Jean-Denis Barbier du Bocage was a French geographer and philologist.
Vero Louis Bosazza was born 21 January 1911; graduated in geography from University of Witswatersrand and obtained his Doctor's degree from University of South Africa; and worked as a practical field geologist, gaining extensive knowledge of South and Central Africa. During World War Two, Bosazza served with the South African Forces and on his return home worked in the Mineral Research Laboratories. Bosazza had an interest in the work of David Livingstone, maintaining that the scientific results of the Zambesi expedition of 1854-1864 were more important than previously considered. Bosazza was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1947-1980. Bosazza died in Johannesburg on 26 March 1980.
F S A Bourne was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 1886-1912. He worked for the China Consular Service and was in charge of the Blackburn Commercial Mission to China. No biographical history concerning Tratman was available at the time of compilation.
The Tristan da Cunha Fund was set up c 1886, by Douglas M Gane, a London solicitor. The purpose of the fund was to send aid to Tristan da Cunha following the failure of the potato crop and the loss of 15 of the islands best boat men at sea. The fund provided provisions for the islanders including wood, food and candles. Gane, Honorary Secretary of the Fund, who had visited the island aboard the clipper Ellora, repeatedly wrote to The Times in London to ensure the islanders were not forgotten. The Fund survived Gane's death in 1935, and his son, Irving B Gane, took over as Honorary Secretary. The Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Empire Society were the Fund's trustees. The fund was wound up sometime after 1951, as changes on the island meant that it was no longer dependant upon the Fund for survival.
Led expeditions in Canada including Southampton Island, 1936, Baffin Island, [1943] and Hudson Bay, [1947]; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1933- ; awarded the Patron's Medal in 1948.
Verney Lovett Cameron was born in 1844. A naval Lieutenant, Cameron was selected by the Royal Geographical Society to lead an expedition to find David Livingstone in 1872; Livingstone had died when Cameron reached central Africa; Cameron then crossed tropical Africa from east to west, the first European to do so; awarded the CB by Queen Victoria and the Gold Medal of the RGS. Cameron was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 1876-1894 and died in 1894.
Alley was an English merchant who was active in the East India trade as an interloper where his flamboyant behaviour caused considerable irritation to the East India Company. Numerous pious interjections suggest he may have been a Puritan. He mentions that his wife travelled with him.
Lt William Harvey Hooper was ship's purser on HMS ALEXANDER, HMS HECLA and HMS FURY, 1818-1825. He died, 1833.
Born, 1788; merchant service; Royal Navy, 1805; surveying in Italian, Adriatic, Greek, and north African waters; Founder member of the Royal Geographical Society of London (RGS), 1830; President of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1845-1846; retired, 1846; President of the RGS, 1849-1850; Vice-President and Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society; Vice-President and Director of the Society of Antiquaries; died, 1865.
Born, 1846; Aberdeen grammar school, 1865; studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen, 1867; Anderson's Medical College; graduated MB, 1872 and MD, 1874; practised medicine in Scotland; Assistant Medical Officer in the Seychelles, 1873; Resident Surgeon in the civil hospital at Port Louis, Mauritius, 1874; Chief Medical Officer for the colony of Fiji, 1875; first Administrator of British New Guinea, 1888-1895; Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea, 1895-1898; Founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1896; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1898-1919; Governor of Lagos, 1899-1904; Governor of Newfoundland, 1904-1909; conducted a scientific expedition to Labrador, [1906]; Governor of Queensland, 1909-1914; retired, 1914; died, 1919.
Born, 1817; expedition to search for the companions of Sir John Franklin, 1850; expeditions off Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia, [1855-1857]; throughout his life he endeavoured to enlist public interest on behalf of the companions of Sir John Franklin; died, 1895.
During the early existence of Bedford College, the Professors were all part-time, some with second jobs elsewhere. Appointments were made in a haphazard fashion by the Council, giving the staff no period of notice if their services were dispensed with. Various Committees were set up to recommend candidates to the Council. Following the Incorporation of 1869, the staff were accorded the right of appeal to the Members of the College if dismissed, but not until 1892 was a three month period of notice instituted. Assistant members of staff, of which there were a growing number, mainly former students, were also employed by the Council, who received nominations from the Professors concerned. After 1896 the Board of Education had advisory powers relating to staff appointments.
For some time, staff files remained in the keeping of the Principal, though it appears that the day to day organisation of personnel matters resided with the Secretary until recent times.
Student societies began to emerge at Bedford College in the 1880s, and were actively encouraged by the first Principal, Emily Penrose, in order to increase the sense of community felt by the students. Types of society included subject-based academic groups, sporting societies such as the Boating Club, and political clubs. The Bedford College Union Society was created in 1913, and all the student societies except the Athletics Union and restricted societies (such as religious groups) came under its control. The Athletics Union, also formed in 1913, was responsible for sporting groups. Each society had its own set of rules (some even had magazines) and reported regularly in the College news sheet until World War Two. The number of student societies continued to increase, with 32 in 1936, 42 in the 1950s and 51 in 1980-1981. The Athletics Union ceased to exist as a separate body in 1969-1970, when it was replaced by a Sports Committee of the Bedford College Union Society.
The Bedford College Staff Association was founded in 1917, and brought together (on an irregular basis) all members of staff, both academic and administrative, to deliberate on matters of common interest. Later it became responsible for organising the Senior Common Room and a varying programme of social events, such as Christmas celebrations and the end of session Summer party. The Bedford College Assistant Staff Association was formed in 1918 to ensure that the Assistant Staff had a voice in various issues affecting the government of the College and their own status. Its meetings were few, however, due to the creation of the Association of University Teachers in the following year (1919), which had the same preoccupations. The AUT was founded for the 'advancement of University education and research, and the promotion of common action among University teachers and the safeguarding of the interests of its members'. The first Annual Meeting of the AUT was held at Bedford College in Jun 1920.
