Lieutenant Colonel Richard Thomas Henry Lonsdale, DSO & Bar, MC (27 December 1913 – 23 November 1988) was an officer of the British Army who served with the Parachute Regiment throughout much of the Second World War.

Born in December 1913, Lonsdale initially entered the British Army in the 1930s as a private before attending Royal Military College, Sandhurst and being commissioned as an officer in the Leicestershire Regiment.

Here he again served with distinction during the Battle of Arnhem, and despite being wounded he took command of a mixed force that successfully defended the Allied perimeter against repeated German attacks.

He initially enlisted in the British Army as a private, but on 27 August 1936 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Leicestershire Regiment after attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

[7] The 2nd Parachute Battalion was charged with securing three areas of high ground to the south of Primosole Bridge, codenamed Johnny I, II, and III.

[12] By dusk 3rd Parachute Battalion to the north had been forced to retreat after suffering heavy casualties and facing repeated German assaults, and the surviving paratroopers began moving towards 2nd Parachute Battalion's positions; at the same time, Lonsdale managed to make contact with M4 Sherman tanks from 44th Royal Tank Regiment, part of the British 4th Armoured Brigade, who had advanced from the British beachheads.

On the night of the 13th of July 1943 this officer was in command of a Company of the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment, which was dropped on the Catania Plain in Sicily to secure the high ground South of the River Simeto.

The Allies planned to use airborne forces to secure key bridges over a number of rivers and canals in the Netherlands, opening a route around the Siegfried Line and into the heart of Germany.

[18] The 1st Airborne Division was tasked with securing bridges across the Lower Rhine at Arnhem, with the 4th Parachute Brigade planned to drop on the second day of the operation.

[24] In the early hours of the morning of 19 September, an attack was launched on a narrow front between the river and the railway line, in order to force a passage through to the bridge.

Here they were met by Lieutenant Colonel Sheriff Thompson, CO of the 1st Airlanding Light Regiment, who drove a little over half a mile forward of his own 75 Millimetre Howitzers positions at Oosterbeek Church, and ordered Major Robert Cain to gather the men into defensive units.

[27] Thompson asked Brigadier Pip Hicks, commanding the 1st Airlanding Brigade of the division, for more men and officers, and was sent Lonsdale and Major Simmons.

Although in an isolated position they held their ground throughout the day and Lance Sergeant John Baskeyfield was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for his actions on the main road into Oosterbeek.

[28] By the afternoon the mixed force was so weakened that Hicks gave Thompson permission to pull them back to the main divisional defence line at the church.

[34] On many mornings Royal Artillery units from XXX Corps, south of the river, laid barrages just forward of the force's positions to disrupt any enemy buildups, on one occasion accidentally shelling their own men.

[40] His citation read:[41] At Arnhem on the 20th September, this officer, although wounded in the hand and arm, was given command of the remnants of three Parachute Battalions who had withdrawn from the town.

Major Lonsdale so organised and inspired those under him that in spite of repeated attacks by enemy infantry, tanks and self-propelled guns, the positions taken up were subsequently held until the remains of the division withdrew over the River Lek.

Major Lonsdale, although again wounded, organised several counter-attacks to regain ground temporarily lost and his personal example and supreme contempt of danger was an inspiration to all those with whom he came in contact.

He remained in Africa for several years, entering the wine trade, and then returned to the United Kingdom living in Jersey, the Isle of Man and Bath, Somerset.