My friend and distant relative Raleigh Trevelyan, who has died aged 91, was a writer and historian whose work drew on an encyclopedic knowledge of Trevelyan family history – a rich seam. His books included Sir Walter Raleigh (2004), a biography of his 16th-century ancestor, and The Golden Oriole (1987), which traced the history of the family in India during 200 years of colonial rule.
Born on the Andaman Islands to Walter, a colonel in the British Indian army, and Olive (nee Frost), he later moved with his family to Pakistan, where his father was posted. He was sent to a boarding prep school in England at the age of eight and then went on to Winchester college. He served in the second world war, first in Algiers and then in Anzio, Italy, the latter experience becoming the basis for two books, The Fortress (1956), a war memoir, and Rome ’44: The Battle for the Eternal City (1981).
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