Following deliberations in 1849 by various provisional committees, the management structure of Bedford College was arranged into a Board, a Council, a Ladies Committee and a Professors Committee, coming into effect as a corporate body in Sep 1849.
The Council was the most important of these bodies, being the holder of the executive functions and responsible for the general and educational management of Bedford College. It comprised nine members: one Trustee, two representatives of the Board, three Lady Visitors, and three Professors, the women on the Council being the final authority for 'all matters in which female propriety and comfort is concerned'. The Ladies Committee and the Professors Committee were intended to report to the Council, which would mediate between and unite the opinions of the two advisory bodies. Other powers included appointment and remuneration of staff and overseeing of College finances. Various decisions made by the Council included new plans for the conduct of finances, 1850, including a rigorous procedure for the drawing of cheques and the appointment of an auditor to oversee the accounts; the drawing up in 1856 of a systematic four year course of study for pupils, including a terminal examination; and the creation of a Committee of Education to assess and advise students.
The draft constitution of Bedford College, however, had never been formally adopted by the Board, and lacked any legal power. Despite numerous attempts, no formal charter could be agreed upon by all sections of the management structure, and the College was also suffering under financial pressures and suspicions of inadequate teaching methods. Following the death of Mrs Reid, her Trustees instigated the replacement of the College government by a Committee of Management chaired by Mark Pattison and containing several members of the old Council. After a period of autocratic rule, the Committee of Management framed a Constitution that was accepted by the Board and came into force in 1869. The College was incorporated as an Association under the Board of Trade, and the Articles of Association placed the government of Bedford College in the hands of a body of Members named 'The College', who took the place of the previous Board. The Council remained the main executive body, though it was no longer made up of representatives from different sections of the College, but was consist of ten Members, nine elected by 'The College' in General Meeting (with one third being women) and the Honorary Secretary. This Council had full executive powers and was also empowered to create Committees: a Committee of Education was instituted immediately.
The membership of the Council was changed from ten to twenty in 1892 to allow for the presence of representatives of the Residence, and a need for closer communication between Staff and the College government led to Staff representatives being awarded the position of assessors on the Council in 1902.
Following the grant of a Royal Charter in 1909, the Council was restructured to include representatives of the University of London, the London County Council, the teaching Staff, and the Governors, with the Principal becoming an ex officio member. One-third of the Councillors were still to be women. Meetings were held at least once a term, with the annual election of a Chairman, Vice Chairman and Honorary Treasurer at the first Council meeting after the Annual General Meeting. One-fifth of the elected Councillors (those chosen from among the Governors) was to resign at every AGM.
The Council conducted the general business of College, with powers to appoint and dismiss the Principal, Secretary, teaching staff and other employees, to appoint Standing or Special Committees (the Chairman of Council being an ex officio member of all committees), and supervise the overall revenue and expenditure of the College. They also maintained the Common Seal of the College, the affixing of which had to be attested by two Councillors and the Secretary of Council.
The size and makeup of the Bedford College Council has varied over the years, the final total being fixed at 32 by the Governors in 1982. Student Councillors were admitted to the Council in 1973 - elected by whole student body in secret ballot - and had to include the President and former President of Bedford College Union Society.
The early management structure of Bedford College was decided upon in 1849 by several provisional committees set up for the purpose, and, despite the original wish of Mrs Reid and her friends to keep the management of the College in the hands of women, relegated the executive authority over the propriety and comfort of the pupils to the four women who sat on the Council. Owing to the lack of Committee experience of the women involved in the venture, made clear in the provisional stages of the project, a decision was made that the Ladies Committee should retain no executive function, but merely be an advisory body.
The Ladies Committee was active as an advisory force, giving the Council its opinion on developments in the College and educational questions, but it faced a constant struggle to maintain adequate Committee procedures, only drawing up the requested by-laws in 1850-1851. These provided for the title of President for the Chairman of the Committee, but the office of Chair was not appointed systematically, and the meetings were often disorderly. Revised by-laws and Rules were drawn up in 1855, in which systems for electing representatives to the Council were outlined. The Committee also undertook yearly appointment of a salaried Lady Resident who was responsible for fees, household supervision and discipline in the College, until tenure of the office became permanent in 1854.
A group of Lady Visitors was formed from the original members of the Ladies Committee (which was often known as the 'Committee of Lady Visitors'), mainly for the purpose of chaperonage and discipline of the young ladies attending lectures. At a meeting of the provisional Ladies Committee in Aug 1849, rules for the conduct of students were drawn up, as was a timetable of supervision. No Professor's wife was permitted to be a Lady Visitor, and no Professor could reprimand a pupil except in the presence of a Lady Visitor. Twenty-one Lady Visitors were appointed in Oct 1849, though the draft constitution allowed for a maximum of forty, and numbers soon increased to thirty-nine. A locked book was kept for the Lady Visitors to enter remarks and suggestions. As the years went on, numbers became more and more difficult to maintain due to the expenditure of time required from the role. Despite the introduction of auxiliaries and chaperonage fees, numbers continued to decline until chaperonage was dispensed with in 1893.
Already on the wane due to the emergence of the Reid Trustees and the prominence of the ladies on the Council, the powers of the Ladies Committee were further reduced upon the Incorporation of the College in 1869, when it failed to be given an important place in the constitution and had its numbers limited to 14. The last meeting was held in April 1893, though it had ceased to exert any real power for the preceding twenty-four years.
