Craig Richard Newcombe Captain (Chaplain 4th Class) 95722
Personnel Entry
Name Craig Richard Newcombe
Army number 95722
Rank Captain - Chaplain 4th Class
Decorations M.C. - gazetted 20/12/1940. A copy of his citation can be accessed from The National Archives here.
Date of birth 8/10/1908
Age 70 at the time of his death.
Unit Commissioned into the Royal Army Chaplains' Department. Chaplain to the Forces from RARO 26/5/1939 until 1945. Embodied 24/8/1939. Posted to 70th Infantry Brigade as one of the Brigade Chaplains September 1939. Attached to 12th Battalion DLI. Attached to 1st Tyneside Scottish 1/2/1940 on 12th Battalion being transferred to the Corps of the Black Watch. Served B.E.F. Evacuated from either Boulogne or Calais (yet to be clarified). Served Iceland. Attached to 11th Battalion DLI 1/6/1942. Served Normandy. With 11th Battalion DLI on the disbandment of the Battalion August 1944. Attached to 30 Corps Troops REME Workshop. Senior Chaplain to a Division as at September 1944. Released from service 1945. Rector of Alfreton. Honorary Canon of Derby 1950. Ceased RARO liability on age grounds 8/10/1963, retained Honorary Rank of Chaplain to the Forces 4th Class.
Company/Battery Brigade HQ. Battalion HQ.
Platoon or other sub-unit Not applicable.
Task or role Chaplain/Padre.
Joined Brigade September 1939.
Promotions
Wounded
Prisoner of War
Died/Killed in action Died 6/12/1978. Death registered December 1978 - Chesterfield. Probate granted 30/1/1979, Nottingham.
Home address Son of Very Reverend Herbert Newcombe, Dean of Kildare, County Kildare. Educated Haileybury and Trinity College Dublin - First Class Bachelor of Arts Degree in Moral Science 1929. Awarded MA 1931 - Moral Science and Downes Liturgy Prize and Comp. Prize 1931. Divinity Test 1932. Appointed Deacan 1932. Ordained Priest 1933. Appointed to Church of St Mary, Tyne Dock, 1932 - 1936. Appointed Chaplain to Toc H Moseley 1936 - 1938. Married 1938 Grace, daughter of J E Walton of Birmingham. Appointed to Parish CHurch of Riddings 1938 - 1947. In the 1939 General Register he is shown as a Clerk in Holy Orders living with his wife at the Vicarage in Alfreton, but is also listed as a member of the Army Reserve of Officers. He returned to his post in Alfreton following the War - was Vicar of Alfreton from 1947, and that was given as his address at the time of his death.
Source table 1TS
Family help in obtaining an image of Padre Craig would be most welcome.
