Roland Hayward Rupert Neale
Roland Hayward Rupert Neale (c1897-1941)
1942 Obituary [1]
Colonel ROLAND HAYWARD RUPERT NEALE, R.C.S., who died on active service on 27th May 1941 at the age of forty-four, was elected a Companion of the Institution in 1938.
He was born in Lincolnshire and educated at Shrewsbury School from 1910 to 1914. When only seventeen he entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, but at the expiration of one term he received a commission in the Lincolnshire Regiment and served in France for more than three years, and was severely gassed in 1918. After some service with the Royal Corps of Signals during the 1914-18 war, he was transferred to India and gained rapid promotion.
Shortly after his return to England he was in 1939 promoted to the rank of full Colonel at the early age of forty-two and appointed Chief Signals Officer of the Eastern Command. The following year he held a similar post in the Aldershot Command. In these commands he was responsible for the supervision and maintenance of large numbers of vehicles, and his duties included the training of instrument makers and fitters.
Colonel Neale was also a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.
1941 Obituary [2]
Colonel ROLAND HAYWARD RUPERT NEALE was born on the 26th August, 1896, and was educated at Shrewsbury School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
He was commissioned on the 13th January, 1915, and served throughout the Great War, during which he was attached to R.E. Signals, and eventually transferred to the Royal Corp of Signals on its formation in 1920. He served while a Captain as O.C. W/T Tochi, and was D.C.S.O. Waziristan District 1924-25. He commanded "B" Cavalry Signals India, from May, 1926, to March, 1929; and from May, 1929, to March, 1931, he served with 3rd Divisional Signals at Bulford.
From December, 1932, to May, 1936, he was C.S.O. London District, and in 1936 he was promoted Lieut.- Colonel and was appointed to command 2nd Divisional Signals at Aldershot. He held this command until the outbreak of war when he was promoted Colonel in the Army and appointed C.S.O. Eastern Command, at which he remained until 1940 when he became C.S.O. Aldershot Command. When C.S.O. Eastern Command he had a very responsible position, and it was during this time that his health broke down.
He died early in 1941 after a long illness brought about by active service conditions.
He joined The Institution in 1934 as an Associate Member and was elected a Member in 1937.