Major Lionel Randolph Coleridge Sumner, MC

 

 

Major Lionel Randolph Coleridge Sumner, MC

 1893-1960

 Dress Tunic, c. 1911

 

 Sumner joined the 5th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment on the 23rd of December, 1911, as a second lieutenant. Prior to 1908, the 5th Battalion had been designated as the 2nd Volunteer Battalion. The regiment had been organized in 1859 as the 2nd Gloucestershire Rifle Volunteers and retained its rifle green uniforms until 1925. Sumner was advanced to lieutenant in 1913. He became a temporary captain on the 10th of June, 1915, which was made permanent in June of 1916. Sumner was made acting major of the 5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment for a brief period in June of 1918 whilst serving as second in command. He was mentioned in despatches on the 16th of March, 1919, and awarded the Military Cross. In 1920 Sumner went to Nigeria to serve as an administrative officer in the Nigerian Civil Service. He was placed on the Territorial Reserve list in 1922. Sumner remained in Nigeria until retiring in 1944 as a District Commissioner. He then returned to England at Southmead.

 

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Departed the collection in 2024.

Major Nigel Rutherford-Young

 

 

Major Nigel Rutherford-Young

 1942-

 Mess Dress, c. 1968

 

 Rutherford-Young joined the 1st Battalion of the London Scottish Regiment in 1961 as a private soldier. He was appointed an Officer Cadet in 1967 and gazetted to the reorganized G (London Scottish) Company, 51st Highland Volunteers on the 2nd of May, 1968. Rutherford-Young was advanced to lieutenant in 1970 and received his captaincy in 1972. He was promoted to major on the 1st of November, 1974, and assumed command of the London Scottish Company. In 1994 the 1st Battalion, 51st Highland Volunteers, of which the London Scottish Company was assigned, was redesignated as the 3rd (Volunteer) Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment). Rutherford-Young retired from the Black Watch (Volunteers) on the 6th of January 1998.

 

Major John Darling Young, KStJ

 

 

Major John Darling Young, KStJ

 1910-1988

 Mess Dress, c. 1932

 

 John D. Young was born in Australia and educated at Eton and Oxford. He was gazetted to The Life Guards on the 3rd of September, 1932. Young was advanced to lieutenant in 1934. He was made a temporary captain in January of 1938 and detached to the Yorkshire Dragoons as an adjutant. Young’s captaincy was made permanent on the 2nd of March that year. Returned to The Life Guards, he was promoted to the rank of temporary major in December of 1942. Young retired from the service on the 27th of April, 1946, and was granted the honorary rank of major. During the Second World War, he served in the Middle East and Italy. Young’s wife inherited the Thornton Hall estate upon the death of her brother in 1944, where they resided in Young’s retirement. He was appointed High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire in 1960 and Deputy Lieutenant there in 1968. On the 3rd of May, 1969, Young was made Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire and subsequently created a Knight of St. John on the 22nd of August. He served as a magistrate on the Stony Stratford Bench from 1969 to 1974.

Captain John Alexander Harper Gow

 

 

Captain John Alexander Harper Gow

 1926-2022

 Forage Cap, c. 1945

 

 Gow was the son of Brigadier John Wesley Harper Gow, CBE, late of the Scots Guards. The family resided at Hallhill House of Howwood in Scotland. Gow was gazetted to the Scots Guards on the 25th of May, 1945. He had served in the ranks from September of 1944. Gow was advanced to W.S. (War Substantive) lieutenant in November of 1945. He joined the 3rd (Tank) Battalion of the regiment just prior to its disbandment, arriving in Germany in January of 1946. Gow was then posted to the 1st Battalion in Italy before returning to England with the Training Battalion. In January of 1949, he was made a permanent lieutenant. Gow transferred to the Black Watch (Territorial Army) in April of 1954, becoming a captain. He resigned his commission on the 20th of February, 1957. Later in life, Gow joined the Royal Company of Archers and was made a Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Ayr and Arran in 1988.