The Reid Trust came into existence in 1866, following the death of Mrs Reid, and provided a capital sum of £16,400 to be used 'for the promotion and improvement of female education'. It stipulated that there should be at least three (and no more than five) Reid Trustees, all unmarried women: the first Trustees were Elizabeth Ann Bostock, Jane Martineau and Eleanor Elizabeth Smith, who also served as Managers of the Residence. Control of capital which could help the financially precarious College, as well as control of the property leases, put the three in a position to determine a new structure of management for Bedford College. Due to their demands, the School attached to the College was closed and the Bedford College Council ceased to exist in Jun 1868, replaced for eighteen months by a Committee of Management. After a period of autocratic rule, the Committee of Management proposed a Constitution that was accepted by the Board and came into force in 1869. The College was incorporated as an Association under the Board of Trade, with Memoranda and Articles of Association, and the management structure consisted of a body of Members termed 'The College', which replaced The Board, and a new Council elected from amongst the Members.
Following this period of change, the Reid Trust used its income to promote female education, and, rather than giving an annual lump sum to Bedford College, chose to devote funds to the creation of scholarships, exhibitions and grants for entrance to the College made directly by the Trustees to the recipient. This was done through the creation in 1872 of a Scholarship Fund with capital of £2000. They also promoted higher education by making contributions to Bedford College Council for stated purposes such as the increase of the salaries of lecturers and a yearly public examination of the standard of teaching. Donations were made to the Library and laboratories, and money was sometimes provided for building or extension work.
After the first Government grant to Bedford College in 1895, the Reid Trust discontinued its contributions to higher education, and widened its donations to take in other institutions, such as the London School of Medicine for Women. A travelling scholarship named for Rachel Notcutt was founded in 1918 to commemorate her long service with the Trust, and the Trust has maintained close links with the affairs of the College. The Reid scholarships, which were suspended in [1985], were recently reinstated.
Bax was the son of Bonham Ward Bax (q.v.). He joined the BRITANNIA in 1889, rose to captain in 1913 and saw active service in World War One. He was promoted to admiral on the retired list in 1932.
Berry went to sea as a volunteer in 1779 and served in the guardship Magnificent between 1787 and 1788. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1794. He later served in the AGAMEMNON and the Captain with Nelson (q.v.), 1796 to 1797 and was then promoted to captain. After service with Nelson at the battle of the Nile, 1798, he commanded the FOUDROYANT and captured the GENEREUX and GUILLAUME TELL. He was appointed to the AGAMEMNON in 1805 and fought at Trafalgar. Subsequent commands took him to the West Indies and in 1812 he was appointed to the Barfleur. Berry commanded the royal yacht ROYAL SOVEREIGN, 1813 to 1814. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1821.
Robert Barrie was born in 1774 or 1775. His mother was a sister of Admiral Lord Gardner. After the death of Barrie's father she married George Clayton of Lostock Hall, Preston, Lancashire. Barrie entered the navy in his uncle's ship in 1786. He sailed on Vancouver's expedition 1791-1794, and was promoted lieutenant in 1795 and to captain in 1802. He commanded the BRILLIANT on the Irish Station between 1804 and 1805 and the POMONE in the Channel and the Mediterranean between 1806 and 1811. In 1810 he was responsible for apprehending Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, one of Bonaparte's brothers, and his family who were subsequently sent to England where they remained until 1814. In 1811 the POMONE was wrecked but Barrie was acquitted at his court martial. He commanded the DRAGON on the North American Station 1813 to 1815. From 1819 to 1834 he was Superintendant of HM Dockyard Kingston, Canada. See: biographical article by T L Brock with a family memoir and notes on Barrie's ancestry, and transcripts of his Canadian letters in BGY/19. See also: Section 4 (DXN) diaries of Anne Dixon, nee Gardner (1733-1803), sister of Admiral Lord Gardner and Barrie's aunt.
Blake entered the Navy in 1897, was made a lieutenant in 1904, specialising in gunnery and was promoted to commander in 1914. Between 1914 and 1918 he served in the Grand Fleet flagships IRON DUKE and QUEEN ELIZABETH as Fleet Gunnery Commander and Executive Officer respectively. In 1918 he was promoted to captain and served as Naval Attache in Washington between 1919 and 1921. From 1921 to 1923 he commanded QUEEN ELIZABETH and from 1923 he served on the staff of the War College for two years. Between 1925 and 1929 he was Deputy Director and then Director of the Royal Naval Staff College, after which, for three years, he was Commodore in command of the New Zealand Station and First Naval Member of the New Zealand Naval Board. In 1931 he was made rear-admiral. He became Fourth Sea Lord in 1932 and was promoted to vice-admiral in 1935. His last active command was that of the Battle Cruiser Squadron. He retired because of ill-health in 1938, was recalled in 1940 and served on the Board of Admiralty as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff. From 1942 to 1945 he was Flag Officer, Liaison, with the United States Navy in Europe.
Bougainville served in the French army in Canada, where he was aide-de-camp to Montcalm (1712-1759). In 1763 he sailed on a private enterprise to colonise the Falkland Islands with French Canadian refugees but when France sold her interest in the islands to Spain in 1766, he sailed to the South Seas and in the next three years circumnavigated the world. He subsequently proposed undertaking a voyage towards the North Pole hut his scheme was dropped when the Duc de Choiseul (1719-1785) was dismissed in 1770. In 1775 Bougainville was granted naval rank and was second-in-command to de Grasse (1722-1788) in the West Indies during the American War of Independence. In 1791 he was offered the post of Ministre de la Marine but refused it. He narrowly escaped the guillotine and he later enjoyed the patronage of Napoleon. In 1796 he was elected to the Institut National. He was also a member of the Bureau des Longitudes and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. See Jean Etienne Martin-Allanic, Bougainville, navigateur et les decouvertes de son temps (Paris, 1964).
