Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Six: Colonel R. P. Freeman-Taylor, Royal Norfolk Regiment, who was attached as Second-in-Command - and then C.O. - of the 1st East Yorkshire Regiment in Burma 1944-45: he subsequently commanded the 1st Royal Norfolks in Berlin at the time of the famous airlift

India General Service 1936-39, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1936-37 (Capt. R. P. Freeman-Taylor, R. Norf. R.); 1939-45 Star; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953, together with a set of related miniature dress medals and regimental sporting medals (5), 1926-30, in silver, bronze-gilt (2) and bronze (2), all named to the recipient and in their fitted cases of issue, good very fine (17) £400-500

Richard Freeman-Taylor was born in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk in June 1905, the second son of Philip Launcelot Freeman-Taylor of Bank House, Abbeygate St. Bury. Educated at Repton School and the R.M.C. Sandhurst, Richard was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Norfolk Regiment in September 1925.

Advanced to Lieutenant in September 1927 and to Captain in August 1936, he served in the North-West Frontier operations of 1936-37 (Medal & clasp), and obtained the acting rank of Major while serving in India in May 1940.

Having then served as a G.S.O. 3 and G.S.O. 2 in 1941, he attained the substantive rank of Major in September 1942. Then in February 1943, on being appointed a G.S.O. 1, he was advanced to the acting rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

It was in the same rank that he was attached as Second-in-Command of the 1st Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment in Burma in December 1944; he subsequently assumed command of the Battalion in July 1945 and remained similarly employed until the war’s end, when he was repatriated.

In April 1945, the Battalion joined 99 Indian Brigade, 17th Indian “Black Cat” Division, replacing the 6/15 Punjabis, and fought in the battles of the Rangoon Road and the Sittang. The Brigade was also attached to the 19th Indian Division for a time and fought in actions on the Kalaw Road.

Freeman-Taylor next commanded the 4th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment in Greece in 1946 and, following service in the interim as a G.S.O. 1, he took command of the 1st Battalion, Royal Norfolks in Germany in 1948, including a tour of duty in West Berlin: ‘Life in Berlin was neither particularly pleasant nor easy. The duties were fairly onerous, as it was during the period during which relations with the Russians were particularly strained and the life of the Western sections depended on the air lift’ (The Norfolks regimental history, refers).

His final appointment was as Brigade Colonel of the East Anglican Brigade 1951-54 and he was placed on the Retired List in May of the latter year.

In retirement, the Colonel pursued his interest in golf, acting as Club Secretary of the Royal West Norfolk Golf Club, 1954-57; his wife was an equally talented golfer and competed in the English Ladies’ Championships in 1956 and 1957. The Colonel died at Ipswich, Suffolk in September 1992; sold with an extensive file of research, including numerous copied photographs.