Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

Lanceray Arthur Newnham (3 August 1889 – 18 December 1943), known as Lance or Lan Newnham, was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer. He was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the gallantry he showed in resisting Japanese torture during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Early life

Newnham was born on 3 August 1889 in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Tristram H. Newnham and his wife, Ekaterina. He was educated in England, at

Bedales School Bedales School is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conven ...

First World War

Newnham was first deployed to France to join the British Expeditionary Force as a Captain with the

Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers R ...

(Duke of Cambridge's Own) in August 1915. On 5 February 1916 he was appointed as the Brigade Major, 169th (Infantry) Brigade,

56th (London) Division The 56th (London) Infantry Division was a Territorial Army infantry division of the British Army, which served under several different titles and designations. The division served in the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War. ...

, Territorial Force, holding the post through the severe fighting of the

Somme Offensive The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...

of 1916 and the Arras Offensive of 1917, until relinquishing it on 27 May 1917. He then served for five months as General Staff Officer 2nd Class at the New Zealand Divisional Headquarters. On 1 January 1917 Captain Newnham was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

for service during the First World War. He ended the war with the rank of temporary Brigadier-General. On 7 January 1918 he married Phillys Edith Henderson at St. Mary's Church, Finchely, Middlesex, England. (Marriage Register, England & Wales).

Second World War

Newnham was serving with the

British Army Aid Group The British Army Aid Group (B.A.A.G.) was a para-military organisation for British and Allied forces in southern China during the Second World War. The B.A.A.G. was officially classified in the British Army's order of battle as an MI9 unit ...

in British Hong Kong at the start of the Second World War. He was taken prisoner when the Japanese invaded Hong Kong in December 1941 and, with Captain Douglas Ford and Flight Lieutenant Hector Bertram Gray worked to contact British agents and organise a mass escape. The Japanese discovered the plan and arrested the trio, torturing them in Stanley Prison in an effort to gain more information. They refused to divulge any further names despite being beaten, starved and threatened with death. They were killed by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...

in Sham Shui Prison Camp on 18 December 1943. He is buried at the

Stanley Military Cemetery Stanley Military Cemetery is a cemetery located near St. Stephen's Beach in Stanley, Hong Kong. Along with the larger Hong Kong (Happy Valley) Cemetery, it is one of two military cemeteries of the early colonial era, used for the burials ...

in Hong Kong.Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Colonel Lanceray Arthur Newnham GC
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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newnham, Lanceray Arthur 1889 births People educated at Bedales School 1943 deaths Military personnel of British India Middlesex Regiment officers British recipients of the George Cross Recipients of the Military Cross British Army personnel killed in World War II British Army generals of World War I People executed by Japan by firing squad 20th-century executions by Japan Executed British people British torture victims World War II prisoners of war held by Japan British World War II prisoners of war Burials at Stanley Military Cemetery British people in colonial India