Lance Newnham

Temporary Colonel Lanceray Arthur Newnham GC MC (3 August 1889 – 18 December 1943), known as Lance or Lan Newnham, of The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) and the British Army Aid Group was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the gallantry he showed in resisting Japanese torture during World War II.

Early Life
Newham was born on 3 August 1889 in India.

First World War
Newnham was first deployed to France to join the British Expeditionary Force as a Captain with the Middlesex Regiment in August 1915. (World War I Medal Index Cards Index, National Archive, Kew, England).

On 5 February 1916 he was appointed as the Brigade Major, 169th (Infantry) Brigade, 56th (London) Division, Territorial Force, holding the post thru the severe fighting of the Somme Offensive of 1916 & Arras Offensive of 1917, until relinquishing it on 27 May 1917. ('56th Division' by C.H. Dudley-Ward, Pub. 1921)

On 1 January 1917 Captain Newnham was awarded the Military Cross for service during the First World War.

On 7 January 1918 he married Phillys Edith Henderson at St. Mary's Church, Finchely, Middlesex, England. (Marriage Register, England & Wales).

He ended the war with the rank of temporary Brigadier-General. (Medal Index Card)

Second World War
He was taken prisoner when the Japanese invaded Hong Kong 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 in Sham Shui Prison Camp on 18 December 1943.

He is buried at the Stanley Military Cemetery in Hong Kong.