Henry Parke Airey

{{Short description|Australian colonial soldier}}

{{redirect|Henry Airey|the Anglican priest|Henry Airay}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox military person

|name= Henry Parke Airey

|image= Henry Parke Airey.jpg

|caption= Colonel Henry Airey c. 1902

|birth_date= 3 August 1842

|death_date= {{Death date and age|1911|10|11|1842|08|03|df=yes}}

|birth_place= Yorkshire, England

|death_place= Transvaal, South Africa

|placeofburial=

|placeofburial_label=

|nickname=

|allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}}
{{flag|Australia}}

|branch= British Army
New South Wales Artillery

|serviceyears= 1859–1866
1877–1902

|rank= Colonel

|unit=

|commands=

|battles= Mahdist War
Second Boer War

|awards= Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in dispatches

|relations=

|laterwork=

}}

Henry Parke Airey CMG, DSO (3 August 1842 – 9 October 1911) was an Australian colonial soldier.

Airey, the son of Captain Henry Cookson Airey of the East India Company and his wife Emily, was born in Kingthorpe, Yorkshire in 1842.{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=E%2FOvx7Gsze0d3N4STmShBw&scan=1|title=Index entry|accessdate=5 September 2010|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} He was educated at Marlborough and East India Company College in 1858–59.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=059-iorlmil_4-1_5&cid=1-1-1-1-11-54#1-1-1-1-11-54|title=Entry to the military, medical and nursing services of the East India Company's Army (1753–1861) and the Indian Army — Airey, Henry Parke|accessdate=5 September 2010}}

Airey was of the New South Wales Artillery, was formerly in the 101st Foot; and having become attached to the New South Wales military forces, of which he became captain in March 1886, served in the Sudan Campaign with the colonial contingent, receiving a medal, with clasp, for the advance on Tamai. He served with the British army in Burma in 1886 and 1887, and having behaved with great gallantry and been severely wounded, was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order in 1888{{London Gazette|issue= 25772 |date=3 January 1888 |page=15 }}—and reputedly became the first Australian soldier to be so decorated—was mentioned in dispatches, and pensioned by the Government of India. In further recognition of his brilliant services in Burma, he was, in June 1887, appointed a brevet-major in the New South Wales forces by Lord Carrington, then Governor of that colony.{{cite Australasia|Airy, Major Henry Park}}

Airey served as a colonel in the artillery in the Sudan,{{cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/nominal_rolls/pre_first_world_war/person.asp?p=474231|title=Sudan Nominal Roll - Henry Park Airey|accessdate=5 September 2010}} and as a lieutenant colonel during the Boer War{{cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/nominal_rolls/pre_first_world_war/person.asp?p=472593|title=Boer War Nominal Roll - Henry Parke Airey|accessdate=5 September 2010}} where he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.{{London Gazette|issue=27306|date=19 April 1901 |page=2698}}

Airey married Florence Ada McCulloch, daughter of A. H. McCulloch, in 1868, in Sydney, and they had issue.