Brigadier Rupert Harding-Newman RIP

Kyt · Dec 10, 2007

Brigadier Rupert Harding-Newman - Telegraph

Brigadier Rupert Harding-Newman, who has died aged 99, was probably the last survivor of a handful of Englishmen whose professions had taken them to the Middle East between the First and Second World Wars and whose experience of desert travel and exploration led to the formation of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG).

Rupert Norton Harding-Newman was born at Chippenham, Cambridgeshire, on December 5 1907. He was educated at St Edwards, Oxford, at the same time as Laurence Olivier and Douglas Bader were there.

Harding-Newman went on to Sandhurst. John Hindmarsh, a contemporary who won the Le Mans 24-hour road race in 1935, drove him around the race-track at Brooklands, and on one occasion persuaded him not to jump from a faulty car because they were still travelling at 60 mph.

He was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) in 1928 and joined 5 RTR. Two years later he was posted to 5 Armoured Car Company in Abbassia, Egypt. He used any excuse to get out into the desert to try out new vehicles - Riley 9s, Jowetts and Crossleys 30cwt - and would camp there for several days at a time.

In the spring of 1931 Harding-Newman drove an Austin Seven overland back to England to attend a course at Bovington and, the following year, accompanied Major (later Brigadier) Ralph Bagnold on a long trip to northern Chad. He was the group's mechanic and sometimes did the cooking as well.

Using sun compasses, they learned how to navigate vast expanses of often featureless desert and mastered the art of driving vehicles over huge sand dunes without overturning or getting stuck. Bagnold's aim was to create small, independent units of extraordinary mobility and endurance which would pose an apparent threat to the enemy out of all proportion to the reality.

After the outbreak of the Second World War when, supported by General Wavell, Bagnold formed the LRDG, Harding-Newman was serving with the military mission to the Egyptian Army and was not permitted to join him.

Harding-Newman went on to Staff College, Haifa, then to HQ 8th Army and, in 1942, he was brigade major of 22 Armoured Brigade. In May and June the brigade was continuously in action for three weeks and he was awarded an MC. The citation stated that he was always calm and clear on the wireless despite having to do most of his work under shellfire.

Shortly before the Battle of El Alamein Harding-Newman was commanding 3 County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) when he found himself posted to the War Office, where they required an officer with his experience of desert warfare.

Harding-Newman commanded 8 RTR in BAOR from 1950 to 1952 and then moved to the War Office. Promoted brigadier, in 1958 he commanded the Royal Armoured Corps Centre at Bovington. He was an ADC to the Queen from 1958 to 1961, when he retired from the Army.

He moved to Somerset for 10 years before returning to Dorset and finally settling in Scotland. He remained active until he was well into his nineties, gardening, serving as a churchwarden and using his mechanical skills to help his neighbours with any problems with their machinery.

Rupert Harding-Newman died on October 22. He married, in 1939, in Cairo Cathedral, Muriel Scale. She predeceased him and he is survived by their son and twin daughters.
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Antipodean Andy · Dec 10, 2007

A good innings. RIP.

spidge · Dec 10, 2007

Another long and distinguished career. RIP

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