General

General is the highest rank of Officer in the British Army - excluding Field Marshal which isn't used anymore. There are four General Officer ranks that are graded by stars:

• 1 Star - Brigadier
• 2 Star - Major-General
• 3 Star - Lieutenant-General
• 4 Star - General

You may be thinking that a Major is senior to a Lieutenant so surely it should be Lieutenant General before Major General? Wrong...over the years Major General became a shortened version of the original Sergeant Major General. They obviously scrapped the Sergeant because it is a non-commissioned rank.

Rank Structure of the British Army
Commissioned Ranks
Second Lieutenant | Lieutenant | Captain | Major | Lieutenant Colonel | Colonel | Brigadier | Major General | Lieutenant General | General | Field Marshal
Non-commissioned Ranks
Private | Lance Corporal | Corporal | Sergeant | Staff Sergeant | Warrant Officer Class 2 | Warrant Officer Class 1