{{Short description|Flying ace and police chief (1896–1961)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Alan Rice-Oxley | office = Commandant of the North Borneo Armed Constabulary | image = File:Alan Rice-Oxley and Son.jpg | caption = Rice-Oxley with his son. | appointer = Charles Robert Smith | predecessor = Wilfrid Carne Cole-Adams | successor = Lionel Matthews | term_start = September 1942 | term_end = January 1943 | birth_name = Alan Rice Oxley | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1896|7|1}} | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1961|7|21|1896|7|1}} | birth_place = Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, England | death_place = | placeofburial_label = | resting_place = St Mary Magdalene churchyard, Loders, Dorset, England<br/> {{coord|50|44|44.8|N|2|43|19.6|W|display=inline}} | nickname = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = British Army<br />Royal Air Force | service_years = 1914–1921 | rank = Lieutenant | unit = {{plainlist| * London Regiment (1st Surrey Rifles) * The King's (Shropshire Light Infantry) * No. 15 Squadron RFC * No. 41 Squadron RFC * No. 45 Squadron RAF }} | commands = | battles = {{tree list}} *World War II **Western Front **Italian Front *World War II {{tree list/end}} | awards = Distinguished Flying Cross | relations = }} 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.<ref name="theaerodrome">{{cite web |url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/rice-oxley.php |title=Alan Rice-Oxley |work=The Aerodrome |year=2015 |access-date=5 December 2015}}</ref>
==Early life== He was born as '''Alan Rice Oxley''' in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire on 1 July 1896.<ref name="National Archives Discovery">{{cite web |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8212632 |title=Alan Rice-Oxley |work=National Archives |year=2016 |access-date=19 February 2016}}</ref> His parents were Edward Charles Rice Oxley (c. 1854{{snd}}14 Mar 1927)<ref name=Probate-Charles>{{ cite web |title=Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Smellie and the year of death 1929, p. 531 |website=Find a Will Service |pages=531 |url=https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Oxley&yearOfDeath=1927&page=1#calendar |access-date=2020-03-13 }}</ref> and Emily Armstrong<ref name=Armstrong>{{Cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=muVWwJTZ5ve8wDWCEGPV9Q&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=14 March 2020|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} </ref> (1816{{snd}}1883)<ref name=Probate-Emily>{{ cite web |title=Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Smellie and the year of death 1950, p. 209 |website=Find a Will Service |pages=209 |url=https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Oxley&yearOfDeath=1950&page=1#calendar |access-date=2020-03-13 }}</ref> 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<ref name=Eliza>{{Cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=sRp2ABl3MOB56Ev851r6vA&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=14 March 2020|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} </ref> (c. 1857{{snd}}1894) 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.{{sfnp|Watford Grammar School|2002|p=44}}
==Military career== alt=A slightly side-on front view of a line of early aircraft on a flat piece of land. People are standing with the aircraft, with a group standing in front of the machines. Several tent-like structures can be seen in the background.|thumb|Sopwith Camels of No. 45 Squadron RFC at an airfield in Italy, December 1917. 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).<ref>{{London Gazette |date=2 February 1915 |supp=y |issue=29059 |page=1198}}</ref>
He was seconded for duty with the Royal Flying Corps,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=3 October 1916 |issue=29772 |page=9564 |nolink=yes}}</ref> and appointed a flying officer on 10 September 1916.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=3 October 1916 |supp=y |issue=29773 |page=9636 |nolink=yes}}</ref> He trained as a pilot and initially served with No. 15 Squadron in France, tasked with artillery-spotting and reconnaissance.{{sfnp|Shores|Franks|Guest|1990|p=319}} He was wounded in action during the Battle of the Somme in October 1916,<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1916/1916%20-%200900.html |title=The Roll of Honour: Wounded |issue=408 |volume=VIII |page=896 |journal=Flight |date=19 October 1916 |access-date=5 December 2015}}</ref> and after recuperating became a fighter pilot. He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 July 1917.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=3 August 1917 |supp=y |issue=30217 |page=7978 |nolink=yes}}</ref> 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.<ref name="theaerodrome"/> Over the course of the following three days, he destroyed another enemy aircraft and drove a further two down out of control.{{sfnp|Shores|Franks|Guest|1990|p=319}} On 16 August he was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=13 September 1918 |issue=30898 |page=10786 |nolink=yes}}</ref> and achieved his sixth and final victory on 22 August.{{sfnp|Shores|Franks|Guest|1990|p=319}}
Rice-Oxley was transferred to the RAF's unemployed list on 26 March 1919,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=8 April 1919 |issue=31279 |page=4575 |nolink=yes}}</ref> and relinquished his commission in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry on 30 September 1921.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=16 December 1921 |supp=y |issue=32552 |page=10348 |nolink=yes}}</ref>
