Reginald Neville Custance

Admiral SIR Reginald Neville Custance, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., C.V.O., D.C.L. (OXON), Royal Navy (20 September, 1847 – 30 August, 1935) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Early Life & Career

Custance was born in Belfast on 20 September, 1847, the eldest son of General William Neville Custance, by his second wife, Mary, eldest daughter of Thomas Meggison, of Walton, Northumberland. He entered the Royal Navy in 1860, being appointed to Britannia at Portsmouth.

In February, 1868, his service record indicates that Custance leapt overboard to save a man's life. The Board recommended him for a Royal Humane Society medal and the First Lord promoted him outright for "high character & gallantry in saving life." Custance's promotion to the rank of Lieutenant was dated 6 February, 1868. A R.H.S. Silver Medal was sent to him in September.

In September, 1868, Custance was appointed to the screw sloop Eclipse. In February, 1873, he was appointed to Excellent. A Court of Enquiry was convened to probe the Lieutenant's objectionable conduct while in this appointment. Whatever his activities, the Court's findings precipitated Their Lordships' displeasure upon Custance.

Custance left Excellent when he was promoted to the rank of Commander with seniority of 31 March, 1878. He proceeded to the Royal Naval College.

On 23 November 1880, Custance re-commissioned and took command of the composite gun vessel H.M.S. Flamingo at Bermuda. On 21 October 1884, the ship received a "very unsatisfactory" report from Captain Carter, "particularly as to Marines — My Lords express regret at the state of ship." Flamingo paid off on 8 November, but a second report followed to amplify that the Admiralty considered her state "not creditable to him as Comm^r of ship." On 12 December, Custance was appointed to a committee to revise the Gunnery Manual of 1880.

He was promoted to the rank of Captain with seniority of 31 December, 1885.

He served as the Naval Attaché at Washington in 1894, when he helped evaluate the Howell Torpedo at the Hotchkiss Company's works at Tiverton, Rhode Island.

Custance was appointed in command of the second class battleship Barfleur on 26 February, 1895. On 20 June, the Admiralty thanked him for his "highly instructive & valuable report on naval defences of Canadian frontier."

He was appointed a Naval Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria on 16 September, 1897, vice Beresford.

As Director of Naval Intelligence, a Marine officer considered that he was not "a very inspiring leader" because of "his somewhat suspicious nature."

Flag Rank

He was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral with seniority of 1 August, 1899.

For his services in Crete, on 1 January, 1900 Custance was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Third Class, or Companion, of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (C.M.G.).

On the occasion of the King's visit to Malta Custance was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (C.V.O.) on 21 April, 1903.

Custance was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral on 20 October, 1904, vice Pearson. On the occasion of the King's birthday he was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, in the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (K.C.M.G.) on 9 November, 1904.

In late 1907 the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Tweedmouth, offered Custance the command of either the Plymouth (Devonport) or China Stations. He refused the former as being "of such little importance that I should not consider it my duty to accept it," and stated that:

Unless there is something exceptional in the condition of affairs in the Far East I should prefer not to go to China but to remain in my present post for the two years mentioned when I received the appointment.

Upon Tweedmouth's departure from the Admiralty in 1908 Custance wrote to him, and rather than just sympathise launched into a tract on naval affairs which is reproduced below:

My opposition to the Admiralty has been professional and not political and I have always recognised and sympathised with the difficulties against what both your Lordship and Mr. Robertson had to contend.

Several of the points for which I have been contending have been already accepted, but I fear the evil effects of the policy initiated by the administration preceeding will not be eradicated for many years.

The ruinous financial effect of the shipbuilding policy initiated by the Dreadnought and Invincible will remain as also will the pernicious influence on the minds of the rising generation of, as I believe, wrong strategical and tactical conceptions.

You will be glad to view these questions from a distance in future I venture to think.

On 18 May, 1908, he was promoted to the rank of Admiral, vice Jeffreys. On the occasion of the King's birthday he was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, of the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) on 26 June.

Despite his longstanding emnity towards Custance, Lord Fisher suggested offering him the Devonport command again in a letter to newly-appointed First Lord Winston Churchill in 1911, calling it a "d—ed good thing" for him.

In accordance with the provisions of the Order in Council of 22 February, 1870, he was placed on the Retired List on 20 September, 1912.

On the occasion of the King's birthday he was appointed an Ordinary Member of the First Class, or Knight Grand Cross, in the Military Division of the Order of the Bath (G.C.B.) on 3 June, 1913.

He died at Broadclyst, Devon on 30 August, 1935 and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 4 September.

His obituarist in The Times wrote of him:

Though modest and retiring in demeanour, he impressed all who knew him with a sense of power, capacity, and leadership, and he never failed to secure the affectionate regard and admiration of all who served with or under him. He had always good reasons to give for the opinions he held so stoutly, which were obviously based on a rare mastery of the professional and other topics he discussed.

Bibliography

• "Admiral Sir R. Custance" (Obituaries). The Times. Monday, 2 September, 1935. Issue 47158, col B, p. 12.
• Allen, Matthew (February 1992). "Rear Admiral Reginald Custance: Director of Naval Intelligence 1899-1902". The Mariner's Mirror 78 (1): pp. 61-75.
• Roskill, Stephen (1970). Hankey: Man of Secrets. Volume I 1877-1918. London: Collins. ISBN 0-00-211327-9.

Service Records

• The National Archives. ADM 196/86.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/38.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/36.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/17.

Naval Appointments
Preceded by ?	Assistant Director of Naval Intelligence, Mobilisation Division 1 Feb, 1887 – 9 Jan, 1890	Succeeded by Tynte F. Hammill
Preceded by William H. C. St. Clair	Captain of H.M.S. Phaeton 10 Jan, 1890 – 25 Aug, 1893	Succeeded by Charles J. Norcock
Preceded by William Arthur	Royal Navy Naval Attaché at Washington, D.C. 1 Sep, 1893 – 26 Feb, 1895	Succeeded by Lewis Bayly
Preceded by Hugo L. Pearson	Captain of H.M.S. Barfleur 26 Feb, 1895 – 30 Sep, 1898	Succeeded by The Hon. Stanley C. J. Colville
Preceded by Frederic W. Fisher	Captain of H.M.S. Blenheim 1 Oct, 1898 – 25 Nov, 1898	Succeeded by Peyton Hoskyns
Preceded by Lewis A. Beaumont	Director of Naval Intelligence 20 Mar, 1899 – 14 Nov, 1902	Succeeded by H.S.H. Prince Louis of Battenberg
Preceded by Burges Watson	Second-in-Command, Mediterranean Station 15 Nov, 1902 – 15 Nov, 1904	Succeeded by Sir Harry T. Grenfell
Preceded by The Hon. Sir Assheton G. Curzon-Howe	Second-in-Command, Channel Fleet 23 Feb, 1907 – 12 Jun, 1908	Succeeded by Sir A. Berkeley Milne, Bart.