Rex King-Clark

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Lieutenant-Colonel Robert "Rex" King-Clark (born 27 November 1913 died 29 December 2007) MBE MC[1] was a British pilot, racer, photographer, author, and diarist.

King-Clark was born 27 November 1913, son of Alexander King Clark and Katherine Margaret Elizabeth Mainwaring Knocker.[1] He was educated at the Loretto School.[2]

King-Clark served in the Manchester Regiment from 1934, and flew a Miles Whitney Straight airplane as far as Egypt, Singapore, and Bali. During March 1937, he flew aerial reconnaissance flights of the harbor at Benghazi, Africa, taking photographs which were later used by the Royal Air Force during World War II. He also served in Palestine, where he commanded one of Orde Wingate’s three Special Night Squads, fighting Arab guerillas from 1936 to 1938, for which he was awarded the Military Cross. Outside his army career, he raced cars, driving a Monoposto MGJ4 in 1936 at Brooklands, and achieving 59 mph in a Lombard as well a racing a 1933 Singer 9 on Filey Sands. These achievements qualified him to become a member of the prestigious British Racing Drivers' Club. His diaries of these years became the book Free for a Blast.

During World War II, he participated in the Battle of France, and was evacuated from Dunkirk.[3] He fought in the Battle of Kohima on the Burma/India border in 1944, and wrote two books from his diaries of those times, The Battle for Kohima, and Forward From Kohima.

King-Clark was promoted Captain in 1942 and Major in 1947 (although he was already acting in that rank). He married Jean May Evelyn Campbell, on 16 January 1950. They had two children, Robert Campbell Clark (born 28 October 1950), and Catherine Mainwaring Clark (born 30 October 1952).[1] He retired from the King's Regiment with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1958.

King-Clark was one of last two surviving drivers who raced at Brooklands before World War II, and was the oldest surviving member of the British Racing Drivers' Club. He continued to be involved in the reconstruction of classic race cars until late in his life.[4][5]

[edit] Bibliography

  • Free for a Blast, ISBN 0-903243-07-5 ISBN 9780903243070. The author's experiences racing and soldiering with the Manchester Regiment from 1934 to 1939. Grenville Publishing Company Limited, England, (December 31, 1988).
  • The Battle for Kohima 1944: The Narrative of the 2nd Battalion the Manchester Regiment - The Machine Gun Battalion of the British 2nd Division ISBN 1-873907-01-X. Fleur de Lys Publishers (October 1995)
  • Forward From Kohima - A Burma Diary November 1944 to May 1945 ISBN 1-873907-11-7 Fleur de Lys Publishers (2003).
  • Jack Churchill: Unlimited Boldness, ISBN 1-873907-06-0, an account of the fantastic career of 'Mad Jack' Churchill, who fought World War 2 with a sword, and bow and arrows. Fleur-de-Lys Publishers (January 1997).

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "Lt.-Col. Robert King-Clark", Burke's Peerage, 107th edition, volume 1, page 804. cited by thePeerage.com. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  2. ^ "Rex King-Clark", Radnorian, April 23, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  3. ^ Fire in the Night, by John Bierman and Colin Smith, Random House. First chapter online at the New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  4. ^ "Forgotten Brooklands driver...!", 2007-05-16, Pre War Car. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  5. ^ "David Swann Brooklands Red". Retrieved 2007-11-07.

[edit] External links