Alan Rice-Oxley

Lieutenant Alan Rice-Oxley (1 July 1896 – 21 July 1961) was a British pilot during World War I. He became a flying ace in 1918, credited with six aerial victories.[1]

Alan Rice-Oxley
Birth nameAlan Rice Oxley
Born(1896-07-01)1 July 1896
Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, England
Died21 July 1961(1961-07-21) (aged 65)
Buried
St Mary Magdalene churchyard, Loders, Dorset, England
(50°44′44.8″N 2°43′19.6″W)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Royal Air Force
Years of service1914–1921
RankLieutenant
Unit
Battles/warsFirst World War
 • Western Front
 • Italian Front
AwardsDistinguished Flying Cross
Other workPolice officer, North Borneo
Farmer, Dorset

Early life

He was born as Alan Rice Oxley in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire on 1 July 1896.[2] His parents were Edward Charles Rice Oxley (c. 1854 – 14 Mar 1927)[3] and Emily Armstrong[4] (1816 – 1883)[5] His parents had married in Shrewsbury on 14 January 1896. This was the his father's second marriage, his father's first wife, Ann Eliza Hall[6] (c. 1857 – 1894) had borne 5 children and Rice was the middle child of three from the second marriage. Rice-Oxley was educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys, which he attended between January 1908 and July 1914.[7]

Military career
Sopwith Camels of No. 45 Squadron RFC at an airfield in Italy, December 1917.

Rice-Oxley first served as a private in the 21st (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (1st Surrey Rifles), until 5 February 1915 when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 4th Battalion, The King's (Shropshire Light Infantry).[8]

He was seconded for duty with the Royal Flying Corps,[9] and appointed a flying officer on 10 September 1916.[10] He trained as a pilot and initially served with No. 15 Squadron in France, tasked with artillery-spotting and reconnaissance.[11] He was wounded in action during the Battle of the Somme in October 1916,[12] and after recuperating became a fighter pilot. He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 July 1917.[13] Subsequently, in 1918 he joined the Sopwith Camel equipped No. 45 Squadron on the Italian Front. He recorded his first victories in a combat on 12 July 1918. Piloting Camel D8240, he and Captain Cedric Howell engaged a formation of between ten and fifteen Austro-Hungarian aircraft in proximity to the town of Feltre. In the ensuing dogfight Rice-Oxley destroyed two of the enemy, and for his conduct in this action was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.[1] Over the course of the following three days, he destroyed another enemy aircraft and drove a further two down out of control.[11] On 16 August he was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain,[14] and achieved his sixth and final victory on 22 August.[11]

Rice-Oxley was transferred to the RAF's unemployed list on 26 March 1919,[15] and relinquished his commission in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry on 30 September 1921.[16]

Later life

In 1921 Rice-Oxley emigrated to North Borneo to join the armed constabulary there,[17] and was appointed as an officer of Class B in the following year, with the rank of Captain.[18] His duties included showing visitors around and, in 1926, while motoring with the author Somerset Maugham, Rice-Oxley came across a 13-foot (4-metre) snake and killed it with his malacca cane.[19] He was appointed Superintendant of Police, Adjutant, and Superintendant of Prisons, in Jesselton in 1929.[20] His career continued apace and he attained the position of Commissioner of Police.[21] On 12 November 1936 he officially changed his name from Alan Rice Oxley to Alan Rice-Oxley by deed poll.[22]

In early 1937 he married Valerie Helen Gardner[23] (1898 – 6 July 1963),[24] the daughter of Arthur Ernest Sidgwick (15 February 1863 – 8 November 1951)[25] and Henrietta Mary Miller[26] (16 June 1868 – 31 May 1966).[27] Valerie was the widow of a fellow former RAF officer, Herbert Patrick Legge Gardner (20 November 1897 – 11 August 1929), who had left the RAF in 1926 to move to the Federated Malay States, but was killed in Marsielles in 1929.[28] After their marriage the coupled sailed from London on the P&O SS Ranchi on 21 May 1937,[29] and arrived in Singapore on 19 June 1937.[30] After the outbreak of the second World War, the couple returned to England, reaching Liverpool on 29 October 1940 aboard the P&O Narkunda.[31] Valerie remained in England when Rice-Oxley returned to North Borneo.

