Arthur Rawlins

Arthur Rawlins CIE CBE DSO
Born (1866-05-15)15 May 1866
Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India
Died 16 November 1943(1943-11-16) (aged 77)
Weston-super-Mare, England
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
British Raj British Indian Army
Years of service 1889-1920
Rank Lieutenant-Colonel
Commands held 1st Battalion, 24th Punjabis
Battles/wars Tirah Campaign
Somaliland Campaign
First World War
Awards Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Distinguished Service Order, Mentioned in Dispatches

Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Kennedy Rawlins CIE CBE DSO JP (15 May 1866 – 16 November 1943) was a British Indian Army officer.

Rawlins was the son of Major-General James Sebastian Rawlins, a senior officer of the Indian Staff Corps, and Emma Augusta Wilmot Parke. Born in Dharamsala, India, he was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

He was commissioned into the East Surrey Regiment on 21 December 1889, but soon transferred to the Indian Staff Corps where he was under his father's command. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 19 May 1892 and on 20 May 1898 was made a Companion of Distinguished Service Order.[1] Rawlins fought in the North-West Frontier between 1897 and 1903, notably being involved in the Tirah Campaign with the 11th Regiment of Punjab Infantry, later the 24th Punjabis. He was deployed in the Somaliland Campaign between 1903 and 1904 and gained the rank of Major on 21 December 1907.[2] During the First World War his regiment served in Egypt and then in Mesopotamia, where it fought the Battles of Shaiba, Ctesiphon and the Siege of Kut al Amara in 1915, where it was captured by the Turks. Rawlins was Mentioned in Dispatches during the action.[3] The 24th Punjabis returned to Mesopotamia in April 1917, after reforming, and fought in the Battle of Khan Baghdadi. Rawlins later served in Salonika and the Russian Transcaucasia, being promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and taking command of the regiment.[4] On 6 January 1919 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, having already been made a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in recognition of his services with the Indian Army.[5]

Following his retirement from the Army, Rawlins moved to England and lived at Weston-super-Mare, where he was a Justice of the Peace. He died unmarried in 1943. Rawlins was the great-uncle of Kenneth Spring.

References

  1. ↑ The India List and India Office List (Harrison, 1819), p.151.
  2. ↑ The London Gazette (7 February 1908) https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28107/page/900/data.pdf
  3. ↑ The London Gazette (20 December 1915) https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29408/supplement/12665/data.pdf
  4. ↑ Rizvi, Brig SHA. (1984). Veteran Campaigners – A History of the Punjab Regiment 1759-1981. Lahore: Wajidalis.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette (6 January 1919) https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/13379/page/86/data.pdf
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