22 Facts About Roland Gwynne

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Roland Vaughan Gwynne DSO, DL, JP was a British soldier and politician who served as Mayor of Eastbourne, Sussex, from 1928 to 1931.

Roland Gwynne was a patient, close friend, and probable lover of the suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams.

Roland Gwynne was educated privately before being sent to Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

Roland Gwynne's mother's great-grandfather was Dutch and great-grandmother was a Sumatran.

Roland Gwynne was commissioned into the Sussex Yeomanry as a second lieutenant on 2 April 1904 and was promoted to lieutenant on 28 January 1907 and captain on 3 July 1910.

Roland Gwynne resigned from the Yeomanry on 27 July 1912.

In 1904 Roland Gwynne aided Viscount Turnour in his maiden election campaign in the constituency of Horsham, which Turnour then held for the next 47 years.

In 1910 Roland Gwynne was called to the bar at the Inner Temple, where he practised in the Probate and Divorce Division.

Roland Gwynne was sent a white feather, a symbol of cowardice, by a "friend of the family".

Roland Gwynne was re-commissioned into the Sussex Yeomanry as a captain on 5 October 1914.

Roland Gwynne was among those wounded in the action, but it was considered a great success and the battalion received praise from the Army Commander, General Sir Herbert Plumer, the Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, and the Prince of Wales.

Roland Gwynne served with 10th Queen's at the Battle of Messines in June 1917 and when the battalion's commanding officer left to command a brigade Gwynne was promoted to acting Lieutenant-Colonel to succeed him.

Roland Gwynne began quietly blowing his whistle and luckily Lt Lawrie Inkster heard it and organised a stretcher party to rescue him.

Roland Gwynne was unable to get a medal for Inkster, but sent him a silver cigarette case and money for the stretcher party.

That year, Roland Gwynne put his name forward as a Conservative candidate for Lewes, but withdrew it when his brother Neville hinted to the selection committee that Roland Gwynne was a homosexual.

Roland Gwynne stayed in local politics, being Chairman of the East Sussex County Council from 1937 to 1940.

Roland Gwynne never married but he developed a close friendship with Dr John Bodkin Adams, an unmarried Eastbourne general practitioner and suspected serial killer, with whom he went on frequent shooting holidays to Scotland and Ireland.

At that time Roland Gwynne was Chairman of the Magistrates in Lewes, East Sussex, and had to step down from the committal hearing owing to a conflict of interest.

Roland Gwynne was knighted in the New Year Honours list for 1957, just before Adams' trial began.

Roland Gwynne fell into depression and in 1963 suffered a stroke.

Roland Gwynne was admitted to Berrow Nursing and Convalescent Home in Eastbourne in March 1964, having executed a power of attorney allowing Sir Dingwall Bateson to take control of his financial and property affairs.

Roland Gwynne died on 15 November 1971, in the nursing home, aged 89.