From 1942–1945 Rice-Oxley was interned by the Japanese as a civilian internee at Batu Lintang camp near Kuching, Sarawak.[21] When he was freed, his two next-of-kin contacts were his wife and his eldest half-sister who was living in New Zealand.[note 1][32] Post-war, he returned to Britain and was working as a dairy farmer at Knowle Farm, Uploders, Dorset, when he died on 21 July 1961.[33] He is buried in the churchyard of St. Mary Magdalene, Loders, Dorset.[34]

Honours and awards
Distinguished Flying Cross
Lt. Alan Rice-Oxley (Shrops. L.I.).
"In company with another machine this officer attacked an enemy formation of fifteen aeroplanes, and promptly destroyed two of them. He then repeatedly attacked the remaining thirteen machines, who were crowding on his companion, and the battle ended in the destruction of six of the enemy and one driven down out of control. Two days afterwards he destroyed two more enemy aircraft. The gallantry displayed by this officer, and that of his companion, Capt. C. E. Howell, in attacking fifteen machines, was of the very highest order."[35]

Notes
  1. His sister was Evelyn Mary Hall Oxley (1882 – 21 July 1967), who had moved to New Zealand in 1929 with her husband Percival Lancaster a civil engineer and author (Evening Post, 17 May 1929. Page 11, Personal Items).

References
  1. "Alan Rice-Oxley". The Aerodrome. 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  2. "Alan Rice-Oxley". National Archives. 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  3. "Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Smellie and the year of death 1929, p. 531". Find a Will Service. p. 531. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  4. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  5. "Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Smellie and the year of death 1950, p. 209". Find a Will Service. p. 209. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  6. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  7. Watford Grammar School (2002), p. 44.
  8. "No. 29059". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 February 1915. p. 1198.
  9. "No. 29772". The London Gazette. 3 October 1916. p. 9564.
  10. "No. 29773". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 October 1916. p. 9636.
  11. Shores, Franks & Guest (1990), p. 319.
  12. "The Roll of Honour: Wounded". Flight. VIII (408): 896. 19 October 1916. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  13. "No. 30217". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 August 1917. p. 7978.
  14. "No. 30898". The London Gazette. 13 September 1918. p. 10786.
  15. "No. 31279". The London Gazette. 8 April 1919. p. 4575.
  16. "No. 32552". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 December 1921. p. 10348.
  17. "Untitled news item". The Straits Times (7868): 8. 16 July 1921.
  18. "Untitled news item". The Straits Times (8085): 8. 18 February 1922.
  19. "Untitled news item". The Straits Times (9558): 8. 2 March 1926.
  20. "Social and Personal". The Straits Times (10636): 8. 12 February 1929.
  21. Rosser, Clive; Cresswell, Allan (1 August 2003). "Vale - Sapper Carl Edgar 'Snowy' Jensen WX9682 – 2/6th Field Park Company Royal Australian Engineers" (PDF). The Borneo Bugle. Borneo Prisoners of War Relatives Group. 2 (1): 6. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  22. "No. 34345". The London Gazette. 1 December 1936. p. 7787.
  23. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  24. "Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Oxley and the year of death 1963, p. 312". Find a Will Service. p. 312. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  25. "Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Sedgwick and the year of death 1951, p. 241". Find a Will Service. p. 241. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  26. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  27. "Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Sedgwick and the year of death 1966, p. 278". Find a Will Service. p. 278. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  28. "Ref: AIR 76/384/148: Name Rice Oxley, Alan Date of Birth: 01 July 1896". The National Archives. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  29. "P and O Ranchi: List of Passengers For the Straits". Malaya Tribune (13670): 10. 4 June 1937.
  30. "Passengers Arrived". Sunday Tribune (Singapore) (13686): 21. 20 June 1937.
  31. Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors (29 October 1940). "Arrivals aboard the P and O Narkunda to Liverpool". Inwards Passenger Lists.; Class: BT26; Piece: 1190.
  32. "Far East Internees". Evening Post (Day 5 November 1945): 8. 5 November 1945.
  33. "No. 42597". The London Gazette. 13 February 1962. p. 1276.
  34. "Loders, St Mary Magdalene, Churchyard, Dorset, England, Monumental Inscriptions". Dorset Online Parish Clerks. 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  35. "No. 30989". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 November 1918. p. 12971.
Bibliography
  • Shores, Christopher F.; Franks, Norman & Guest, Russell F. (1990). Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920. London, UK: Grub Street. ISBN 978-0-948817-19-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Watford Grammar School (2002). A Book of Remembrance 1914–1918. Uckfield, England: Naval and Military Press. ISBN 978-1-84342-424-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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