Gerald Loxley | |
---|---|
Major Gerald Loxley
at Ledbury in 1946 |
|
Born |
Fairford, Gloucestershire |
31 January 1885
Died | 29 September 1950 Hereford, Herefordshire |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | RNAS; Royal Air Force |
Years of service | 1915-1920 |
Rank | Major |
Battles/wars | World War I |
Awards |
Légion d'honneur Corona d'Italia |
Other work | United Nations |
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.
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.
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.