R. M. P. (Richard Martin Peter) Preston

Richard Martin Peter Preston (1884–1965), often published as R. M. P. Preston, was a British army officer and writer. He is chiefly remembered for The Desert Mounted Corps, his history of mounted operations in Palestine and Syria during the First World War.

Contemporary library and archive records describe him as Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. R. M. P. Preston, D.S.O., and credit the book with an introduction by Lieutenant-General Sir H. G. Chauvel. That background helps explain the book's clear military focus and its close attention to cavalry movement, command, and campaign detail.

Reliable catalog and archive sources confirm his full name as Richard Martin Peter Preston and place his life from 1884 to 1965. Beyond those core facts, easily verified biographical detail is limited, so the strongest picture that survives is of a soldier-author whose best-known work preserves an important part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I.