Allegiance United Kingdom Battles/wars World War I Rank Major Other work United Nations | Years of service 1915-1920 Battles and wars World War I Service/branch Royal Naval Air Service | |
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Born 31 January 1885
Fairford, Gloucestershire ( 1885-01-31 ) Died 29 September 1950, Herefordshire, United Kingdom Awards Legion of Honour, Order of the Crown of Italy | ||
Gerald Herbert Loxley (1885–1950) was a decorated British aviator of the First World War deployed in military intelligence, before serving with the United Nations.
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Biography
Born on 31 January 1885 at Fairford, Gloucestershire, a vicar's son, he was named after his godfather Sir Herbert Brewer. Loxley attended Summer Fields School and Malvern College before going up to read Jurisprudence at Oriel College, Oxford.
His World War I service in the Royal Naval Air Service saw action as an air pilot before he was appointed to a distinguished position in aerial reconnaissance, advising the director-general of aircraft production (Ministry of Munitions) in Paris. He was confirmed in the rank of Major upon the creation of the Royal Air Force in 1919.
Later in life he worked as a diplomat at the United Nations Organization in Geneva.
Family
The 5th child and 4th son of the Revd Canon Arthur Smart Loxley, son of John Loxley of Norcott Court, near Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, he was the only one of the Loxley brothers to survive the Great War. In 1930 he married Alice Blundell Booth (died 1955, leaving no children), a descendant of that old Cheshire family. Through Julia Maria Heath a collateral ancestor of his was the poet Lord Byron; and, with Cornish ancestry, his family was also closely related to Lord Dover and the Duncombes.
After suffering a severe stroke, Loxley died on 29 September 1950 at St. Mary's Hospital, Burghill, near Hereford.
Honours and awards
Loxley was invested as a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by Marshal Foch in 1919, having been appointed Ufficiale of the Corona d'Italia in 1916. He received many other military honours as well as being admitted as a Freeman of the City of London "for War Services".