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.
Simon Bendry
Accredited Guide Number: 104
Simon has been interested in military history since he was a child. He first visited the battlefields on family holidays and soon became fascinated with D Day and the Normandy campaign. In his teens he developed an interest in the First World War and led his first guided tours to the former battlefields of the Western Front while still at university. After graduating with a history degree, he went on to train as a teacher and for 15 years ran annual school tours to the Western Front.
From 2014, Simon ran the prestigious and multi award-winning First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme – a UK government funded initiative which saw 8,500 students and teachers visit the former battlefields of the Western Front. Simon led more than 90 of these tours and as the programme’s lead for on-site education became an internationally recognised expert in leading students and teachers on the battlefields. He has also led tours for adult organisations including universities. Simon also has a passion for historical research and is able to bring the battlefields to life with personal stories, while also placing these stories in the immediate and wider historical context.
Simon is a member of the British Commission for Military History and the Western Front Association.
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Simon Burgess
Accredited Guide Number: 108
Simon retired from the British Army in November 2022, and qualified as a badged guide (Badge 108) in May 2020.
He originally served in the Royal Air Force before leaving to pursue a career in the oil industry, and also serving as a reserve officer. Rather to his surprise he ended up joining the Regular Army 9 years ago.
Simon has served on operations in Gulf War 1, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq (where he ran Basrah Fire Brigade) and twice as an aviation planner in Afghanistan (including with the US Marine Corps) and has worked at battlegroup, brigade and divisional level .
He has served as the Operations Officer in the Attack Helicopter Force HQ, and as the aviation specialist in the Collective Training Group at the Land Warfare Centre. He delivered training to brigade and division HQs, particularly in the use of aviation and air land integration.
Simon has recently guided tours to Normandy, Sicily and the Western Front battlefields of World War 1.
He is particularly interested in Normandy in WW2 (particularly the British 6th Airborne Division) and in all aspects of air power in WW1 and WW2.
He is also passionate about the American Civil War, particularly Gettysburg and the Eastern theatre battles.
American Civil WarBattle of the SommeNormandy Campaign...
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Paul Colbourne
Accredited Guide Number: 113
ANZACS on the Western FrontBattle of the SommeBullecourt...
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Michael Garnett
Accredited Guide Number: 117
Michael’s interest in battlefields started whilst researching his great uncle, whose name was on the local war memorial in his home town. This took him on a long journey through the UK and France. He eventually found his grave in Belgium, bringing closure to a family mystery of over 80 years and allowing family members from as far as Australia to visit his grave and pay tribute to his memory.
This discovery led Michael into researching many battles and physically walking the ground enhancing his knowledge and understanding of tactics used on both sides. Armed with this knowledge, he began organising individual, group and bespoke tours to Ypres in Belgium, Normandy in France and Arnhem in Holland which he continues to this day.
As a former Warrant Officer, with over 38 years in the British Army, his operational tours included Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, and exercises in Canada, Cyprus, Kenya and Poland. He has worked with many multinational forces giving him a thorough understanding of how other countries’ militaries operate. He was employed in many roles in the training, administration and welfare of over a hundred strong workforce during peace time and on operations. He was often called upon to plan, conduct and deliver intense training packages for servicemen as part of their continuous personal development and annual mandatory training.
In 2010, Michael gave evidence as part of the Iraq Enquiry, headed up by Sir John Chilcot, regarding the problems incurred during Operation Telic.
In 2020, together with his wife Jane, he set up their company “Avalon Tour de Force” which specialises in family research, bespoke group and individual battlefield tours, military history presentations and living history shows where they travel to schools, public and private events.
Michael was awarded Badge No 117 after completing the Guild’s validation scheme in November 2024.
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Malcolm Jones
Accredited Guide Number: 45
Malcolm Jones BA (Hons)
Malcolm is a British Military Historian, who specializes in the campaigns and battles of Wellington in Spain during the Peninsular War. He is a member of the ‘Society for Army Historical Research’ and a Badged member of the Guild since 2009.
Malcolm has always been interested in History and the military, which developed from an early age. His main love and focus has always been the Second World War, the Indian Mutiny, and the British colonial army of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His passion for the Peninsular War campaigns and its Battlefields began some 35 years ago.
After serving in the Army, and obtaining his history degree, he worked in business management in Britain and the Middle East. Over the years he has travelled extensively throughout Portugal and Spain, much of it following in the footsteps of Wellington’s men. During this time, he fell in love with the Spanish landscape, history and culture.
