Frederic William Clarkson

Lieutenant-Commander Frederic William Clarkson, (6 October, 1883 – 15 October, 1914) served in the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

Born in Dorchester, Clarkson listed his mother as his guardian upon joining the Navy with the September 1897 intake term at H.M.S. Britannia.

Clarkson was invalided with enteric fever from the pre-dreadnought battleship Queen on 2 November 1904 and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 31 December, 1904.

Clarkson was appointed in command of the destroyer Wizard from January 1910 to October, 1911. Right off in that first month, he was found guilty of an error in judgement in a snafu in fouling a wall in Dundee Docks. In 1911, he temporarily lost torpedo #26 and was considered to be culpable for having neglected Gunnery and Torpedo Orders of March 1911.

Clarkson left Wizard when he was appointed in command of the "D" Class destroyer Cynthia on 31 October, 1911. After very recently been cautioned following a collision between Cynthia and Electra, Clarkson was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 31 December, 1912. He left command of Cynthia when he began a three month appointment in the dreadnought light cruiser Neptune on 1 March, 1913.

Clarkson received a temporary appointment to the first class protected cruiser H.M.S. Hawke on 18 June, 1913. As was often the case, "temporary" here meant little and he was aboard her sixteen months later, dying when she was torpedoed by U 9 on 15 October, 1914.

See Also

• Service Records
• Wikipedia

Bibliography

Naval Appointments
Preceded by Charles W. E. Whish	Captain of H.M.S. Wizard 15 Jan, 1910 – 30 Oct, 1911	Succeeded by Lionel G. Dawson
Preceded by Frank G. Terry	Captain of H.M.S. Cynthia 31 Oct, 1911 – Feb, 1913	Succeeded by Christopher J. F. Eddis