Harry Tremenheere Grenfell

Vice-Admiral SIR Harry Tremenheere Grenfell, K.C.B., C.M.G. (9 March, 1845 – 19 February, 1906) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

grenfell was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 13 March, 1866.

Grenfell was promoted to the rank of Commander on 22 June, 1876, in the haul-down promotion of Rear-Admiral The Honourable Arthur A. Cochrane.

Fresh from completing a torpedo coursem Grenfell was appointed to the wooden gunboat Cockatrice on 8 March, 1879. After she touched ground in the Dardanelles on 27 April, 1880, Grenfell was informed by the Commander-in-Chief that he should be more careful in future.

In October, 1882, Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station Sir William Hewett thanked Grenfell for his services in Cockatrice on a mission after a party was lost in the desert. Grenfell would be awarded the Egyptian Medal in 1882.

Appointed to the third class protected cruiser Pegasus on 5 January, 1885. In April 1886, Grenfell was chastised for navigating her too close to shore when she grounded at Woosung and for displaying insufficient energy in getting her afloat promptly.

He was promoted to the rank of Captain on 4 February, 1886.

Grenfell was appointed to the central battery ironclad Superb on 3 May, 1893.

He was made captain of the Benbow in 1894,^{[Citation needed]} during which command he "gallantly jumped overboard to rescue a boy who was in danger of drowning."

He was appointed in command of the battleship Revenge on 6 November, 1896, and then immediately placed in command of the battleship Royal Sovereign in December, 1896.

For his services in Crete, on 1 January, 1900, Grenfell was appointed a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (C.M.G.). On 3 March he was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral, vice Armand T. Powlett. On 2 March, 1901, Grenfell hoisted his flag in the Sans Pareil, port guardship at Sheerness, as Second-in-Command of the Reserve Squadron.

Grenfell was appointed to Second-in-Command on the China Station on 9 September, 1901, his flag to be hoisted in H.M.S. President that day and hauled down at sunset while he went on leave for passage to China, boarding S.S. Ballume on 2 October, embarking at Marseilles. Grenfell's tenure in China was abbreviated by illness, and he was superseded by the Honourable Assheton Gore Curzon-Howe on 13 June, 1903. He was found to be in improving condition and started his return to Britain from Yokohama via Canada on 3 July. He arrived home on 5 August, 1903.

After completing a three week course at Greenwich in Strategy and Fleet Tactics, Grenfell succeeded Custance as Rear-Admiral in the Mediterranean Squadron on 25 October, 1904.

Chatfield later claimed:

He left no special mark on the Fleet, but was respected for his strong personality which in fighting days might well have been an asset. He had one peculiarity worth mentioning. He was fond of cats. His cabin literally swarmed with Siamese cats, attractive but cruel-looking animals, fawn-coloured with black faces and tails, the latter very short with a kink in them. They could be fierce and were disliked by the galley's crew which looked after the cabin. The father of the tribe was called Satan and looked not unlike him! Grenfell also had glass tanks in his gun-ports full of frogs and strange fish. For these and for the cats the cabin was kept at a temperature of about ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit, and was painfully odorous. Grenfell was fond of giving luncheon parties when, despite the complaints of the ladies, he would refuse to open any skylights or scuttle to let in a breath of air. One day Satan disappeared. He was found only some weeks later, locked in a drawer: the revenge, it was supposed, of one of the galley's crew whom he had scratched or bitten.

On 20 February, 1905, Grenfell was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral dated 16 February. On the occasion of the King's birthday, Grenfell was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, in the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) on 30 June. His insignia and warrants were dispatched to him in the Mediterranean on 28 December, 1905, but on 31 January, 1906, Grenfell was sent home in Maine, seriously ill and on two months sick leave. He would die on 19 February of nephritis, dropsy and pneumonia.

Bibliography

• "Vice-Admiral Sir H. T. Grenfell" (Obituaries). The Times. Tuesday, 20 February, 1906. Issue 37948, col F, p. 8.

Service Records

• The National Archives. ADM 196/86.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/15.

Naval Appointments
Preceded by Archer J. W. Musgrave	Captain of H.M.S. Cockatrice 8 Mar, 1879 – 31 Dec, 1880	Succeeded by Harry T. Grenfell
Preceded by ?	Captain of H.M.S. Niger 13 Jan, 1881 – 10 May, 1881	Succeeded by Harry T. Grenfell as Captain of H.M.S. Cocktrice
Preceded by Harry T. Grenfell as Captain of H.M.S. Niger	Captain of H.M.S. Cocktrice 10 May, 1881 – 3 Jan, 1883	Succeeded by John Hayes
Preceded by Harry T. Grenfell	Captain of H.M.S. Cockatrice 10 May, 1881 – 31 Dec, 1882	Succeeded by George S. MacIlwaine
Preceded by Andrew K. Bickford	Captain of H.M.S. Pegasus 5 Jan, 1885 – 30 Mar, 1886	Succeeded by ?
Preceded by Henry H. Boys	Captain of H.M.S. Cordelia 1 Feb, 1889 – 24 May, 1892	Succeeded by The Hon. Maurice A. Bourke
Preceded by Arthur H. Alington	Captain of H.M.S. Superb 3 May, 1893 – 22 May, 1894	Succeeded by Henry Leah
Preceded by Burges Watson	Captain of H.M.S. Benbow 23 May, 1894 – 7 May, 1896	Succeeded by Eustace Rooke
Preceded by Reginald F. H. Henderson	Captain of H.M.S. Royal Sovereign 12 Sep, 1896 – 23 Sep, 1898	Succeeded by Edward H. M. Davis
Preceded by The Hon. Assheton G. Curzon-Howe	Captain of H.M.S. Revenge 6 Nov, 1896 – 4 Dec, 1896	Succeeded by Reginald C. Prothero
Preceded by Reginald C. Prothero	Captain of H.M.S. Trafalgar 4 Dec, 1896	Succeeded by Edward H. M. Davis
Preceded by Charles Johnstone as In Command, Royal Naval Barracks, Devonport	Commodore-in-Command, Royal Naval Barracks, Devonport 8 Oct, 1898 – Mar, 1900	Succeeded by Sir Richard Poore, Bart.
Preceded by ?	Second-in-Command, Reserve Squadron 2 Mar, 1901 – 30 Mar, 1901	Succeeded by Sir Baldwin W. Walker, Bart.
Preceded by Sir James A. T. Bruce	Second-in-Command, China Station 9 Sep, 1901 – 13 Jun, 1903	Succeeded by The Hon. Assheton G. Curzon-Howe
Preceded by Reginald N. Custance	Second-in-Command, Mediterranean Station 25 Oct, 1904 – 31 Jan, 1906	Succeeded by Francis C. B. Bridgeman