Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A post-War 1952 O.B.E. group of seven awarded to Colonel R. M. Newton-King, Indian Army, whose long career saw him serve during the Great War in Mesopotamia and as one of the last British officers serving in India after Independence - his O.B.E. was one of the very last Imperial awards given to a member of the Indian Army

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; British War and Victory Medals (Capt. R. M. Newton King.); India General Service 1936-39, 2 clasps, North West Frontier 1936-37, North West Frontier 1937-39 (Major R. M. Newton-King. 2-4 Bombay Grs); War Medal 1939-45; India Service Medal 1939-45; Indian Independence 1947, unnamed as issued, mounted as worn; together with the recipient’s riband bar, generally very fine or better (7) £300-£400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Peter Duckers.

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O.B.E London Gazette 1 January 1953.

Richard Mowbray Newton-King was born at Karachi in 1897 into a military family. His father, Colonel A. C. Newton King saw long service with the Welsh Regiment and his elder brother, Alexander Reginald, who became an officer with the Royal Irish Regiment, was to be twice wounded in October 1914 before being killed in action at Ploegsteert in April 1915.

Commissioned Second Lieutenant from the unattached list into the 38th Dogras, Indian Army in November 1915, Newton-King served in the Indian Army continuously from that date until retirement in 1953. He served in Mesopotamia from August 1916 to March 1919, initially with the 38th Dogras, transferring to the 43rd (Erinpura) Regiment in September 1916 and was promoted Lieutenant on 15 November 1916. He served as Acting Captain for periods during 1918 and 1919 and was present as Company Commander in the actions at Ramadi on 27th October 1917 and Khan Baghdadi on 27th March 1918. His promotion to Captain was made substantive on 15 November 1919.

After the disbandment of his regiment in 1921, Newton-King transferred to 1/102nd Bombay Grenadiers, remaining with them until September 1932, when posted to the 4/9th Punjabis before being advanced to Major on 15 November 1933 and returning to the Bombay Grenadiers (2nd Battalion) in April 1934.

Newton-King served with the Grenadiers on the North West Frontier 1936-37 as Second in Command, 2/4th Bombay Grenadiers, seeing action in the Khaisora operations from 5 December 1936 to 30 January 1937 and in Waziristan, 8 July 1937 to 7 December 1937. He commanded the regiment at Secunderabad from 1941 and on Famine Relief in Bengal in 1943. He was then posted in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as Commandant of the Bombay Grenadiers Training Centre (10/4th Grenadiers) and remained in this post until Partition in 1947.

After Independence, Newton-King was appointed as Colonel and Commandant of the new Indian Army Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Centre at Jubbalpore and finally left India on retirement in April 1953. His Indian Independence Medal is confirmed on the Indian Card Indexes at the Army Medal Office.

Newton-King was one of the last British Officers to remain on service in India after Partition and Independence. In the Indian Army List of February 1951, he tops the list of British officers still serving in India - and was appointed O.B.E. in the first of the new Queen's 1953 New Years Honours' Lists, on which he is shown as ‘Colonel (Temporary) Richard Mowbray Newton-King (I.A.730), Special List, ex-Indian Army, at present on loan to the Government of India’. He finally embarked at Bombay on the Cicilia bound for England on 15 April 1953 and was granted the honorary rank of Colonel later the same year. He died at Hampton Wick, Kingston-upon-Thames, in April 1966.

Sold with copied research.