Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Richard Rawlinson,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(9 August 1894 – 20 April 1984) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer who served on the Western Front, and then in

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

in both World Wars. He served as head of MI.9a, and of MI.19. In peacetime, he developed a very successful career as a screenwriter and also produced several films.

Early life

Rawlinson was born in London, England, on 9 August 1894, the son of barrister Thomas Arthur Rawlinson and Gertrude Hamilton, daughter of barrister William Melmoth Walters.Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 1646 The Rawlinsons were Hampshire landed gentry, Thomas Arthur Rawlinson being nephew of the judge Sir Christopher Rawlinson. He was educated at

Windlesham House School Windlesham House School is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 4 to 13 on the South Downs, in Pulborough, West Sussex, England. It was founded in 1837 by Charles Robert Malden and was the first boys' preparatory sc ...

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

War service

Already a cadet in the

Officer Training Corps The University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), also known as the Officers' Training Corps (OTC), are British Army reserve units, under the command of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which recruit exclusively from universities and focus on ...

, Rawlinson was commissioned on 1 September 1914 as a temporary second lieutenant in the war-raised 6th (Service) Battalion of The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment). He was promoted to temporary

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 29 December 1914. After a year's service he obtained a

regular Regular may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * "Regular" (Badfinger song) * Regular tunings of stringed instruments, tunings with equal intervals between the paired notes of successive open strings Other uses * Regular character, ...

commission with the

York and Lancaster Regiment The York and Lancaster Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1968. The regiment was created in the Childers Reforms of 1881 by the amalgamation of the 65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment of ...

, serving again as a second lieutenant. On 26 June 1916, he was seconded to the newly formed

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a Regiment, corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in the World War I, First World War. Th ...

and promoted back to lieutenant on 21 December 1916. After he was wounded in action he began a career in Military Intelligence, 'employed at the War Office' in MI.1(a) as an acting major. He was awarded an MBE for his war service and resigned his commission on 27 February 1919. On 14 April 1939, he transferred from the Reserve of Officers of the York and Lancaster Regiment to the

Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Arm ...

and returned to active service. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served with the rank of major as the head of MI.9(a), a department of MI.9 responsible for vetting enemy prisoners of war. The department was later reconstituted as MI.19 in its own right. He retired from the service with the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel on 5 January 1946.

Honours and decorations

In the

1945 New Year Honours The 1945 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1945 for the Britis ...

, the then Major (temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) Rawlinson was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE), an advance on the recognition he had received after the previous war. On 23 May 1947, he was appointed

Officer of the Legion of Merit An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

"in recognition of distinguished services in the cause of the Allies".

Personal life

Rawlinson married Alisa Margaret Harrington Grayson on 20 December 1916. She was the daughter of Sir Henry Grayson, Bt., the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Member of Parliament for

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

from 1918 to 1922. They had two sons: Michael Grayson Rawlinson (born 27 March 1918, died 1941

KIA Kia Corporation (, formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業) and Kia Motors Corporation) is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second larges ...

), and Peter Anthony Grayson Rawlinson (born 26 June 1919, died 28 June 2006), who became the life-peer Lord Rawlinson of Ewell. Rawlinson had a strong bond with the Grayson family. He was at Pembroke with Dennys Grayson, who served with the Irish Guards in Great War along with his brother, Rupert Grayson, and

John Kipling Second Lieutenant John Kipling (17 August 1897 – 27 September 1915) was a British Army officer. The only son of English author Rudyard Kipling, during World War I, his father used his influence to gain Kipling a commission in the British ...

, son of

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

. The shell that wounded Rupert Grayson in 1915 was the one that killed John Kipling. Dennys Grayson gave his son the distinctive name of Rudyard - as opposed to the unremarkable John - when the child was born the following year. Rawlinson married the sister of the Grayson brothers, Alisa, and the friends became family. Rudyard Kipling was keen to maintain contact with the young people who knew his beloved son, especially Rupert. It was through Rupert that Rawlinson was introduced to Kipling and was commissioned to write the screenplays to some of his works. Rawlinson died 20 April 1984 in

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, England.

Partial filmography

* ''

Leap Year A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) compared to a common year. The 366th day (or 13th month) is added to keep t ...

