association.

Allan is an Alumnus of the Duke of York’s Royal Military School, Dover.  Whilst in the Army he studied and graduated through the Open University, later training as teacher at the University of Bath after which he taught History in a secondary school in Poole.  Allan was later appointed as the Headteacher of the Compass, the school responsible for providing Alternative Provision for young people in Weymouth, Dorset. Allan still lives in Weymouth with his wife Angela, who tolerates both his guiding and golf in exchange for holidays in the sun!  They have two grown up children.