By the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, the responsibility for maintaining a systematic wreck register was taken over by the Marine Department of the Board of Trade; for a short period before this date it had been the responsibility of the Admiralty. Between 1864 and 1867 the Wreck Department was created to deal with wrecks, salvage and related matters.
Edward Eden Bradford joined the Royal Navy as a Cadet in 1872, serving on HMS HERCULES in the channel. Promoted to Midshipman in 1876, he then served aboard HMS DORIS, HMS DANAE and HMS RALIEGH, before taking up position on the schooner HMS SANDFLY as her Sub-Lieutenant. It was during his time on th SANDFLY that Bradford was forced to take charge of the vessel, following the murder of her Commanding Officer and five crew by natives whilst surveying ashore in the Solomon Islands. Bradford's subsequent actions in recovering the bodies of his shipmates and the punishment of the natives earned him a special promotion to Lieutenant in December 1880. Bradford then joined HMS ACHILLES in 1881 and took part in the bombardment of Alexandria, for which he was decorated. He served in the China Station from 1883 to 1891 aboard HMS SAPPHIRE and HMS MUTINE, after which he joined HMS BOADICEA, flagship of the East Indies Squadron as a Commander. Promoted to Captain in 1899, Bradford then served under Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson as his Flag-Captain in HMS MAJESTIC, HMS REVENGE and HMS EXMOUTH. Commodore of Chatham Naval Barracks from 1907 to 1908, Bradford was then made Rear-Admiral of the Home Fleet, with his flag in HMS HIBERNIA. He then commanded the Training Squadron aboard HMS LEVIATHAN from 1911 to 1913, before being promoted to Vice-Admiral and given command of the 3rd Battle Squadron, with which he supported Admiral Beatty at Dogger Bank. At his own request, Bradford retired in 1918 with the rank of Admiral.
Brown entered the Navy in 1890 and served in the DREADNOUGHT in the Mediterranean until 1893, when he joined the TOURMALINE in the West Indies. He then joined the VOLAGE in the Training Squadron and took part in the summer cruise of 1896. His next ship was the TRAFALGAR, Mediterranean and Channel Stations, and between 1900 and 1902 he served in the ARGONAUT on the China Station. Brown was promoted to commander in 1905, to captain in 1912 and held a succession of cruiser appointments during the First World War. He then served as head of the naval mission to Greece between 1917 and 1919 and was made rear-admiral in the Royal Hellenic Navy in 1918. In 1922 he was promoted to rear-admiral, placed on the retired list and in 1927 was advanced to vice-admiral.
David Beatty entered the navy in 1884 as a cadet on board the BRITANNIA. Two years later he was posted as a midshipman to the ALEXANDRA, flagship of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, after which he served in the CRUISER and TAMAR. As an acting Sub-Lieutenant, he underwent training between 1890 and 1892 at Portsmouth and at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Promoted Lieutenant in 1892, he spent most of the next four years in the RUBY corvette, and battleships CAMPERDOWN and TRAFALGAR. Between 1896 and 1898, in the efforts to retain the Sudan under Egyptian control, he distinguished himself in operations involving a flotilla of gunboats on the Nile; in addition in 1898 he commanded a rocket battery on shore. For these services he was promoted Commander in November 1898 (see BTY/1/2 and BTY/24/1-6).
The following year, Beatty went as commander in the BARFLEUR to China, then in the throes of the Boxer rebellion. Again he distinguished himself in reinforcing the garrison at Tientsin and in leading sorties against the besieging rebels (see BTY/1/3). Although only 29, in November 1900 he was promoted captain. Between 1902 and 1910, Beatty commanded the cruisers JUNO, ARROGANT, DIANA and SUFFOLK and the battleship QUEEN. Memoranda survive relating to his command of the JUNO (BTY/2/1). In 1910 Beatty was promoted Rear-Admiral, the youngest flag-officer for over a hundred years, at 39. In 1911 he was offered a Flag post in the Atlantic Fleet, which he refused (see BTY/2/2), and after Winston Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty in October 1911, he chose Beatty for his naval secretary (see BTY/2/3). To test Beatty's aptitude for sea command, Churchill gave him commane of a cruiser squadron during the manoeuvres of 1912 (see BTY/22/1). In 1913 Churchill gave Beatty command of the battlecruiser squadron based at Scapa Flow, with his flag in the LION (see BTY/2/4). Beatty took a leading part in the naval operations of the Grand Fleet throughout the First World War Admiral Sir John Jellicoe became first Sea Lord and Beatty as Commander-in-Chief and Jellicoe's subordinate, the correspondence with Jellicoe is a key source for the history of naval operations for the whole war (see BTY/13/21-23).
Other important correspondence is that between Beatty and Sir Rosslyn Wemyss (1864-1933) (see BTY/13/39, 40). In 1901 Beatty married Ethel (1874-1932), daughter of Marshall Field of Chicago and former wife of the american, Arthur Tree. They had two sons, David (1905-1981) and Peter (b 1910). Their correspondence (BTY/17 and 18) is an important source for the war as well as for pre- and post-war periods, extending from 1900 to 1927. In 1919 Beatty succeeded Wemyss as first sea lord at the Admiralty, a post he held until 1927. Beatty's correspondence with W H Long (1854-1924), then First Lord, covers the terms of his appointment and his first three years at the Admiralty (BTY/13/28). Dominating his first three years at the Admiralty was the controversy over what actually happened at the battle of Jutland, and the succession of efforts to produce a version of events for public comsumption. Particularly important are the memoranda relating to the production by Captain J E T Harper (1874-1949) of the 'Official Record' of the battles and the decision not to publish it (BTY/9/2 and 3). In 1927 Beatty was elevated to the peerage and took his place in the House of Lords. He died in 1939 and was buried in St Paul's Cathedral.
