David Edward Glanville Neild

1 December 1938 – 11 February 2020

OP 1947 -1955

David Edward Glanville Neild was born in Portsmouth on the 1st of December 1938. He and his elder brother Roger attended Portsmouth Grammar School where the school’s cadet force gave him a taste for the military life that awaited him. In March 1958 David was commissioned as an officer into the Royal Army service court and posted to Singapore. The following year he achieved his ambition to obtain a regular Commission as an infantry officer and for the first posting joined the Trucial Omen Scouts (TOS) . In April 1959 he arrived in Sharjah, aged 20, and became the youngest ever British officer in the TOS.

David started his first tour of duty with the TOS based at their headquarters in Sharjah before being posted to B Rifle Squadron in Al Ain our second in command. During this time, he came to know HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who was the rulers representative in the eastern region of Abu Dhabi. The two became well acquainted on several occasions Sheikh Zayed invited David to go hunting with him.

Though he had no desire to leave the TOS, David's ambition from the start of his time with the British Army had been to join the infantry regiment. So, after 18 months with the TOS, when the CO of the Kings Regiment agreed to accept him he could not resist.

For the next five years he served with the King's Regiment in Kenya, Berlin, Northern Ireland and Preston, England. During his posting to Berlin he witnessed President Kennedy ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech.

However, the desert beckoned once again and in 1966 David returned to the TOS as Commander of the Support Group. Later that year he was promoted to Major and given command of B squadron in Al Ain.

In 1968 HH Sheikh Saqr bin Muhammed Al Qasimi agreed for the first time to allow a TOS squadron to be based in Ras Al Khaimah, and David was chosen to command it. He quickly developed a warm relationship with the ruler which was cemented when he was quashed a tribal rebellion north of the city. He achieved this by approaching the rebels on foot and unarmed while they shot live rounds in his direction. Such bravery and commitment was recognised and appreciated by Sheikh Saqr and the following year, even though David was far from the most senior British officer serving in the TOS, Sheikh Saqr asked David to form and command a 300 strong independent RAK Mobile Force, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In less than three years David acquired the necessary equipment, selected and trained the soldiers and established the force, before leaving in 1971.

Following the quelling a violent coup in  Sharjah in January 1972, and on the recommendation of Sheikh Saqr, the Sharjah ruling family asked David to establish a military force, similar to the one had set up in RAK. Drawing on trained soldiers already serving in the UAE, he had the Sharjah National Guard operational within six months. A year later, when it became known that they would soon be absorbed into the new Union Defence Force, David decided it was time to move on finally from military life and set out for Africa.

After a short time in Kenya and South Africa, he settled on a farm in Rhodesia where he met and fell in love with Eileen. They were married on the farm on the 27th July 1976. During the time in Rhodesia, David also served as an active member of the part time reserve Political Anti-Terrorist Unit.

In 1982 David was invited to Malawi by the president, Dr Hastings Banda, to be General Manager of his Chamwavi Group agricultural organisation. And there their daughter Michelle met and married Sean. Despite his predecessors lasting no more than a year in that sensitive position David lasted 13 and it was not until Dr Banda left power in 1995 that David and Eileen moved to South Africa. They settled in the town of George, near Cape Town, where David indulged his passion for golf. Indeed, for two years he was captain of the renowned Fancourt Golf Resort and famously once beat his good friend Ernie Els ,albeit after in introducing him to a vintage port the night before!

In 2012 HH Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi , the ruler of RAK,  proposed to David that he should write a book about his time in the region, and in 2013 invited him and Eileen to settle in RAK. A Soldier in Arabia was published in 2015 and was well received. Between his weekly rounds of golf David enjoy giving talks about his time in the crucial formative years of the UAE to schools, societies and businesses across the country who appreciated who appreciated his unique experience and insights. Indeed, HH Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammed Al Qasimi ,the ruler of Sharjah,  even brought David with him to Germany to speak at a dinner party he was hosting at a book fair there.

Two years later Michelle and Sean move to RAK with their daughters, Samantha and Kimberly.

It was with his family nearby after a few months of struggle with pulmonary fibrosis that David died in RAK hospital on the 11th February 2020.