| Alan Rice-Oxley | |
| Birth Name: | Alan Rice Oxley |
| Birth Date: | 1896 7, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, England |
| Placeofburial: | St Mary Magdalene churchyard, Loders, Dorset, England |
| Placeofburial Coordinates: | 50.7458°N -2.7221°W |
| Allegiance: | United Kingdom |
| Branch: | British Army Royal Air Force |
| Serviceyears: | 1914–1921 |
| Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Unit: | |
| Battles: | First World War Western Front Italian Front |
| Awards: | Distinguished Flying Cross |
| Laterwork: | Police officer, North Borneo Farmer, Dorset |
Lieutenant Alan Rice-Oxley (1 July 1896 – 21 July 1961) was a British pilot during World War I. He became a flying ace in 1918, credited with six aerial victories.[1]
He was born as Alan Rice Oxley in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire on 1 July 1896.[2] His parents were Edward Charles Rice Oxley (c. 185414 Mar 1927)[3] and Emily Armstrong[4] (18161883)[5] His parents had married in Shrewsbury on 14 January 1896. This was his father's second marriage, his father's first wife, Ann Eliza Hall[6] (c. 18571894) had borne 5 children and Rice was the middle child of three from the second marriage. Rice-Oxley was educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys, which he attended between January 1908 and July 1914.
Rice-Oxley first served as a private in the 21st (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (1st Surrey Rifles), until 5 February 1915 when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 4th Battalion, The King's (Shropshire Light Infantry).
He was seconded for duty with the Royal Flying Corps, and appointed a flying officer on 10 September 1916. He trained as a pilot and initially served with No. 15 Squadron in France, tasked with artillery-spotting and reconnaissance. He was wounded in action during the Battle of the Somme in October 1916,[7] and after recuperating became a fighter pilot. He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 July 1917. Subsequently, in 1918 he joined the Sopwith Camel equipped No. 45 Squadron on the Italian Front. He recorded his first victories in a combat on 12 July 1918. Piloting Camel D8240, he and Captain Cedric Howell engaged a formation of between ten and fifteen Austro-Hungarian aircraft in proximity to the town of Feltre. In the ensuing dogfight Rice-Oxley destroyed two of the enemy, and for his conduct in this action was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.[1] Over the course of the following three days, he destroyed another enemy aircraft and drove a further two down out of control. On 16 August he was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain, and achieved his sixth and final victory on 22 August.
Rice-Oxley was transferred to the RAF's unemployed list on 26 March 1919, and relinquished his commission in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry on 30 September 1921.
In 1921 Rice-Oxley emigrated to North Borneo to join the armed constabulary there,[8] and was appointed as an officer of Class B in the following year, with the rank of captain.[9] His duties included showing visitors around and, in 1926, while motoring with the author Somerset Maugham, Rice-Oxley came across a 13-foot (4-metre) snake and killed it with his malacca cane.[10] He was appointed Superintendent of Police, Adjutant, and Superintendent of Prisons, in Jesselton in 1929.[11] His career continued apace and he attained the position of Commissioner of Police.[12] On 12 November 1936 he officially changed his name from Alan Rice Oxley to Alan Rice-Oxley by deed poll.
In early 1937 he married Valerie Helen Gardner.[13] Valerie was the widow of a fellow former RAF officer, Herbert Gardner, who had left the RAF in 1926 to move to the Federated Malay States, but was killed in Marseille in 1929.[14] After their marriage the coupled sailed in May 1937 from London on the P&O SS Ranchi; after the outbreak of the second World War the couple returned to England; later during the war Valerie remained in England when Rice-Oxley returned to North Borneo. From 1942–1945 Rice-Oxley was interned by the Japanese as a civilian internee at Batu Lintang camp near Kuching, Sarawak.[12] Post-war, he returned to Britain and was working as a dairy farmer at Knowle Farm, Uploders, Dorset, when he died on 21 July 1961. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Mary Magdalene, Loders, Dorset.[15]