Lanceray Arthur Newnham

Temporary Colonel Lanceray Arthur Newnham GC MC, 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 Two.

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 the 18th of December 1943. His other awards included the Military Cross. He was born on the 3rd of August 1889 in India.