Have You a Tiger In Your Family?

Rank : Major

Army Number : 190324

Unit : 2nd Bn, 7th Bn

Biography :

Dane Vanderspar was educated at Harrow School and Magdalen College, Oxford. A fine lawn tennis player, he played the Wimbledon Championships in 1932. That year he began working for Boustead Brothers, Colombo, Ceylon. He joined the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps in 1939 and then enlisted in The Rifle Brigade and fought in the ranks of its 2nd Bn in the Western Desert. From OCTU in Egypt, he was commissioned 2Lt into the General List on 2.3.1941. As a 2nd Lieutenant in 2nd Bn The Leicestershire Regiment he was awarded the Military Cross for his leadership as a platoon commander in C Company at Tobruk, 25/26 Nov 1941. He continued to serve in that Battalion in the Middle East, Ceylon and India. As a Major he transferred to 7th Bn in India in 1943, to bring battle experience to that Battalion. For his actions as a Company Commander in 7th Leicesters (Chindits), at Indawgki, in Burma, 20-22 May 1944, he was awarded a bar to his M.C. After the War he was Director of Boustead Brothers (later Whittall Boustead) in Ceylon 1946-62. He changed his surname by deed poll to Boustead (mother's maiden name) in 1951. He married Auriel Noble in 1951 (2 daughters), and married Diana Ley in 1980. He died in 2005, aged 93 years.

This page was last edited on 17.2.2020.

Date of Birth : 2.6.1911

Place of Birth : Colombo, Ceylon

Date of Death : May 2005

Place of Death : Surrey

Civil Occupation : tea planter,Ceylon

Period of Service : 1939-46

Conflicts : WW2

Places Served : Ceylon, North Africa, Syria, India, Burma