Henry ap Rhys Pryce
{{Short description|British Army general (1874–1950)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Sir Henry ap Rhys Pryce
|image=Henry ap Rhys Pryce.jpg
|caption=General ap Rhys Pryce in 1936
|rank=General
|branch={{army|British India|23px}}
|commands= Senior Officers' School at Belgaum
Presidency and Assam District
Deccan District
|unit=
|battles=World War I
|awards= Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Distinguished Service Order
|family=
|nickname=
|allegiance= {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom
|birth_name= Henry Edward ap Rhys Pryce
|birth_date=30 November 1874
|death_date={{death date and age|21 June 1950|30 November 1874|df=y}}
|birth_place=Cuttack, British India
|death_place= Bournemouth, Dorset, England
|placeofburial=
|serviceyears=
|other work=
}}
General Sir Henry Edward ap Rhys Pryce, KCB, CMG, DSO (30 November 1874 – 21 June 1950) was a Welsh officer in the Indian Army who served Master-General of the Ordnance in British India.{{cite news |title= Obituary: Gen. Sir H. Ap Rhys Pryce |work=The Times |date= 27 June 1950 |page=8 }}
Early life and education
Pryce was born on 30 Nov 1874 in Cuttack, British India, the son of Lt.-Col. Douglas Davidson Pryce and Georgie Hunter Carter."India, Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FG8L-3MR : 5 February 2020), Henry Edward Ap Rhys Pryce, 1875. His younger brother was soldier of fortune Carol Ap Rhys Pryce. He was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
Military career
Pryce began his military career on the unattached list in 1895, graduating from the Royal Military College as a Second Lieutenant.{{London Gazette |issue=26589 |page=272 |date=15 January 1895}} He was attached to the 1st Battalion, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in April of that year.{{cite book |date=1897 |title=The Quarterly Indian Army List For April 1896 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.284968/page/n191/mode/2up |location=Calcutta |publisher=Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing |page=181|access-date=7 Jan 2025}}
After a year of service in a British regiment, Pryce was transferred to the 18th Regiment of Bengal Infantry, an Indian regiment.{{cite book |date=1897 |title=The Quarterly Indian Army List For April 1897 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.278896/page/n357/mode/2up |location=Calcutta |publisher=Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing |page=356 |access-date=7 Jan 2025}}
This was later followed by a posting to the 18th Infantry, the 10th/9th Jats, and the Supply and Transport Corps. As a master of transport, he commanded a mule corps in the British expedition to Tibet, 1903–04. He later authored Transport Training Notes, which served for many years as a valuable handbook to the corps. He then graduated from the Staff College, Quetta, and in 1912 began a distinguished career at Army Headquarters at Shimla.
He served in the First World War during which he was awarded the DSO and mentioned in dispatches seven times.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/6624649/A-sublime-act-of-forgiveness.html|title=A sublime act of forgiveness|work=The Telegraph|location=London|date=22 November 2009|accessdate=27 June 2015}}
Pryce became Commandant of the Senior Officers' School, Belgaum in December 1920{{cite web|url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf |title=Army Commands |accessdate=27 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705211343/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf |archivedate=5 July 2015 }} and Director of Supplies and Transport in India in 1927.{{Cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030033488|title=Private Papers of General Sir Henry Ap Rhys Pryce KCB CMG DSO|publisher=Imperial War Museum|accessdate=27 June 2015}} He went on to be General Officer Commanding Presidency and Assam District in October 1929, General Officer Commanding Deccan District in December 1930 and Master-General of the Ordnance in India in April 1934. He was promoted to full general in May 1936.{{London Gazette|issue=34284|page=3148|date=15 May 1936}}
He was appointed Honorary Colonel of 99th (London Welsh) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, when that Territorial Army unit was raised in 1939, and he regularly visited it during World War II.99 HAA Rgt War Diary, 1939–41, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 166/2389.
Personal life
Pryce married Alice Louise Pughe, daughter of Robertson Francis Home Pughe, in 1900. They had two sons, Meyrick Home ap Rhys Pryce (1902–1965) and Mervyn Aleck ap Rhys Pryce (1905–1940), who was killed in action in France while serving in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.{{CWGC|id=2766827|name=ap Rhys Pryce, Mervyn Aleck|access-date=23 May 2019}}
References
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{{s-ttl|title=Commandant of the Senior Officers' School, Belgaum|years=1920−1924}}
{{s-aft|after=Douglas Baird}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ap Rhys Pryce, Henry Edward}}
Category:British Indian Army generals
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Category:People educated at Glenalmond College
Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
Category:Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry officers
Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Quetta
Category:Indian Army generals of World War I
Category:Commandants of the Senior Officers' School, Belgaum
Category:19th-century British Army personnel