Gerald Loxley
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United Kingdom
RNAS; Royal Air ForceMajor Gerald Loxley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 31 January 1885 Fairford, Gloucestershire, UK |
| Died | 29 September 1950 Hereford, Herefordshire, UK |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch | RNAS; Royal Air Force |
| Service years | 1915–1920 |
| Rank | Major |
| Conflicts | World War I |
| Awards |  Air Force Cross Légion d'honneur Corona d'Italia |
| Relations | Earls of Stamford and Warrington |
| Other work | United Nations |
Major Gerald Herbert Loxley AFC (1885–1950) was a decorated British aviator of the First World War deployed in military intelligence,[1] before serving with the United Nations in Switzerland.[2][not specific enough to verify]
Family
Born on 31 January 1885 at Fairford, Gloucestershire, a vicar's son,[3] he was named after his godfather, Sir Herbert Brewer.
Loxley attended Summer Fields School and Malvern College before studying jurisprudence at Oriel College, Oxford.[4]
His World War I service in the Royal Naval Air Service saw action as an air pilot[5][not specific enough to verify] before being appointed to a distinguished position in aerial reconnaissance,[6] advising the Director-General of Aircraft Production (Ministry of Munitions) in Paris.[7] He was promoted to the rank of major upon the creation of the Royal Air Force in 1919.
Later in life Loxley served as a diplomat at the United Nations Organization at Geneva.[8][not specific enough to verify]
The 5th child and 4th son of the Revd Canon Arthur Smart Loxley, son of John Loxley of Norcott Court, a manor house at Northchurch in Hertfordshire, he was the only one of the Loxley brothers to survive World War I.[9] In 1930 he married Alice Blundell Booth (died 1955, leaving no children), a cousin of the Booth baronets.[10] Through Julia Maria Heath[11] a collateral ancestor of his was the poet Lord Byron; and, with Cornish ancestry, his family was also closely related to Lord Dover and the Duncombes.[12]
After suffering a severe stroke, Loxley died on 29 September 1950 at St Mary's Hospital, Burghill, near Hereford.
Honours and awards
Loxley received the Air Force Cross[13] and was invested as a knight of the Legion of Honour by Ferdinand Foch in 1919,[14] having previously been appointed an officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy in 1916.[15]
He received many other military honours as well as being admitted as a freeman of the City of London "for war services".[16]
