Ivor Thord-Gray (born Thord Ivar Hallström) (April 17, 1878 – August 18, 1964) was a Swedish-born adventurer, sailor, prison guard, soldier, government official, police officer, rubber plantation owner, ethnologist, linguist, investor, and author. He participated in thirteen wars spanning the continents of Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe.
Very same breast star.
South Africa
Joined Merchant Marine and sailed on three ships from 1893 to 1895 leaving later to settle in Cape Town, South Africa
Worked as a Prison Guard on Robben Island in 1896
In 1897 he enlisted in the Cape Mounted Riflemen as a Private and fought in the Boer War in 1899–1902
Served in the South African Constabulary 1902–1903
Transvaal Colony Civil Service 1903–1906
Captain in the Lydenburg Militia 1904
Joined Royston's Horse as a Lieutenant and fought in the Bambatha Rebellion 1906 being promoted Captain.
Kenya
Captain of Nairobi Mounted Police 1907
Philippines
Captain Philippine Constabulary ("US Foreign Legion") 1908–1909
Malaya
Planter in Malaya 1909–1911
China
Served a short time in the Chinese Revolution 1913
Mexico
Joined Mexican Revolution as Captain and Commander of Pancho Villa's artillery 1913
Promoted Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel 1914
Chief of Staff 1st Mexican Army 1914
Britain
Joined British Army 1914, and served in the First World War. His initial rank was of Major and he was the second in command of 15th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
Lieutenant-Colonel and Commanding officer of 11th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers in 1915, and then 1/26th Battalion Royal Fusiliers in 1916
Awarded 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, and Allied Victory Medal
Lieutenant-Colonel in the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force, which was deployed as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in 1918.
Russia
On 15 February 1919 Thord-Gray resigned, and joined the White Russian Forces, under Admiral Alexander Kolchak, then recognised as the Supreme Ruler of Russia by the Allies. He served as "Colonel of Cavalry and aide-de-camp", and "acting Director of Organisation" to General Radola Gajda of the Czechoslovak Legion.
He then became Second-in-Command of the 1st Siberian Assault Division on 15 May 1919 and Adjutant General. Commanding it in heavy fighting, later as GOC, he was wounded at Omsk on 14 August 1919, and possibly not in battle – Thord-Gray claimed this was an "attempt of assassination by the pro-German party’". He became Major-General on 29 November 1919 and diplomatic/military representative of the provisional Siberian government.
As part of this he was involved in the sale of gold reserves to foreign banks. He was captured by the Soviets at the fall of Vladivostok on 29 November 1919, but was allowed to leave for Japan and the USA on 3 February 1920.
In 1923 Ivor Thord-Gray returned to Sweden and wrote a book about Mexican archeology Från Mexicos forntid: bland tempelruiner och gudabilder.
In 1925 Thord-Gray moved to the United States and established I.T. Gray & Co, an investment bank located at 522 Fifth Avenue in New York City. He became a citizen of the United States in 1934. He was married to Josephine Toerge-Schaefer (1925–1932) who had two children, Edward and Frances. He was subsequently married to Winnifred Ingersoll (1933–1960). In 1929, he established residence at Gray Court in Belle Haven in Greenwich, Connecticut. In August 1935 he was appointed Major-General and Chief-of-Staff to Governor David Sholtz of Florida.
In 1955, he wrote Tarahumara-English, English-Tarahumara dictionary and an introduction to Tarahumara grammar. (Coral Gables, Fla., University of Miami Press, 1955). He also wrote a book about his experiences in the Mexican Revolution, Gringo Rebel: Mexico 1913–1914 (Coral Gables, Fla. : University of Miami Press, 1961). In later years he had his winter home in Coral Gables, Florida.