Malcolm now lives in central Spain, close to many of the battlefield sites, which he has visited on many different occasions and therefore knows the areas he guides very well. He is an enthusiastic historian, who is happy to share his experience with anyone who is interested; be it Wellington’s Army, the local history, culture, food or wine.
As a Badged Member of the ‘Guild of Battlefield Guides’, Malcolm has led many Military Battlefield Studies over the last ten years and has experience of leading battlefield tours since 1993 in Germany, Poland, Crete and Spain. With a rich and knowledgeable background, you can be assured of an informative tour, presented in an enjoyable and interesting manner.
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Ian Langworthy
Accredited Guide Number: 101
I have had a lifelong interest in history generally and military history in particular. During a 40 year career as a solicitor I organised and led, with my brother, many tours for friends and family to the battlefields of Western Europe.
As I came up to retirement I decided that I wanted to continue guiding on a formal basis. I obtained an MA in military history from the University of Buckingham, joined the Guild of Battlefield Guides and having completed the Guilds’ course for Accreditation am now the proud holder of Badge 101.
I am a freelance guide and have experience in researching for and guiding a variety of groups to western European battlefields of various eras. I also have a keen interest in Romano-British history, British history generally and the Wars of the Roses and the English Civil War in particular.
ArnhemBattle of the SommeCulloden 1746...
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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.
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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.
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Brian Rogers
Accredited Guide Number: 109
I am a serving Army officer and qualified as a badged guide in May 2020. I have served with the Household Cavalry both operationally and as a mounted cavalryman on state ceremonial and public duties, as well as working on the staff in the wider Army. Military experience of the Middle East, Balkans and Afghanistan.
I have been visiting battlefields for many years and have led a number of small group tours, for military personnel, veterans and members of the general public. Very interested in all matters involving the cavalry where I like to think I have a unique insight, as well as armoured operations where I also have significant practical knowledge. I continue to develop and learn my craft, and I am currently studying for an MA in the History of Great Britain and the First World War.
Marc Yates
Accredited Guide Number: 90
I was born and brought up in Jersey, Channel Islands and from an early age became passionate about its history as well as military history generally.
One of my grandfathers had wartime service with the Canadian Infantry on the Western Front in WW1 and the other was a career soldier with the Royal Army Service Corps from the 1920s to 1950. My paternal great-grandfather had also served with the Royal Garrison Artillery for 21 years including the whole of WW1 on the Western Front. My father, whilst not joining up, did an apprenticeship at the Royal Woolwich Arsenal in the 1950s, a very interesting time in post war weapons systems development. It is hardly surprising that military history would help form my interests and I even contemplated a military career myself. However, that didn’t happen, and I followed a career as a lawyer for 35 years.
I got into guiding accidentally as a result of our law firm entertaining some visiting conference lawyers on a coach tour. I thought that the “pre-taped” commentary was so bad that I grabbed the microphone and gave my first guided tour! I was hooked and did tours whenever I could and upon retirement from my legal career, I set up my guiding business and at the same time became a licensed public service vehicle driver so I could legally undertake driver-guiding.
I focus on providing personal service for small groups as a driver-guide, although I am happy to guide larger parties. I believe in providing a complete experience to my clients to help them get the best of their exploration of a battlefield and the local environment. I love drawing in other aspects of history, as well as introducing disciplines like archaeology and geology to better understand the topography.
Most of my guiding is in the Channel Islands, which have an incredible history of battles, military history and fortifications extending as far back as at least the Iron Age, then all the way to WW2, when the Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by Nazi German forces for 5 years. However, I also guide elsewhere in Europe, particularly in France which is only about 15 miles away at its closest and which I can see from my garden!
I particularly enjoy the educational element of battlefield guiding – be it for individual clients, a class of school children or a military unit undertaking battlefield study exercises for visiting military units. My mother was a teacher, so I suppose that is where I get that from!
Finally, whilst not yet published, my research will hopefully result in books on the Hundred Years’ War in the Channel Islands; an answer to why the Channel Islands become some of the most heavily Nazi fortified places in Europe; and the life story of an extraordinary pair of sisters who served on the Western Front as F.A.N.Y.s in WW1 and then as senior officers working with the S.O.E. in WW2!
100 Years War 1337-1453Battle of Gilieres - Haute SavoieBattle of the Somme...
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