==Later life== In 1921 Rice-Oxley emigrated to North Borneo to join the North Borneo Armed Constabulary,<ref name=Temp-Appointment>{{ cite journal |title=Untitled news item |journal=The Straits Times |issue=7868 |pages=8 |date=1921-07-16 }}</ref> and was appointed as an officer of Class B in the following year, with the rank of captain.<ref name=Class-B>{{ cite journal |title=Untitled news item |journal=The Straits Times |issue=8085 |pages=8 |date=1922-02-18 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=Snake>{{ cite journal |title=Untitled news item |journal=The Straits Times |issue=9558 |pages=8 |date=1926-03-02 }}</ref> He was appointed Superintendent of Police, Adjutant, and Superintendent of Prisons, in Jesselton in 1929.<ref name=Superintendant>{{ cite journal |title=Social and Personal |journal=The Straits Times |issue=10636 |pages=8 |date=1929-02-12 }}</ref> His career continued apace and he attained the position of Commandant of the Constabulary.<ref name="borneopow">{{cite journal |journal=The Borneo Bugle |publisher=Borneo Prisoners of War Relatives Group |title=Vale - Sapper Carl Edgar 'Snowy' Jensen WX9682 – 2/6th Field Park Company Royal Australian Engineers |first1=Clive |last1=Rosser |first2=Allan |last2=Cresswell |page=6 |date=1 August 2003 |volume=2 |issue=1 |url=http://www.borneopow.info/bugle/Borneo%20Bugle6.pdf |access-date=5 December 2015}}</ref> On 12 November 1936 he officially changed his name from Alan Rice Oxley to Alan Rice-Oxley by deed poll.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=1 December 1936 |issue=34345 |page=7787 |nolink=yes}}</ref>
In early 1937 he married Valerie Helen Gardner.<ref name=Gardner-Oxley>{{Cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=54D6GdL1njvhZn1KPEFc6A&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=14 March 2020|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Rice-Record>{{ cite web |title=Ref: AIR 76/384/148: Name Rice Oxley, Alan Date of Birth: 01 July 1896 |website=The National Archives |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8212632 |access-date=2020-03-14 }}</ref> 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 September 1942 to January 1943, Rice-Oxley was interned by the administration of Japanese Borneo at Berhala Island, where in his duties as the Commandant of the Constabulary, he led an active intelligence network and resistance against the Japanese occupation.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |date=9 October 1946 |title=The SERVICE Man |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-552863750 |access-date=16 January 2026 |website=Trove |series=Vol. 67 No. 3478 |publisher=The Bulletin |pages=18–19 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2012-09-29 |title=WX227 ALF STEVENS & SANDAKAN SECRET UNDERGROUND NETWORK & DREADFUL CONSEQUENCES - CENTRAL STORY |url=https://2nd4thmgb.com.au/story/23730/ |access-date=2026-01-19 |website=2/4th Machine Gun Battalion Ex Members Association}}</ref> In January, Rice-Oxley was moved to Batu Lintang camp near Kuching, Sarawak.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":0" /> He passed the title of Commandant on to Lionel Matthews.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":0" />
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.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=13 February 1962 |issue=42597 |page=1276 |nolink=yes}}</ref> He is buried in the churchyard of St. Mary Magdalene, Loders, Dorset.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.opcdorset.org/LodersFiles/MILodersStMaryMagdalene.html |title=Loders, St Mary Magdalene, Churchyard, Dorset, England, Monumental Inscriptions |work=Dorset Online Parish Clerks |year=2015 |access-date=5 December 2015}}</ref>
==Honours and awards== ;Distinguished Flying Cross :Lt. Alan Rice-Oxley (Shrops. L.I.). ::"In company with another machine this officer attacked an enemy formation of fifteen aeroplanes, and promptly destroyed two of them. He then repeatedly attacked the remaining thirteen machines, who were crowding on his companion, and the battle ended in the destruction of six of the enemy and one driven down out of control. Two days afterwards he destroyed two more enemy aircraft. The gallantry displayed by this officer, and that of his companion, Capt. C. E. Howell, in attacking fifteen machines, was of the very highest order."<ref>{{London Gazette |date=1 November 1918 |supp=y |issue=30989 |page=12971 |nolink=yes}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book |first1=Christopher F. |last1=Shores |first2=Norman |last2=Franks |authorlink2=Norman Franks |first3=Russell F. |last3=Guest |title=Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920 |location=London, UK |publisher=Grub Street |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-948817-19-9 |name-list-style=amp}} * {{cite book |title=A Book of Remembrance 1914–1918 |author=Watford Grammar School |publisher=Naval and Military Press |location=Uckfield, England |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-84342-424-6}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice-Oxley, Alan}} Category:1896 births Category:1961 deaths Category:Burials in Dorset Category:Territorial Force soldiers Category:Military personnel from Hertfordshire Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:People from Kings Langley Category:People educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys Category:London Regiment soldiers Category:King's Shropshire Light Infantry officers Category:Royal Flying Corps officers Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Category:British World War I flying aces Category:British colonial police officers Category:World War II civilian prisoners held by Japan Category:Internees at Batu Lintang camp Category:Commandants of the North Borneo Armed Constabulary