A friend of mine has just acquired a silver tankard presented to Major R J N Norris in India 1944 on his 50th birthday. It was presented by Lt Col W R P Ridgway (Intelligence Officer), Capt A A Greenwood and Lt Nawab Sayyid Murtaza Ali Khan Bahadur. Does anyone have more details/complete names for the British Officers. Lt Bahadur was Indian nobility.
You may already know this, apologies if you do. But the Major was Reginald John Nelson Norris, born in Colchester in 27 Jan 1894, the only son of an army chaplain, lived in Dorset, England died in South Africa 3 May 1977. Photos of Major Reginald John Nelson Norris - Find...
And there's an interesting account of the Intelligence Officer's career here: William Robin Palmer Ridgway, 1900-1962, schoolmaster, soldier and linguist Robin Ridgway Papers - Archives Hub
This is a guess: Auchinleck, C in C Of the Indian Army from 1943, had an ADC in India (and later biographer) named Alexander Greenwood. He retired as a major but could easily have been a captain in 1944. I don't have a copy of this, but I do have a couple of other books I can check.. Edit: yes, it's him. Greenwood, A. A., Field-Marshal Auchinleck (Durham: Pentland Press, 1990) Edit 2: Ridgway was Auchinleck's Private Secretary. Edit 3: Murtaza Ali Khan was nicknamed 'Bachan' and was one of Auchinleck's four ADCs. Auchinleck stayed with his father, Nawab Raza Ali Khan, for the period between his return from North Africa and his reappointment at Indian Commander in Chief. Edit 4: Ronald Hamilton was another ADC, former GSO 1 of 10th Army in Persia and reduced from Lieut Col. to Captain on disbandment of that formation.
Too quick for me Charley Arthur Alexander Greenwood commissioned into the Lincolnshire Regiment 10 Jun 1939. London Gazette 9 June 1939 Army List July 1940 Indian Army List April 1944 u = Qualified in Urdu From the October 1932 Indian Army List: 196 = Telegu (Higher Proficiency or Interpreter 1st Class)
Just to add, I don't know if you've looked Major Greenwood up, but he was responsible for setting up 'private armies' as part of the preparations for the supposed military coup against Harold Wilson, which coincidentally is in the news today.
Was he associated with Walter Walker and Civil Assistance? If so, I never knew that. Edit: apparently, he was his assistant.
My recollection of those rumours and stories is that the military coup against Prime Minister Harold Wilson in 1968 and General Walter Walker retired from the army in 1972, though he was GOC Northern Command 1968-1969, them off to NATO. I have never seen his name linked to the Wilson story. Walker became active in 1974, making political comments and then Civil Assistance appeared - for a very short time. See: Walter Walker (British Army officer) - Wikipedia Long ago I read Pocock's bio of him and other books on the Wilson story - which the Chief Scientist, Solly Zuckerman denounced after attending a dinner meeting. The coup appears in this summary article on released Cabinet papers: Alleged plotter wrote talk of Wilson ‘coup’ was nonsense, UK archives show
