Lieutenant-Colonel Alec Harper DSO (12 July 1910 – 11 March 2003) fought with the

Chindit The Chindits, officially as Long Range Penetration Groups, were special operations units of the British and Indian armies which saw action in 1943–1944 during the Burma Campaign of World War II. The British Army Brigadier Orde Wingate fo ...

s, played Polo for England and was honorary secretary of the

Hurlingham Polo Association The Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA) is the governing body for polo in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and many other countries. The Federation of International Polo produces the International Rules of Polo through a coop ...

Early life

Alexander Forrest Harper, always known to his family as Alec, was born in Freshford in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

and educated at

Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the t ...

in Tiverton and then at the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry ...

Military career

Harper was commissioned onto the Unattached List for

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four ...

on 28 August 1930, arrived in India on 29 September 1930 and was attached to the 2nd Battalion,

Lancashire Fusiliers The Lancashire Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that saw distinguished service through many years and wars, including the Second Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, and had many different titles throughout its 2 ...

on 25 October 1930. After one year he was posted to his permanent

unit and joined the 9th Royal Deccan Horse on 26 October 1931. Stationed at Poona. Harper learned to hunt big game and was promoted from zero handicap to a two-goal player by the end of his first regimental polo tournament. In 1936 Harper attended the Equitation School at Saugor, after which he was appointed Quarter Master of his regiment until October 1938, when he was appointed Commandant of the Governor's Bodyguard to the

Governor of Bengal The Governor was the chief colonial administrator in the Bengal presidency, originally the "Presidency of Fort William" and later "Bengal province". In 1644, Gabriel Boughton procured privileges for the East India Company which permitted them t ...

. He retained this position until 1940, after which he returned to his regiment. After the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, keen to see action, volunteered for the 2nd Chindit expedition, which was to drop long range penetration groups into Burma. The objective was to cut the lines of communication serving the Japanese Army operating against the American-led Chinese forces advancing from the north through the

Hukawng Valley The Hukawng Valley ( my, ဟူးကောင်းချိုင့်ဝှမ်း; also spelt Hukaung Valley) is an isolated valley in Myanmar, roughly in area. It is located in Tanaing Township in the Myitkyina District of Kachin State i ...

. Harper took command of the 3rd/9th Gurkha Rifles after their CO became seriously ill and he led a three-day trek north-west through the Gangaw Range to rejoin Brigadier Mike Calvert's 77th Brigade south of

Hopin Hopin ( my, ဟိုပင်မြို့; shn, ဝဵင်းႁူဝ်ပၢင်ႇ; also Hobin) is a town in Mohnyin Township, Kachin State, in north-east Myanmar. It is situated on the main Mandalay – Myitkyina railway line, 7 ...

. At the end of the Burma campaign, Harper accompanied the 3rd/9th to

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

as part of the

5th Indian Division The 5th Indian Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II that fought in several theatres of war and was nicknamed the "Ball of Fire". It was one of the few Allied divisions to fight against three diffe ...

where

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n nationalists had proclaimed independence from

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

rule, and the withdrawal of the Japanese to their barracks had created a breakdown of law and order. Harper led his battalion in an advance through

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of East Java and the second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern border of Java island, on the Mad ...

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern and so ...

, which took two weeks of fighting to restore order and free the Europeans who were being held in internment camps or as hostages. He was awarded an immediate DSO. After attending Staff College at

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of the ...

in 1947 Harper retired from the Army and after a period in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

helping to run his father-in-law's distillery business in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

, he returned to England and settled on the Cowdray Estate in 1955.

Polo and later life

During his playing years Harper represented England, when it inflicted a rare defeat on Argentina in a 23-goal match in 1951, and again in 1953. Harper also played for a number of other teams, including The Mariners, which included

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...

, and for which he had to be made an honorary naval officer. He appeared in the British Open final eight times, mainly for his club, Cowdray Park, and finally gave up at aged 77 after playing 20 chukkas during his final season. Between 1971 and 1989 Harper was a key figure in the sport, as honorary secretary of its governing body, the

. Harper had a long-held theory that in order to play really well, sex was essential before a match. Harper made his living by buying young horses and turning them into polo ponies. He was assisted by his Indian orderly, Bachan Singh, who had also been the regimental rough rider in the Deccan Horse. Harper also became a steward with the

Greyhound Racing Association The Greyhound Racing Association was a UK-based private company founded in 1925 and existed until 2019. It was involved in the management of sports venues, notably greyhound racing stadia. The GRA was responsible for introducing Greyhound racing ...

Publications

Harper wrote two volumes of autobiography: *Horse and Foot (1995) *More Horse and Foot (2002)

Sources

Extracted from the obituary of Lieutenant-Colonel Alec Harper, The Daily Telegraph, 15 March 2003
* London Gazette * Indian Army List (various dates) {{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Alec 1910 births 2003 deaths People from Bath and North East Somerset People educated at Blundell's School Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst English polo players British Indian Army officers Indian Army personnel of World War II Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Lancashire Fusiliers officers English autobiographers