Donald Powell Distinguished Service Order (21 October 1896 – 8 August 1942) was an officer in the British Indian Army during World War I and World War II Donald Powell was born on 21 October 1896, at Jhansi and baptised on 4 January 1897, at Fatehgahr, the son of Richard John Powell of the Indian Public Works Department.
[1] He was educated at Bedford School 1908–14, and then he went to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst from where he was first commissioned on 11 November 1914 as a Second Lieutenant on the Unattached List for the Indian Army.
In April 1938 the Fakir assembled a large lashkar (tribal raiding party) at Mami Rogha, which proceeded to raid convoys on the Bannu-Razmak road and blockade the Tochi Scout post at Datta Khel.
Brigadier Powell relinquished command of 20 Indian Brigade in March 1942 and returned to England.
He died on 8 August 1942 at a military hospital and was buried at Bedford Cemetery, Bedfordshire.