Capt Rowland Alison ALSTON MBE of Turvey Abbey [4064]

   Another name for Rowland was Rollo.

  General Notes:

Births.
Alston. May 2 at 10 Wilton Crescent, Belgrave Square, the wife of Rowland Crew Alston, of a son.
London Evening Standard form May 1888

Alston.
Rowland Alison Capt., M.B.E. Sharnbrook Beds., only son of R.C. Alston of Odell Castle; 1902-1904 (Masters. Miss Evans, John Hugh Montegue Hare M.A., John Foster Crase, M.A.). Served as Capt. 3rd Res., Bn., Northants. Regt., in the War 1914-19. m Dorothy Mildred d. Chas. Guy Pym of Caesars Camp, Sandy, Beds., & 35 Crawley Gdns., S.W., Harrold Hall, Beds.,
Ref: Eton School Lists. NZSOG.

Rowland Alston M.B.E. of Harrold Hall, co. Bedford. Capt. Northants Regt.
Formerly Lt. Coldstream Guards.
Educated Eton.

MBE awarded 1 Jan 1919. New Years Honours List. Page 85.

Supplement the London Gazette 1 November 1920. Pg 10602
3rd Northern Regiment. Captain R A Alston, MBE, relinquishes his commission, 1st of April 1920, and retains the rank of Captain.

Odell Under the Hammer.
Important Estates to Be Sold.
Messrs Robinson and Hall, chartered survey's and land agents, of Bedford, have been instructed to offer by auction at the Town Hall, Bedford, on 7th of July, the whole of Odell Castle and Harrold Hall estates, comprising about 2250 acres and including the historical Castle and Harrold Hall, belonging to Captain R A Alston. The Odell Castle estate comprises practically the whole of the village of Odell, and the Post Office, Odell Mill with mill rights, 7 farms, cottages, reading room, building sites, and over 400 acres of woodland will come under the auctioneer's hammer. The Harrold Hall estate includes a big part of the village of Harrold. The sale will also include the advowson of the Rectory of Odell and the manors of Odell, Steventon, Pavenham and Charlton.
Odell Castle, which has been in the possession of the Alston family for over 300 years, is one of the historical mansions of Bedfordshire. It dates back several centuries. In 1931 the Castle, a large and partially embattled mansion, was partly destroyed by fire, but a certain amount of renovation has been done. Harrold Hall, too, is also pleasantly situated and has many interesting associations. Captain R A Alston succeeded to the estates on the death of his father, Mr Rowland Crew Alston, in January last year. . . . .
Bedfordshire Times and Independent 11 May 1934

Rowland sold Odell Castle to Lord Luke of Pakenham in 1934.

A2A Ref Bedford RO DV1/R/49 re Alston houses refers to a survey carried out on the 24 Oct 1927 of Harrold Hall and extensive outbuildings including a "derelict boathouse", owned by Capt R A Alston. All but part of the top floor set aside for Alston, was rented to E Arkwright for L200 yr. The surveyor's remarks included "very old house much neglected, serving hatch from kitchen to corner of butlers pantry direct to dining room - very good, glorious oak staircase, grounds very neglected run down to the river (Ouse), grounds join Church, Chauffeurs cottage good". The house contained 11 brms and the surveyor was shown over by the butler "who disappeared and left us alone" valued at a rent of L225 p.a.

Bedford PRO Z528 Davis Files A2A - In Nov 1931 Rowland was living at 252 St James Court London, he was an Army Captain and these files contain details concerning Harrold Hall.

FILE [no title] - ref. Z 528/2 [n.d.]
Rowland Alison Alston of Turvey Abbey Esq and Dorothy Mildred Alston, his wife, request Alexander Rowland Alston of The Tofte and others as Trustees to purchase on their behalf Harrold Hall 24 Jun 1907

In 1938 Edgar Clayson purchased Harrold Hall Estate and Chellington Meadows opposite from the Alston family
Ref Z 528 Davis files Bed RO - mainly 20th Century records.
FILE [no title] - ref. Z 528/3 - date: 23 November 1931 Rowland now of 252 St. James Court, sells Harrod Hall, with the consent of Dorothy Mildred Demarest (formerly Alston) of 25 Montpellier Place, Knightsbridge, County of London (formerly his wife), ref. Z 528/6

FILE [no title] - ref. Z 528/7 - date: 7 December 1938
Letter from Captain R.A. Alston, La Bruche, Etretat, France to Edgar Clayson agreeing to relinquish his right of cutting rushes on the property of Harrold Hall, if Clayson completes the purchase of Harrold Hall & his Chellington property,

The deeds of Turvey Abbey do not appear to include Rowland A Alston.