'' (1932) * ''

The Blarney Stone The Blarney Stone () is a block of Carboniferous limestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney, about from the centre of Cork (city), Cork City, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the ...

'' (1933) * ''

A Cuckoo in the Nest ''A Cuckoo in the Nest'' is a farce by the English playwright Ben Travers. It was first given at the Aldwych Theatre, London, the second in the series of twelve Aldwych farces presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls at the theatre between 1923 ...

'' (1933) * ''

Aunt Sally Aunt Sally is a traditional England, English game usually played in Pub game, pub gardens and fairgrounds, in which players throw sticks or battens at a ball, known as a 'dolly', balanced on top of a stick; traditionally, a model of an old woma ...

'' (1933) * '' Menace'' (1934) * '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1934) * '' Man of the Moment'' (1935) *''

Lancashire Luck ''Lancashire Luck'' is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Henry Cass. It is notable as the film debut of Wendy Hiller, and the first credited appearance of Nigel Stock. Plot The film is set around the paterfamilia of the Lovejoy family in ...

'' (1937) * '' The Last Curtain'' (1937) * '' Missing, Believed Married'' (1937) * ''

King Solomon's Mines ''King Solomon's Mines'' is an 1885 popular fiction, popular novel by the English Victorian literature, Victorian adventure writer and fable, fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. Published by Cassell and Company, it tells of an expedition through an ...

'' (1937) *''

Strange Boarders ''Strange Boarders'' is a 1938 British comedy thriller film, directed by Herbert Mason, produced by Edward Black and written by Sidney Gilliat and A. R. Rawlinson. It stars Tom Walls, Renée Saint-Cyr, Googie Withers and Ronald Adam. The f ...

'' (1938) * '' John Halifax'' (1938) * '' Crackerjack'' (1938) * '' The Face at the Window'' (1939) * '' The Chinese Bungalow'' (1940) * '' This England'' (1941) * ''

The White Unicorn ''The White Unicorn'' is a 1947 British drama film directed by Bernard Knowles and starring Margaret Lockwood, Joan Greenwood, Ian Hunter and Dennis Price. Kyra Vayne appeared as the singer. It was made at Walton Studios by the independent prod ...

'' (1947) * ''

Calling Paul Temple ''Calling Paul Temple'' is a 1948 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring John Bentley, Dinah Sheridan and Margaretta Scott. It was the second in a series of four Paul Temple films distributed by Butcher's Film Service. The ...

'' (1948) * ''

The Story of Shirley Yorke ''The Story of Shirley Yorke'' is a 1948 British second feature ('B') drama film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Derek Farr, Dinah Sheridan and Margaretta Scott. It was written by Kathleen Butler, A.R. Rawlinson and Rogers based on t ...

'' (1948) * ''

Meet Simon Cherry ''Meet Simon Cherry'' is a 1949 British second feature ('B') mystery film directed by Godfrey Grayson and starring Hugh Moxey. The screenplay was by Grayson and A. R. Rawlinson based on the BBC radio series ''Meet the Rev'' by Gale Pedrick, fea ...

'' (1949) * '' Celia'' (1949) * '' Dark Secret'' (1949) * ''

There Was a Young Lady ''There Was a Young Lady'' is a 1953 British second feature ('B') comedy film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray and Sydney Tafler. It was written by Vernon Harris, Huntington and John Jowett. The film mar ...

'' (1953) * ''

Gaolbreak ''Gaolbreak'' is a 1962 British second feature crime film directed by Francis Searle and starring Peter Reynolds, Avice Landone and Carol White. It was written by A.R. Rawlinson. The film was released as a supporting feature to '' Tiara Tahiti ...

'' (1962)

References

*The War List of the University of Cambridge, p. 268 *The Letters of Rudyard Kipling, 1931–1936, p. 307

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlinson, A.R 1894 births 1984 deaths Writers from London English male screenwriters English film producers British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II York and Lancaster Regiment officers Queen's Royal Regiment officers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Officers of the Legion of Merit Machine Gun Corps officers People educated at Rugby School People educated at Windlesham House School Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Screenwriters of Sexton Blake 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century English businesspeople Military personnel from London