Burton was commissioned as first lieutenant in the Royal Marines in 1806. From 1811 to 1812 he served in the ROTA in the Channel. He was promoted to captain in 1827 and served in the Mediterranean in the ALFRED, 1831 to 1834.
Osborn served in the Mediterranean before becoming a lieutenant in 1717. In 1718 He took part in the action off Cape Passaro in the Mediterranean and the following year served in a squadron on the north coast of Africa. His first command was the SQUIRREL in 1728. In 1734 he commanded the PORTLAND in the Channel and in 1738 the SALISBURY in the Mediterranean. He was appointed to the PRINCE OF ORANGE in 1740, returning to England in the CHICHESTER in 1741, when he moved to the PRINCESS CAROLINE, Channel, until 1743. Osborn was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1747 and in 1748 was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands; in the same year he became a Vice-Admiral. He was promoted Admiral and appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, in 1757 but after blockading the French fleet in 1758, he suffered a stroke and saw no more active service. Osborn was Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire, 1758 to 1761.
Abdy began his career by serving in the East India Company's ships TRUE BRITON, 1750 to 1752, on a voyage to China and Stafford, 1753, to India. He then entered the Navy and was commissioned as lieutenant in 1758. He was promoted to commander in 1761 and served in the BEAVER, 1761 to 1766, in home waters and then in the West Indies. In 1766 he was promoted to Captain of the ACTEON in the West Indies, but he returned home before the end of the year and did not serve again because of ill-health.
Chatfield attended the School of Naval Architecture at Portsmouth. He was Assistant Master Shipwright at Deptford, 1848 to 1853, and Master Shipwright between 1853 and 1860. He was a member of the Dockyard Committee of Enquiry, which concluded its report in 1861 and to which he attached a minority report.
Chambers entered the Navy in 1823 and served in the West Indies from 1824 until 1829, the year in which he became a lieutenant. He went again to the West Indies in 1833 when he was appointed First Lieutenant of the RACER and in 1836 was given charge of the Portuguese prize brigantine VIGILANTI. In 1837 he transferred to the WELLESLEY, flagship in the East Indies, and in 1840 was acting captain firstly of the ALLIGATOR, then of the PELORUS which was stationed at Port Essington, Australia. When the PELORUS was sold at Singapore in 1841, Chambers returned to the WELLESLEY as her First Lieutenant and took part in the latter stages of the First China War, 1839 to 1842. For this service he was promoted to commander and became captain in 1846.
Captain John Christopher joined the Royal Navy in June 1839 and served as a seaman on board HMS CAMBRIDGE until November 1841. In March 1842 he commenced a career of over thirty years in the Merchant Service. In 1850 he made a successful claim for a Master's Certificate of Service (his application form is among the papers of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen at the Museum). He served in a number merchant ships including the barque MINMANUETH of Scilly 1865 to1872 in the American trade. In 1872 he left the sea due to ill health although he served as Mate in the REAPER in 1876. He then turned his attentions to shipowning. In 1875 he purchased shares of the schooner LIZZIE MORTON of St Ives in 1879. He also became involved in the foundation of the Hain Steamship Company of St Ives in 1879. The Christopher family continued to play a leading part in the Hain Steamship Company; John Christopher's grandson Sir George P Christopher becoming Chairman and Managing Director and his grandson Captain J Christopher becoming the Company's Marine Superintendant.
Thomas Clifford was born at Chudleigh, near Exeter, Devon on 1 August 1630. He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford in 1647 and then entered the Middle Temple in the following year to complete his education. In November 1664, on the eve of the Second Dutch War, Clifford was made a Commissioner for Sick and Wounded Seamen and Prisoners of War. On 14 January 1665, he was appointed as Sub-Commissioner for Prizes for the Port of London, rising to the position of General Commissioner on 24 March. In the same year, Clifford also received a knighthood and joined the English Fleet at sea participating, with the Duke of York, in the Battle of Lowestoft on 3 June. On 28 June, Charles II granted him the prize ship the PATRIARCH ISSACK, captured from the Dutch, for attention to his duties as Sub-Commissioner for Prizes for the Port of London. In August of that year he was again at sea as Captain of the REVENGE, serving under the Earl of Sandwich at the Battle of Bergen. On 29 August 1665, Clifford was appointed, with Sir Henry Coventry, as Extraordinary Envoy to Sweden and, with Sir Gilbert Talbot, as Extraordinary Envoy to Denmark, to settle questions of commerce and navigation. Sir Clifford was to see direct action again in the Second Dutch War, between 1 and 4 June 1666, when he participated in the Four Days' Battle, and on 25 July 1666 at the St James Day Battle. On 8 November that year, he was appointed Comptroller of the Household and on 5 December he was placed on Charles II's Privy Council. As one of the King's most trusted advisors, he subsequently received a number of high profile appointments, the first in 1667, when he was asked to serve on the Commission of the Treasury. In October 1667, he was requested to assist in the preparation of a report on the English Fleet at war. He was made Treasurer of the Household on 14 June 1668. In 1670, Sir Clifford was responsible, with other ministers including the Earl of Arlington, for the negotiation of the Secret Treaty of Dover of June 1670 with Louis XIV of France, urging Charles II to go to war