View source for Richard Gorham

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=June 2011}}

{{Infobox person 
| name        = Sir Richard Masters Gorham
| image       = File:Captain RM Gorham Bermuda Rifles 1953 Coronation (cropped).jpg
| caption     = Captain Gorham in London in Bermuda Rifles uniform for 1953 Coronation
| birth_name  = 
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|df=yes|1917|10|03}} 
| birth_place = [[Pembroke, Bermuda]]
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2006|07|08|1917|10|03}}
| death_place = 
| death_cause = 
| education   = [[Saltus Grammar School]]<br/>[[Ridley College (Ontario)|Ridley College]]<ref>{{cite web|author1=Horst Augustinovic|title=Do you know… About Colonel Sir Richard M. Gorham, DFC and His Role in the Battle of Monte Cassino?|url=https://www.bermuda.com/do-you-know-about-colonel-sir-richard-m-gorham-dfc-and-his-role-in-the-battle-of-monte-cassino/|website=Bermuda|access-date=3 February 2018}}</ref>
| employer    = 
| occupation  = 
| boards      =
| spouse      = {{marriage|Barbara Tredick Dimmick McIntire<br/>|1948|<!-- Omission per Template:Marriage instructions -->}}<ref>{{cite web|title=In Memoriam: Barbara Tredick Dimmick McIntire Gorham|url=http://fishersisland.net/in-memoriam-barbara-tredick-dimmick-mcintire-gorham/|website=FisherIsland.net|date=29 May 2015 |access-date=3 February 2018}}</ref>
| children    = Christine Dimmick Gorham Cox<ref>{{cite web|title=Christine Dimmick Gorham Weds Robert G. Cox|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/15/style/christine-dimmick-gorham-weds-robert-g-cox.html|website=The New York Times|access-date=3 February 2018|date=15 September 1991}}</ref><br/>Tredick R. T. Gorham<br/>Arthur J. Gorham<br/>Anthony M. M. Gorham
| parents     = 
| relatives   = Robin Auchincloss Sedgwick (step-daughter)<br/>Betty Kitson (sister)<br/>Joan Wilkie (sister)<ref>{{cite web|title=Telegraph Announcements|url=http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/7549/gorham|website=The Telegraph|access-date=3 February 2018}}</ref>
}}

[[Colonel (United Kingdom)|Colonel]] '''Sir Richard Masters Gorham''' [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]], [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)|DFC]], [[Justice of the Peace|JP]]<ref>[http://www.bermuda-online.org/history1952-1999.htm Richard Gorham biodata] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206233207/http://www.bermuda-online.org/history1952-1999.htm |date=6 February 2016 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/53893/supplements/2 Gorham entry in the ''London Gazette'']</ref> (3 October 1917 &ndash; 8 July 2006) was a prominent [[Bermuda|Bermudian]] [[Member of Parliament|parliamentarian]], businessman and [[philanthropist]], who served as a pilot during the [[Second World War]] when he played a decisive role in the [[Battle of Monte Cassino]], earning the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Flying Cross]].

==Second World War==

===Bermuda Volunteer Engineers===
Born in [[Pembroke, Bermuda]], the son of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Gorham, he enlisted in the [[Bermuda Volunteer Engineers]] in 1938. The unit was mobilised, along with the other part-time units of the [[Bermuda Garrison]] (the [[Bermuda Militia Artillery]] (BMA), [[Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps]] (BVRC), and the [[Bermuda Militia Infantry]]), when the [[Second World War]] was declared. As a [[corporal]], he was attached to the signalling division at the [[Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda|Royal Naval Dockyard]] and earned a [[Commissioned officer|commission]] as a result of his saving an exercise when he suggested an emergency method of signalling visually to replace a broken [[wireless]] transmitter.

