Blagden: a flair for technical challenges
Brigadier Paddy Blagden, who has died aged 85, had a sound claim to have been the most important figure in humanitarian mine clearance since its inception.
Blagden drafted the national plans for mine-clearing for eight countries and played a major role in almost a dozen others. He was responsible for setting up the UN’s de-mining department and the world’s only civil de-mining school, of which he became the first technical director.
Patrick Martin Blagden, the son of Brigadier William Blagden, was born at Chatham, Kent, on March 15 1935 and educated at Charterhouse. He joined the Army as a National Serviceman in 1953 and, after attending Sandhurst, in 1955 he was commissioned (like his father) into the Royal Engineers.
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