with the United Provinces. Two years later, during the absence of Coventry and Arlington in Sweden and Holland, Clifford was appointed as Principal Secretary of State. In April 1672, he was created 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh and on 28 November was appointed as Lord High Treasurer. The same year he was also made Treasurer of the Exchequer, and was a principal promoter of the Declaration of Indulgence of 1672, suspending penal laws against dissenters and Catholic recusants. Clifford was a member of the Cabal, a group of inner advisers to Charles II, which included Clifford, Ashley (Lord Shaftesbury), Buckingham (George Villiers), Arlington (Henry Bennett) and Lauderdale (John Maitland). Their initials form the word, although the origin of the term is much earlier. Although never a working ministry, one or more of this group was to dominate Court policy from 1667-1673. After the Test Act of 1673, Clifford as a Roman Catholic was forced to resign his role as Treasurer and in June he left the Privy Council. He died, possibly by his own hand, in September of the same year
The Chine Shipping Company of Cardiff was incorporated as a public company in 1934 with a capital of £20,000. Until the Second World War the Company operated in a modest way with second-hand ships. During the war, and after the loss of its last ship, the Company operated various vessels on behalf of the Ministry of War Transport. In 1944 it was taken over by the Anglo-Danubian Transport Company, which had its headquarters in London. This company, founded in 1928 by George Bischoff (d 1963), had operated a fleet of tugs and barges in the Danube before the war. Bischoff decided to go into deep sea shipowning with the purchase of the Chine Shipping Company. In 1945 he also purchased the Gryfevale Steamship Company and the Rodney Steamship Company. In addition, he owned the Anglo-Continental Inland Waterways Ltd operating barges on the Rhine. From this time the Chine Shipping Company became the most active interest in the group, operating a small number of bulk carriers mainly engaged in the transport of phosphate rock from Spain to Billingham. The depressed state of the tramp freight market, however, led to the liquidation of the Company in 1968.
Cunningham entered the Navy in 1898. He became a lieutenant in 1904, a commander in 1915, captain in 1919, rear-admiral in 1934, vice-admiral in 1936, admiral in 1941 and Admiral of the Fleet in 1943. He was Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, 1938 to 1939, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, 1939 to 1942 and 1943, naval Commander-in-Chief, Expeditionary Force, North Africa, 1942, and First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, 1943 to 1946. He was created a viscount in 1946. See Cunningham's autobiography, A Sailor's Odyssey, (London, 1951) and Oliver Warner, Cunningham of Hyndhope, Admiral of the Fleet, (London, 1967).
Younger son of Commander William Owen, W F Owen entered the Navy in 1788 and served on the Home and West Indies Stations. He was in the Culloden at the battle of the First of June 1794 and became a lieutenant in 1797. In 1803 he went to the East Indies where he surveyed the Maldive Islands and assisted at the capture of Batavia in 1806. He was a captive of the French in Mauritius from 1808 to 1810 during which time, in 1809, he was promoted to commander. In 1811 he commanded the BARRACOUTA at the capture of Java. He became a captain and was posted to the CORNELIA, East Indies Station, in 1812. From 1815 to 1816 Owen was engaged in a survey of the Great Lakes and from 1821 to 1826 in the LEVEN, with the BARRACOUTA, conducted the first survey of the coasts of Africa. In the Eden he founded a colony on Fernando Po in 1827 and then served on the coast of South America until 1831. His only other command was the COLUMBIA, North America, in 1847. He returned to England at the end of the year on his promotion to rear-admiral. Owen became a vice-admiral in 1854 and retired in 1855.
Cowan entered the BRITANNIA as a naval cadet in 1884. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1892 and commanded the REDBREAST between 1893 and 1895 in the Red Sea. In 1895 he was appointed to the BARROSA, Cape Station. He saw active service during the Brass River and Benin expeditions in 1897 and in 1898 commanded the gunboat flotilla on the Nile during the operations in the Sudan. Cowan was promoted to commander in 1901 and to captain in 1906. After almost two years in the post of Assistant to the Admiral of Patrols, Cowan was sent in 1914 to the Zealandia, Grand Fleet. He joined the PRINCESS ROYAL in 1915 and in her was present at Jutland, 1916. He was appointed Commodore commanding the First Light Cruiser Squadron, Grand Fleet, in 1917 and reappointed after his promotion to rear-admiral in 1918. He continued to command it as well as the naval force in the Baltic during the anti-Bolshevik operations in 1920, for which he became well-known. In 1921 he took command of the Baltic Cruiser Squadron. After a year as Commanding Officer on the coast of Scotland, Cowan became, in 1926, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies, and it was during his two years there that his Station was extended to include South America. Cowan was promoted to admiral in 1927, was appointed First and Principal Aide-de-Camp to the King in 1929 and retired in 1930. At the age of sixty-eight, he persuaded the Admiralty to employ him for the duration of the war in the rank of commander. He served as liaison officer with a commando brigade in the eastern Mediterranean during 1941 and was then attached to an Indian regiment in the Western Desert. He was captured at Bir Hakeim in 1942 and repatriated the following year. After further active service he retired in 1945. See Lionel Dawson, Sound of the guns (Oxford, 1949) and Geoffrey Bennett, Cowan's war (London, 1964).
