Gervase Francis Newport Tinley was born in Grahamstown, South Africa, in 1857. He was the son of Major-General R N Tinley of the Cape Mounted Rifles. He was educated in Jersey and trained as a cadet at RMC Sandhurst. His first commission was into the 83rd Regiment and he went to India with them, but in 1878 Sub-Lieutenant Tinley was attached on probation to the 1st Bombay Cavalry at Poona. He was on active service in the Zhob Valley in 1882 and commanded a squadron from 23 Oct 1885. He was in the Burma campaign in 1886 where he was wounded and had his horse shot from under him. He was mentioned in despatches. He also served in Dawlatzai and Dongola in 1896. On 31 Mar 1898 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and appointed commandant of his regiment which at that time was known as 1st Bombay Lancers.
From 1905 he was Assistant Adjutant General to the 7th Division in India and was one of the Indian Army officers at Queen Victoria’s funeral in 1901. He also attended the Coronation of Edward VII. In 1909 he was appointed CB. In WW1 he was Base Commandant on Lines of Communication for which he was mentioned in despatches 3 times, appointed CMG and awarded the Légion d’honneur on 14 July 1917.
Colonel Tinley was married twice. Firstly in 1891 to Elsie Benton, daughter of an American officer, but she died in 1907. They had one son who served in the 20th Deccan Horse. Colonel Gervase Tinley was 54 years old when, in July 1912, he secondly married 21-year old Beryl Randall Tytherleigh Easton. He was serving in France when he died suddenly in Marseilles on 18 February 1918. The photo shows him c1901 with a group of Indian Army officers, possibly the representatives of the Indian Army either at the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901 (although no sign of a black arm band) or the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. Lieutenant-Colonel Tinley wears the dress uniform of the 1st Bengal Lancers, dark green tunic with red facings and gold lace for field officer rank.
