Wallace was born in Farnborough, London, England, on May 15, 1970. His father served in Malaya as a trooper in the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards.

Wallace was commissioned into the Scots Guards in 1991 after attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

He rose to the rank of captain while serving in Germany, Cyprus, Belize, and Northern Ireland from 1991 to 1998.

He was mentioned in dispatches in 1992 for an event in which the patrol he was heading apprehended an entire IRA active duty unit preparing to carry out a bomb assault on British forces while stationed in Northern Ireland.

After leaving the army, Wallace entered politics, claiming as a motivator his experience leading troops from some of the UK’s poorest communities, which he claimed might be improved by encouraging a more aspirational culture.

Wallace was elected as a list MSP for North East Scotland in the Scottish Parliament as a Conservative in 1999.

In 2003, he announced his resignation in order to be considered for a Westminster seat in England. At the time, Wallace was the shadow health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives.

He was the international head of QinetiQ, the former UK Defense Evaluation and Research Agency, from 2003 to 2005.

What Army Rank Was Ben Wallace?

Ben Wallace was a Captain in his time in the Army.