Dr Edward Hodges Cree was born on January 14th 1814, Devonport. He studied medicine at Dublin and Edinburgh Universities, graduating from the latter in 1837, receiving his M.R.C.S and M.D ten years after. Cree entered the Navy in 1837 where the journals begin, which subsequently continue until 1861. Cree's first appointment began in 1837 as assistant surgeon to the ROYAL ADELAIDE, ordered to do duty at the Naval Hospital, Stonehouse. He then establishes his career as a surgeon on board His Majesties vessels VOLCANO, CEYLON, FIREFLY, RATTLESNAKE, VIXEN, FURY, SPARTAN, EAGLE, RUSSELL, ORION and SATURN. Throughout his career he visited many parts of the world, including the Far East, where he witnessed actions in the First Opium War of 1839-42. His service led him to take action against piratical Chinese fleets, engagements and actions against the Russians in the Baltic; and was involved in the final stages of the Crimean War, being present at the Capture of Sebastopol and Kinburn. The water-colour illustrations and sketches contained within his journals create and rich and colourful depiction of the period whilst serving in the Navy. In addition, the book entitled The Cree Journals: The Voyages of Edward H Cree, Surgeon R.N., as related in his private journals, 1837-1856, edited by Michael Levien; is a useful supplement to the collection.
Thomas Cairns was born in Sunderland in 1854. In 1876, while employed a as a clerk with the Newcastle firm of Davidson and Charlton he was offered a partnership by Captain B B Starks who had just commenced business as a shipbroker and merchant. The new firm was styled Starks and Cairns. On the retirement of Captain Starks in 1883 Cairns formed a new partnership with his brother-in-law, William Joseph Noble, and Lindsay Young as Cairns, Young and Noble. Their first ship, the CAIRNGOWAN 1, was launched in June 1883.
In 1891 the Cairnglen Steamship Company was formed as the owner of the first vessel of that name. The formation of further single ship companies followed. In 1892 the Cairn Line of Steam ships was founded with Cairns, Young and Noble as the management company and these single ship companies were gradually merged with the Cairn Line, along with the Gaelic Steamship Company Limited, another associated company. By 1911 this process was complete.
With the retirement of Lindsay Young in 1903 the management company had become known as Cairn, Noble and Company. Thomas Cairns died in 1908. In that same year the company purchased the Thomson line of Dundee, a cargo concern specialising in services to Canada. Thomson entered the passenger trade in 1909 with two vessels, the CAIRNRONA and the TORTONA on the Newcastle-London-Canada route. A licence was acquired from the Italian Government for the conveyance of emigrants from Italy to Canada. In March 1911 as the third vessel intended for service, the GERONA, was nearing completion the goodwill of the passenger services and all there vessels were sold to the Cunard Steamship Company.
The company suffered heavy losses during the 1914-18 war- eight vessels were lost to enemy action. William Black Noble, son of William Joseph Noble, died on service in France.
In the post war period, William Joseph Noble and Russell Cairns, son of the founder continued as directors of Cairns, Noble and Company and the Cairn Line. Noble was created a baronet in recognition of his services to shipping. He retired in 1928 when Furness Withy and Company acquired the management company. The Cairn Line retained its separate identity and services.
The fleet numbered five at the outbreak of war in 1939. Of these vessels, only two the CAIRNESK III and the CAIRNVALONA, remained in 1945. Additions to this number in the following years were the CAIRNAVON IV, the CAIRNGOWAN IV and the CAIRNDHU IV.
In February 1967 agreement was a reached with Furness Withy and Company for the purchase of ordinary stock units of the Cairn Line not already beneficially owned by them. These amounted to approximately 85% of the total. The company thus became a wholly owned subsidiary of Furness Withy and Company.
Joined RN 1876; R Adm, Home Fleet, Portsmouth and President of Submarine Committee 1913; served World War One, 1914-1918; Commanding 5 Battle Sqn, Channel Fleet 1914-1915; Senior Naval Officer in charge of Gibraltar 1915; retired 1919.
Curzon-Howe entered the Navy in 1863. From 1868 to 1871 he went round the world in the frigate GALATEA. He was made lieutenant in 1872 while serving in the HERCULES. It was not until 1888 that he was on active service again, when he was promoted to captain and appointed to the BOADICEA, which became the flagship of Sir Edmund Fremantle on the East Indies Station. Here, as Flag-Captain and Chief of Staff, Curzon-Howe took part in the operations against the Sultanate of Vitu. In the CLEOPATRA, in 1892, he spent a period as Senior Officer, Newfoundland, reporting on the fishing question. In 1894 he was called south to Bluefields to protect the Mosquito Indians, whose reservation had been invaded by the Nicaraguans. He subsequently returned to Newfoundland and remained there until 1895, when he went to the Mediterranean in the REVENGE, staying on the Station until 1900. In 1901 he was promoted to rear-admiral and became second-in-command of the Channel Fleet in the MAGNIFICENT until, in 1903, he went out to the East in the ALBION to become second-in-command of the China Fleet. Curzon-Howe returned to the Channel in 1905 and in 1907 was given command of the Atlantic Fleet. From 1908 to 1910 he was Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, and then Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, until his death.
Hubert Harold Dannreuther, the son of Rear-Admiral Harold Edward Dannreuther and the brother of Captain Raymond Portal Dannreuther, entered the Navy as a cadet in 1934, training on HMS FROBISHER. He then served as a midshipman on HMS AJAX on the American and West Indies Station. He was appointed Sub-Lieutenant on HMS KENT, China Station, in January 1938. On the eve of the Second World War, in June 1939, he was promoted to lieutenant and during the war he served on HMS COSSACK before becoming an assistant gunnery officer on HMS HOWE. After attending the gunnery school at HMS EXCELLENT in Portsmouth in 1943, Hubert Harold Dannreuther was posted to HMS QULLIAM followed by HMS EURYALUS. On 30 Jun 1957 Hubert Harold Dannreuther was appointed a captain, having been a Commander since December 1951 in charge of HMS STRIKER, HMS DIAMOND AND HMS EXCELLENT. Hubert Harold Dannreuther retired from The Royal Navy in 1966. Hubert Harold Dannreuther married Oriole Angela Burdett-Coutts and they had two daughters and one son.
