Percival Clive Wickham Manwaring

Captain (retired) Percival Clive Wickham Manwaring, (16 April, 1892 – 29 April, 1953) served in the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

The son of a farmer, P. Manwaring.

Manwaring was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 15 May, 1914. When the war began, he was appointed to the dreadnought Benbow. He left the ship in September 1915 and in November was appointed to the light cruiser Champion. He served in Champion through the end of the war, including at the Battle of Jutland where she led the twelve ships of Thirteenth Destroyer Flotilla as they screened the First Battle Cruiser Squadron.

Manwaring was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 15 May, 1922.

Manwaring was promoted to the rank of Commander on 31 December, 1927.

Manwaring was promoted to the rank of Captain on 30 June, 1935.

World War II

Manwaring was appointed in command of the heavy cruiser H.M.S. Cornwall in November 1940. She sank the German raider Pinguin in the Indian Ocean in May 1941, but the Admiralty opined that his ship's fighting organisation was such that the enemy might well have escaped and/or inflicted much more serious damage upon Cornwall, and that "this can only be considered a serious reflection on [Manwaring] as commanding officer." This assessment was based on a series of hardware failures the cruiser suffered at exactly the wrong moment as the smaller vessel took her under fire.

Immediately after Cornwall was lost to Japanese dive-bombers, Vice-Admiral Arbuthnot, C-in-C, East Indies Station wrote that Manwaring was, "a somewhat selfish officer who suffers from the delusion that he is irresistible to the female sex." This was not an isolated perspective. Admiral Noble wrote in greater detail in September that "[s]ocially, however, he has lowered the prestige of the Navy. He has broken up a brother Captain's home by carrying on an affair with the wife so openly as to be notorious in local circles, and a divorce is now in hand. Apart from this, his conversation and actions generally in society show a certain perversion of morals much to be deplored. ... It is recommended that he is never again sent to an appointment in which social rectitude is looked upon as an asset."

Manwaring was placed on the Retired List on 7 July, 1944.

He as reverted to the Retired List on 20 November, 1946.

See Also

• Thirteenth D.F. (Royal Navy) at the Battle of Jutland
• Service Records
• Wikipedia

Bibliography

Naval Appointments
Preceded by Robert N. Marshall	Captain of H.M.S. Moorhen 8 May, 1919 – 19 Jun, 1921	Succeeded by Victor P. Alleyne
Preceded by George A. Scott	Captain of H.M.S. Stormcloud 29 Jun, 1921 – 18 Mar, 1922	Succeeded by William S. Bardwell
Preceded by Charles F. Bush	Captain of H.M.S. Venturous 21 Apr, 1922 – 1 Feb, 1923	Succeeded by George A. Scott
Preceded by Ambrose T. N. Abbay	Captain of H.M.S. Sepoy 1 Feb, 1923 – Jul, 1923	Succeeded by Kenneth G. Ramsey
Preceded by Kenneth G. Ramsey	Captain of H.M.S. Wild Swan Aug, 1923 – Feb, 1925	Succeeded by Alban T. B. Curteis
Preceded by Hugh B. Wrey	Captain of H.M.S. Wolfhound 4 May, 1925 – 28 Dec, 1927	Succeeded by Robert A. Cassidi
Preceded by William S. Bardwell	Captain of H.M.S. Cockchafer 20 Aug, 1928 – Sep, 1930	Succeeded by Douglas Young-Jamieson
Preceded by Charles W. V. T. S. Lepper	Captain of H.M.S. Wallace 30 May, 1932 – 8 Aug, 1932	Succeeded by Arthur L. St. G. Lyster
Preceded by Victor A. C. Crutchley	Senior Officer, First Minesweeping Flotilla 2 Apr, 1936 – 14 Apr, 1938	Succeeded by Robert O. FitzRoy
Preceded by Charles F. Hammill	Captain of H.M.S. Cornwall 20 Nov, 1940 – 7 Jun, 1942	Succeeded by Vessel Lost