Information obtain from "R W O'Hara" a researcher of Army Records at the The National Archives, Kew. Commisioned by Susan Perrett.

THE MONTHLY ARMY LIST OF DECEMBER 1914 -
The Northamptonshire Regiment, 3rd Battalion -
Lieutenants - ALSTON R.A. 15th August 1914
SUPPLEMENT TO THE MONTHLY ARMY LIST OF SEPTEMBER 1915 -
The Northamptonshire Regiment 3rd Battalion (Reserve)
Captains - ALSTON R.A. 2nd February 1915
I commenced your search by looking in the Army List for a commissioned
officer named Alston, RA. In the Sep 1915 edition, I found him serving as
a Captain with the 3rd Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment. He had been promoted to this rank on 2nd Feb 1915 and by working back through the Dec 14 and Oct 14, I was able to establish that he had been promoted to 2nd Lt on 15th Aug 1914 when he first appeared with the remark that he was on probation, when according to his Medal Index Card, (see below), he would have been serving with the 1st Battalion.
As WW1 broke out on 4th Aug 1914, I think it safe to assume that he enlisted in response to this.
Further research in the Army Lists showed that he continued in the rank of Captain until at least Jan 1920, but by Jan 1921, his name no longer appeared. On entries from 1916 he is shown as Employed at the Ministry of National Service though he continues to be listed with the 3rd Battalion of the Northants.
I then ordered WO 339/6974 which held his personal record. This confirmed much of what we saw in the Army Lists but went on to say that he was called to a medical board to assess his fitness for further service following 'gunshot wounds'. Details of how he received the wounds or where he was injured are not given but the deployment to the Min of NS seems to have followed the medical board's findings. I have copied his personal service record in full and will leave you to study it in slower time.
Also, he was awarded the 1914-5 Star and the British War and Victory medals which I have copied. I have included images that I took from the medal publication by Spinks which describes the conditions for awarding these medals.
I have also copied the war diary of the 1st Battalion from the publication
by Ray Westlake. This shows that they sailed for France on 13th August just before he was confirmed as a 2nd Lt on probation. His name does not appear amongst the officers in Westlake's version but I imagine this is an
oversight caused by his very recent enlistment.
I am sending your images over the web via YouSendIt. You will shortly
receive an email from them advising you that they have a transmission for
you and giving the instructions for downloading. If you do not hear within
24 hours, please let me know.
Kindest regards
Bob R W O'HARA
Alston Rowland Alison of Villa Odell parc Street Veran Cagnes-sur-Mer France died 7 October 1948. Probate London 20 May 1949 to Herbert Wykham Lydall solicitor and Seraphine Amelia Alston widow. Effects £20,470 14s 4d
National Probate Calendar.

  Other Records

1. Census: England, 5 Apr 1891, Harrold Hall BDF. Rowland is recorded as a son aged 2 born Witter Crescent London

Rowland married Dorothy Mildred PYM [6210] [MRIN: 2064], daughter of Charles Grey PYM of Caesars Camp BDF [9735] and Unknown, on 7 Jun 1910 in Biggleswade District, Bedfordshire. UK. The marriage ended in divorce. (Dorothy Mildred PYM [6210] was born on 26 Apr 1887 in Kensington LND and died on 18 Mar 1966 in Buxted SSX.)

Rowland next married Amelie SCHER [4065] [MRIN: 1399] in Jul 1932. (Amelie SCHER [4065] died on 30 Dec 1961 in The Priory Roehampton London. and was buried on 4 Jan 1962 in Downs Crematorium Brighton..)