Patrick Andrew “Pat; also recorded as Patrick A.” Clayton
Major · #147264 · T Patrol · DSO, MID, MBE
| Rank | Major |
|---|---|
| Service number | #147264 |
| Patrol | T Patrol |
| Regiment | General List |
| Known as | “Pat; also recorded as Patrick A.” |
| Born | 1896 |
| Honours | DSO, MID, MBE |
| POW / KIA | POW — 1 Feb 1941 |
What this roll records
LONDON COMPRESSED THE THREE FOUNDERS INTO ONE MAN, AND A NEW ZEALAND PAPER PRINTED IT. A second cable in the Wanganui Chronicle of 15 February 1941, datelined London 13 February and received at 11.20 p.m. the night before, says: “The Long-Range Desert Group is commanded by a lieutenant-colonel famed as an explorer in the Libyan Desert, who was formerly a British official of the Egyptian Survey Department and a member of the Palestine Department of Antiquities.” THAT IS THREE MEN, NOT ONE: Bagnold the explorer and commander, Clayton of the Egyptian Survey Department, and Kennedy Shaw of the Palestine Department of Antiquities. The Cairo despatch printed in the same papers two days to a month later names all three correctly and separately. The London error is left as printed and recorded here because it is the kind of mistake that gets copied forward. Source: Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 39, 15 February 1941, page 6, via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand).
Joined LRP Jul 1940 (Capt., D.S.O., General List). P.O.W. 1 Feb 1941. LRDG Unit Casualty Returns (A.F. 3010), Appendix 3 officers list (source: Brendan O'Carroll).
PATROL COMMANDER of T (LRP) per W.B. Kennedy Shaw, "Long Range Desert Group", Appendix 4 Patrol Commanders.
On original LRP Roll (5 Dec 1940): T — OC T Patrol; PW captured Gebel Sherif 31 Jan 41. Source: LRP Roll (Original LRP Nominal Roll as at 5 Dec 1940, Capt L H Browne).
Honours added from LRDG Honours & Awards list (Middle East 1940–43): MID, MBE. Source: W.B. Kennedy-Shaw, “Long Range Desert Group” (original honours & awards list, comp. D. Buxton).
North Africa — 31 Jan 1941, Jebel Sherif: prisoner of war. Taken prisoner alongside Roderick and Adams when surprised by the Italian Compagnia Autosahariana di Cufra; saw out the war in enemy detention. Source: TRACKS magazine (LRDG Association), Ian Chard, 'Not all were lucky — LRDG missing in North Africa', June 2023.
Deeper background (2026): one of the four founding officers of the LRDG. A Royal Artillery veteran of the First World War and long-serving Egyptian-desert surveyor, he was awarded the DSO (“for great daring, initiative, courage and bold leadership in action”); in December 1940 he led the patrol that raided the Italian fort and airfield at Murzuk. Captured at Gebel Sherif on 31 January 1941, he spent the rest of the war a prisoner; he retired as a full Colonel in 1961 and died in 1962. Source: Military Intelligence Museum, https://www.militaryintelligencemuseum.org/all-medals/clayton-pa
The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll): Maj. P. A. Clayton — Founders' Medal, Royal Geographical Society; Fellow of the Royal Geological Society and Royal Geographical Society; born England, 1896; Royal Field Artillery in Greece and Turkey 1915–20; Inspector, Desert Survey of Egypt 1920–38; Survey Dept, Tanganyika 1938–40; Intelligence Corps 1940; patrol commander LRP and LRDG; wounded and taken prisoner 31 Jan 1941.
The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll) — formation of the LRP patrols, 1940: At formation Capt. P. A. Clayton, who had spent eighteen years in the Egyptian Survey Department, came from Tanganyika to command T Patrol.
Patrol commander: commanded T Patrol (LRP). Kiwi Scorpions (Appendix II — Commanders of NZ Patrols).
As commander of T patrol, led the first LRP reconnaissance into Libya across the Sand Sea (1940), the raid on the fort at Augila, and the December 1940 Fezzan raid on Murzuk. Commanded the G and T patrol force to Gebel Sherif, where on 31 January 1941 T patrol was ambushed by the Auto-Saharan Company; wounded in the arm, he was captured. Awarded the DSO. Source: ‘Long Range Desert Group in Libya, 1940–41’, Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (NZ official war history).
DSO, MBE; born England, 1896. Inspector, Desert Survey of Egypt 1920–38; Survey Dept, Tanganyika 1938–40. Wounded and p.w. 31 Jan 1941. Source: Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (biographical notes).
Deeper background (2026): his full name was Patrick Andrew Clayton. He was born on 16 April 1896 at Croydon, Surrey, and died on 17 March 1962, aged 65, of an aneurysm. As a prisoner of war in the Abruzzo he was visited by the Hungarian desert explorer László Almásy, who came to see him after Operation Salaam. The Royal Geographical Society awarded him its Founder’s Medal in 1941, and Patrick Clayton Drive in Ashford, Kent, is named after him. Source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Clayton
HIS DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER, FOUND AND DATED. London Gazette, 25 February 1941, Supplement 35089, page 1197, in a list approved for gallant and distinguished services in the MIDDLE EAST, under “The Distinguished Service Order.”: “2nd Lieutenant (actg. Capt.) PATRICK ANDREW CLAYTON (147264), General List.” This is the earliest L.R.D.G. award traced in the 2026 Gazette passes, and it fits: he was captured in the Fezzan operations of January–February 1941, and this is the recognition of the Group’s first campaign. Only three other men appear on that page and none is on this roll. Source: The London Gazette.
NAMED IN PRINT AS ONE OF THE FIRST PRISONERS TAKEN IN THE DESERT. The Northern Advocate of 19 May 1945, reporting the safe arrival in England of L/Cpl W. R. (“Wink”) Adams of Whangarei after more than four years in enemy hands: Adams “left New Zealand with the First Echelon and was taken prisoner on February 1, 1941. He was attached as a driver to the Long Range Desert Group, and, with Major Clayton, of England, and Pte. Roderick, of Nelson, was one of the first prisoners taken in the desert.” THREE MEN OF THIS ROLL IN ONE SENTENCE - Adams NZ #1074, Major P. A. Clayton #147264 and L/Cpl L. D. Roderick NZ #1113 - reckoned together by a provincial paper four years after the event. Source: Northern Advocate, 19 May 1945, via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand).
See him in the full roll →Where this comes from
- Missing info added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll.
- AKA added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll (missing information).
- Murzuk Raid roll (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy)
- LRDG Nominal Roll, 28 Dec 1940 – Jan 1941 (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy) — roll rank: Captain
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Not By Strength But By Guile