A fine Malayan Emergency Gurkha Division Staff Officers 1955 to 1957 Order of the British Empire, Second World War Escape from Malaya and Singapore and subsequent Iraq and Persia Paiforce, and post-war Arabian Peninsula operations group awarded to Major. A.J. Stead, M.B.E., King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) and Kings Own Border Regiment, formerly 12th Frontier Force Regiment, Indian Army. Stead, educated at Wellington College, then formed part of the last draft for his regiment prior to the fall of Malaya and Singapore, but after service with a mixed unit, ‘made his escape by sampan with one other officer’ to Sumatra from where they were evacuated by the Royal Navy. He then served with Paiforce in Iraq and Persia protecting the oilfields there through to the end of the war. Post-war he transferred into the British Army, and served for a period in the Department of the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, before being sent to Malaya as the Deputy Assistant Adjutant General in the Headquarters of the 17th Gurkha Division. It was for his work there between July 1955 and December 1957 that he was recommended for an award, being appointed Member of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire in May 1958, he having ‘worked unceasingly for the benefit of the troops engaged in jungle operations against the Communist Terrorists’ and having ‘never once spared himself’ in aid of ‘the troops on the ground’. He went on to see service during the Arabian Peninsula operations.
Group of 6: The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Member, M.B.E., 2nd type, Military Division; 1939-1945 Star; Pacific Star; Defence Medal; War Medal; General Service Medal 1918-1962, EIIR Br. Omn. bust, 2 Clasps: Malaya, Arabian Peninsula - these mounted in reverse order but as issued; (CAPT. A.J. STEAD. KING’S OWN.). Mounted court style as worn.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Provenance: ex Sotheby’s 26 November 1999.
Alfred John Stead was born on 27 August 1921, the son of Colonel Edward Alfred Stead M.C., and grandson of Lieutenant Colonel Alfred James Stead, D.S.O., both of whom had attended Wellington College, and where he and his brother, Robert Edward Stead were also sent. Alfred John Stead attended Wellington College from January 1935 to February 1940, and owing to the Second World War then joined the army. After 232 days service as an other rank, he was granted an Emergency Commission as a 2nd Lieutenant into the Indian Army on 10 September 1941, and posted to the 12th Frontier Force Regiment, also known as the Frontier Force Rifles.
Assigned to the 2nd Battalion of his regiment - the 2nd Sikhs, he then found himself sent to Malaya to join it, but owing to the Japanese invasion of Malaya and all the chaos that ensued, he never joined his battalion, despite the fact that he ‘had landed with the last draft’ in February 1942 but then ‘served with a mixed unit and did not join the Battalion’, and with the fall of Malaya and Singapore he ‘made his escape by sampan with one other officer. They eventually arrived in Sumatra in time to be evacuated from there by the Royal Navy’. (The Regimental History confirms this). Stead had a lucky escape.
Stead was then posted to the 5th Battalion of his regiment - namely the Queen Victoria’s Own Corps of Guides, and was then sent to Iraq where his battalion was on service as part of the 6th Indian Infantry Division, a part of Paiforce, that was in place in case of a German breakthrough in the Caucasus region and any threat that this could cause to the oilfields in Iraq and Persia. Stead saw service there through in 1945, during which period he was promoted to war substantive Lieutenant on 1 October 1942 and to temporary Captain on 27 February 1944. As of October 1946 he is shown as in British Service, attached to the Frontier Force Regiment, and with Indian Independence and the cessation of the British Indian Army, then found himself transferred as a Captain to the King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) on 27 August 1948.
From 23 July 1951 he was on service with the Department of the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and was promoted to Major on 27 August 1955. In the period from July 1955 through to 31 December 1957 he was on active service in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency when employed as the Deputy Assistant Adjutant General in the Headquarters of the 17th Gurkha Division. It was for this period of service that he was recommended for a non-immediate operational award.
The recommendation reads as follows: ‘For the past twenty months Major Stead has worked unceasingly for the benefit of the troops engaged in jungle operations against the Communist Terrorists in Malaya. During this time he has never once spared himself, and has continued to work through long and arduous periods far in excess of those required in the normal course of duty. By his unselfish devotion to his task he has set a fine example to those about him, and as a result, cheerful, unstinted and efficient service has been given to the troops on the ground. During an extremely trying period of personal anxiety he showed marked determination to put service before self. He never once allowed personal considerations to interfere with his task. It is true to say that this officer’ work over the period covered has made an outstanding contribution to the general well being and efficiency of the soldiers in Malaya, and although somewhat removed from them, his efforts on their behalf has very largely contributed to their successes against the enemy.’
In recognition of his distinguished services, Stead was appointed a Member of the Military Division of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the award being published in the London Gazette for 23 May 1958. Stead also saw service during the Arabian Peninsula operations at some stage during the period of operations which lasted from 1st January 1957 to 30th June 1960.
With the re-organisation, Stead then found himself on service as a Major with the Kings Own Border Regiment from 1 October 1959, but then transferred to the Army Emergency Reserve on 20 March 1960, and was eventually removed from the Army List in 1976.