Raymond Portal Dannreuther, the son of Rear-Admiral Harold Edward Dannreuther and the brother of Captain Hubert Harold Dannreuther, entered the Royal Navy as a cadet attending the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. He then served as a midshipman on the cruiser HMS KENYA, Home Fleet from September 1940, the destroyer HMS LAFOREY, Home Fleet and then on the battleship HMS MALAYA from June 1942. After attending gunnery school on HMS EXCELLENT in 1942 he was promoted to Sun-Lieutenant and posted to the destroyer HMS RELENTLESS, South Africa, Eastern Fleet. After being promoted to Lieutenant in 1944 he served consecutively on HMS LEWES, HMS PYTCHLEY, HMS CAMPERDOWN. Raymond Portal Dannreuther then attended the gunnery school at HMS EXCELLENT in Portsmouth and was then posted to HMS DRAKE, HMS CUMBERLAND and HMS PRESIDENT, being promoted to Commander in 1954. In 1960 he joined the staff of the Surface Division in the Weapons Department of the Admiralty. On 31 Dec 1962 Raymond Portal Dannreuther became a captain and was posted to HMS UNDAUNTED. From 1968 to 1969 he was the Director of Naval Operational Requirements, Ministry of Defence in the Navy Department. He became a Naval ADC to the Queen from 1971 to 1972 and retired from The Royal Navy in 1973. In 1961 Raymond Portal Dannreuther married Elizabeth Bourne and they had 2 sons.
HMS DAUNTLESS, a naval shore establishment at Burghfield in Berkshire, has been used by the Women's Royal Naval Service since 1946 as a training and drafting centre.
Born at Whitchurch, Hampshire, on 19 November 1904, Sir Norman Egbert Denning joined the navy as a special entry cadet in 1921, leaving Andover grammar school. He joined the paymaster branch instead of becoming an executive officer due to his eyesight. He excelled in this branch and was quickly rewarded for his competency, appointed secretary to senior executive officers. In 1937, paymaster lieutenant-commander Denning was appointed to the Admiralty's intelligence division. He then became chief adviser to the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty. Denning acted as the link between the operational intelligence centre (OIC) and components of the naval intelligence division including the Ministry of Economic Warfare, the army, the Secret Intelligence, the Special Operations Executive and Bomber commands of the RAF. Denning was later promoted paymaster-commander, 1941 and then paymaster-captain, 1951. After World War Two, Denning was appointed director of administrative planning in the Admiralty, later becoming director of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in 1956. In 1958 Denning was promoted to rear-admiral on the general list. In 1958, he became deputy chief of naval personnel and director of manpower in the Admiralty, 1959. From 1964 to 1965 Denning acted as deputy chief of defence staff. Denning was appointed OBE in 1945, CB in 1961, and KBE in 1963. Retiring in 1967 he was secretary of the services, press and broadcasting committee, otherwise known as the 'D Notice Committee'. He died at Micheldever, Hampshire, on 27 December 1979.
De Vitre, a naval chaplain who joined the service in 1898, served in the Mediterranean before the First World War and in the Canopus in the Dardanelles. He later retired to a parish in Berkshire.
Born James Whitley Deans, he took the name of Dundas on marrying his cousin in 1808. He entered the Navy in 1799, served in the Mediterranean and Channel fleets and was made lieutenant in 1805. For the rest of the Napoleonic War he served in the Baltic or the North Sea. After a succession of peacetime commands, he was made rear-admiral in 1841, and briefly, a member of the Board of the Admiralty. From 1846 to 1847 he was Second Naval Lord and was First Naval Lord from 1847 to 1852. He was Member of Parliament for Greenwich, 1832 to 1834 and 1841 to 1852 and for Devizes, 1836 to 1838. In 1852 he was made Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, and a vice-admiral. He was in command when the Crimean War started and his responsibilities included the transport of the army to the Crimea and support of the allies in the battle of Alma and at Sebastopol. Having completed the usual term of command he was relieved in January 1855. He was promoted to admiral in 1857 but saw no further service.
Bethune was the son of the army officer and historian Colonel John Drinkwater (d 1844) and it was not until 1837 that he took the name Bethune. He entered the Navy in 1815 as a first-class volunteer in the NORTHUMBERLAND and sailed in her from 1815 to 1816 on the voyage taking Napoleon to exile in St Helena. In 1817 he joined the LEANDER in North America; he then went to South America, where he served in the SUPERB and the CREOLE from 1819 until 1823. Still on this station, he was promoted to lieutenant, 1823, and joined the DORIS and then the BARHAM until promoted to commander in 1828. From 1828 to 1829 he commanded the ESPIEGLE, Jamaica Station. He was promoted to captain in 1830. At Palmerston's request, in 1835, he joined the Embassy of the Earl of Durham (1792-1840) to Russia to report on the naval installations in the Black Sea. Later he served in the East Indies and in the China War. He was made rear-admiral in 1855, vice-admiral in 1862, admiral in 1866 and retired in 1870.
Anne Dixon was the sister of Admiral Lord Gardner.
Edgell was promoted to lieutenant in 1828, to commander in 1837 and to captain in 1846. He was appointed to command the TRIBUNE in 1855 when she was in the Crimea. During this commission she went to the Pacific and finally to China. In 1857 Edgell was the Senior Naval Officer at Hong Kong and he transferred into the BITTERN tender commanding the gun boats on the Canton River during the hostilities with the Chinese. In 1858 be was given command of the squadron in Indian waters, during which time he commanded the CHESAPEAKE and later the RETRIBUTION. The latter returned to England and was paid off in 1860. Edgell had no further active employment and was promoted on the retired list, reaching the rank of vice-admiral in 1871.