===Bermuda Militia Artillery===
Gorham was commissioned as a [[second lieutenant]] into the Bermua Militia Artillery on 20 December 1940, to replace Second Lieutenant Francis J. Gosling, who had trained as a pilot at the [[Bermuda Flying School]] and was to depart for the United Kingdom in January for transfer to the [[Royal Air Force]]. Gorham would serve only briefly with the unit before following Gosling across the Atlantic. He learnt of an instruction from the [[Army Council (1904)|Army Council]] that prevented commanding officers from barring officers under their command from taking any training course for which they volunteered (although his former BVE commanding officer, Major [[Cecil Montgomery-Moore]], DFC – having transferred from the BVRC in France to the [[Royal Flying Corps]] when he had been commissioned during the [[First World War]], and heading the [[Bermuda Flying School]] during the Second World War – must undoubtedly have approved of what Gorham intended).

===Royal Artillery and Royal Air Force===
At the time, the Royal Air Force was having great difficulty in providing effective [[air observation post]] pilots to the British Army. In 1918, the British Army lost its air wing when the [[Royal Flying Corps]] was merged with the [[Royal Naval Air Service]] to create the independent [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF). Since then, the RAF had jealously guarded its monopoly on British military and naval aviation. They provided the Royal Navy with RAF aircrew and support personnel to operate the aircraft of the [[Fleet Air Arm]], although the Navy had been allowed to begin training its own aircrew before the war began. The RAF also provided the aircraft and crews that worked in close support roles to the Army, notably the AOP pilots. These were pilots of light aircraft, such as the [[Auster Aircraft|Auster]], who acted as [[Artillery observer#Air Observation Post|artillery spotters]], directing the fire of the [[artillery|guns]] of the [[Royal Artillery]] from the air. Having had poor success at training RAF pilots to direct artillery fire, it was decided to train Army officers who were proficient at the task to pilot aeroplanes. This preceded the recreation of a new air wing within the British Army, the [[Army Air Corps (United Kingdom)|Army Air Corps]] (which initially included parachute and glider landed units, as well as the [[Glider Pilot Regiment]], but would eventually take over the AOP and other air support roles from the RAF).

Then Second Lieutenants Gorham and Hugh Gregg (who had been commissioned into the BMA from the ranks of the BVE on 28 May 1941) relinquished their BMA commissions on 27 June 1942, on departing Bermuda for England (via Canada), where they received Regular Army emergency commissions into the Royal Artillery on 8 July 1942. Trained by the RAF, they served in squadrons controlled by the RAF. Gorham served in North Africa and Italy. In Italy, while in command of B Flight of [[No. 655 Squadron RAF|655 Squadron]], he played the decisive role in the [[Battle of Monte Cassino]] when he spotted a [[Germany|German]] [[Division (military)|division]] moving in [[half-track]]ed [[Germany|German]] [[Armoured Personnel Carriers]] to [[counter attack]] the British 5th Division and the Polish Corps, which were themselves attacking the German-occupied monastery. Contacting the senior Royal Artillery fire control officer on the ground. All two-thousand field guns within range were switched from their local targets and placed under his control. Gorham directed their fire down onto the German Division. The guns fired for hours, with Gorham taking turns with other AOP pilots. The German division was completely destroyed, and the Allied ground forces broke through four days later. For this action, Gorham received the Distinguished Flying Cross, a relative rarity for an Army officer.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bonete |first=Peter |date=1972-03-11 |title=Colonel Sir Richard M. Gorham, DFC |work=The Mid-Ocean News |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda |quote=}}</ref>

===Post-war service===
Gorham relinquished his commission as a war substantive lieutenant on 13 June 1946, when he was appointed an honorary captain.<ref>[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37611/supplement/3015/data.pdf Supplement to the London Gazette, 14 June 1946, Page 3015]</ref> Returning to Bermuda, he found the BMA and the BVRC had been reduced to skeleton commands and the BVE and BMI disbanded in 1946, along with the Home Guard. The BMA and BVRC would both maintain skeleton command structures till their strengths were built back up again in 1951 (they would amalgamate in 1965 into the [[Bermuda Regiment]]). Gorham entered the BVRC, renamed the Bermuda Rifles, in which he served for a number of years as second-in-command. He was intended to replace Lieutenant-Colonel J.C. Astwood as commanding officer in 1954, but was unable to do so due to illness. Major HRG Evans instead took command. Gorham was part of the detachment sent to London for the [[coronation]] of [[Queen Elizabeth II]] in 1953, departing from Bermuda aboard {{HMS|Superb|25|6}} on 30 April. He retired from the army with the substantive rank of captain, however he was awarded the honorary rank of colonel in the Royal Artillery.

