Lieutenant Colonel, Royal Artillery
Born: August 18th 1902
Died: April 7th 1943
Age at Death: 40
Killed on active service, April 7th 1943
Alfred James Frederick Sugden was born on 18 August 1902 in the British Army garrison town of Rawalpindi in north-west India. His parents were Florence and Alfred Stanway Sugden, both members of the Army Educational Corps.
At Brighton College Alfred enjoyed success in athletics, before leaving in 1920 and entering the army’s Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. After graduating from the Academy as an artillery specialist he was posted to Hong Kong, before returning to England, where he spent some time at the Staff College. While in England Sugden married Pamela Pickwoad, who bore him two daughters, Jenny and Rosemary. Sugden and his commanding officer outwitted the War Office, which had turned down a request for a postponement of his posting to India, submitted on the grounds that his wife was expecting their first child, by getting him onto an officer’s gunnery course in England. This delayed his departure by enough time for him to see his newborn baby.
In 1938 Sugden finally went to India, where he was Master of the Bangalore Hounds. In the course of time he was placed in charge of the Indian Army’s 160th Field Regiment Royal Artillery. Preparing for a new campaign, the regiment stepped up its live-firing exercises. Lieutenant-Colonel Sugden was critically injured by a stray shell during a practice artillery barrage, and died of his wounds two days later. He is buried in the Calcutta (Bhowanipore) Cemetery.