===Civil life===
In his civil life, Richard Gorham became a prominent businessman and [[Member of Parliament|Member]] of the [[Parliament of Bermuda]] (originally titled ''Member of the Colonial Parliament'', or MCP, but today simply ''Member of Parliament'', or MP). He donated much of his wealth to a host of causes, including the [[Bermuda Maritime Museum]], and the [[Spirit of Bermuda|Bermuda Sloop Foundation]]. He was appointed an Ordinary Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order (CBE) in the Queen's New Year Honours on 31 December 1977,<ref>[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/47418/supplement/18/data.pdf Supplement to The London Gazette, 31 December 1977, Page 18]</ref> and a [[Knight Bachelor]] in the Queen's New Year Honours on 31 December 1994,<ref>[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/53893/supplement/2/data.pdf Supplement to The London Gazette, 31 December 1994, Page 2]</ref> for public services.

==Bibliography==

* [[Jennifer M. Ingham]] (now [[Jennifer M. Hind]]), ''Defence, Not Defiance: A History of the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps'', Pembroke, Bermuda: The [[Island Press]] Ltd. {{ISBN|0-9696517-1-6}}
* Lt. Commander [[Ian Strannack]], ''The Andrew and the Onions: The Story of the Royal Navy in Bermuda, 1795–1975'', The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The [[Bermuda Maritime Museum]], P.O. Box MA 133, Mangrove Bay, Bermuda MA BX. {{ISBN|0-921560-03-6}}
* Dr. [[Edward C. Harris]], ''Bermuda Forts 1612–1957'', The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The Bermuda Maritime Museum. {{ISBN|0-921560-11-7}}
* Lt.-Col. [[Roger Willock]], [[United States Marine Corps|USMC]], ''Bulwark of Empire: Bermuda's Fortified Naval Base 1860–1920'', The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The Bermuda Maritime Museum. {{ISBN|0-921560-00-1}}
* Sqn.-Ldr [[Colin A. Pomeroy]], ''Flying Boats of Bermuda'', [[Printlink]], PO Box 937, Hamilton, Bermuda HM DX. {{ISBN|0-9698332-4-5}}
* Major Cecil Montgomery-Moore, DFC, and Peter Kilduff, ''That's My Bloody Plane'', Chester, Connecticut: The Pequot Press, 1975. {{ISBN|0-87106-057-4}}.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.royalgazette.com/rg/Article/article.jsp?articleId=7cacf9330030000 ''The Royal Gazette, Bermuda'', 30 December 1994]
* [http://www.bermuda-online.org/history1952-1999.htm Bermuda Online website]
* [http://www.bermuda-online.org/warveterans.htm Bermuda War Veterans Association (BWVA) notice]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/19/style/robin-auchincloss-married-to-a-banker.html Notice of the marriage of Gorham's stepdaughter, Robin Auchincloss, to Henry Dwight Sedgwick]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120527134502/http://articles.mcall.com/keyword/bermuda Notice of the marriage of Gorham's son, Anthony Masters McIntire Gorham, a trust officer at the Bank of Butterfield, Hamilton, Bermuda, to Laura Young Taylor]
* [http://www.bios.edu/pubs/ar03/ar03hr2/ar03hr2.html Bermuda Biological Station for Research: Honour Roll of Donors – The Associates Program 2003]
* [http://www.bermuda-online.org/history1952-1999.htm Bermuda Online: ''Bermuda's History from 1952 to 1999 1994; 31 December. 12 Islanders are recognised in the Queen's New Year's Honours List'']

==Categories==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorham, Richard}}
[[Category:Bermudian politicians]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Royal Artillery officers]]
[[Category:Military engineers]]
[[Category:Military of Bermuda]]
[[Category:Bermudian soldiers]]
[[Category:Bermudian aviators]]
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Pembroke Parish]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Bermudian justices of the peace]]
[[Category:Bermudian people of World War II]]