Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair

From The Dreadnought Project
Revision as of 10:53, 6 July 2010 by Simon Harley (Talk | contribs) (→‎Flag Rank)

Jump to: navigation, search

Admiral SIR Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., M.V.O., Royal Navy (30 August, 1864 – 17 August, 1958) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

De Chair was promoted to the rank of Captain on 26 June, 1902.[1]

On 6 March, 1911 de Chair was appointed a Naval Aide-de-Camp to King George V, in place of Ernest C. T. Troubridge, promoted to flag rank.[2]

Flag Rank

On 31 July, 1912, de Chair was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral, vice Frederick T. Hamilton.[3] On 9 January, 1913 he was appointed Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty.[4] On 29 June, 1914 he was appointed Admiral of the Training Service.[5]

He was confirmed in the rank of Vice-Admiral on 5 October, 1917.[6]

In his memoirs de Chair gave his account of the end of his tenure as Vice-Admiral Commanding the Third Battle Squadron:

A few days later, after Jellicoe had been so unjustly dismissed, and while my flagship was still coaling, I received an urgent telegram from Wemyss to go to the Admiralty. On arrival I was greeted warmly by him, but I was still boiling over with indignation about Jellicoe's dismissal, and the way Wemyss had betrayed him. When Wemyss began talking of filling vacancies at the Admiralty, and asked me to take one of the posts on the Board of Admiralty vacated by one of the admirals who had resigned in consequence of Jellicoe's dismissal, I told him that I would not and could not take and post at the Admiralty, as I felt so keenly the disgraceful manner in which Jellicoe had been treated. I added that I was surprised that any naval officer on the Board of Admiralty could remain there, as it looked as if they condoned this action of Jellicoe's dismissal. In fact, I expressed myself forcibly, and let myself go, and left him after a scene which did me no good and had disastrous results, in so far that, shortly afterwards I was relieved of my command and put on half-pay—and that in war-time, when I might have been of use afloat, as I was essentially a sea officer.[7]

Governor of New South Wales

On 8 November, 1923 de Chair was appointed Governor of the State of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia[8] and was placed on the Retired List at his own request dated 1 November in order to take up the appointment.[9]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 27448. p. 4198. 26 June, 1902.
  2. ↑ "Naval Appointments" (Official Appointments and Notices). The Times. Monday, 13 March, 1911. Issue 39531, col E, pg. 4.
  3. ↑ London Gazette: no. 28632. p. 5723. 2 August, 1912.
  4. ↑ "Naval and Military Intelligence" (Official Appointments and Notices). The Times. Friday, 10 January, 1913. Issue 40105, col G, pg. 11.
  5. ↑ "News in Brief" (News in Brief). The Times. Tuesday, 30 June, 1914. Issue 40563, col C, pg. 14.
  6. ↑ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 30336. p. 10605. 16 October, 1917.
  7. ↑ de Chair. The Sea is Strong. pp. 237-238.
  8. ↑ London Gazette: no. 32878. p. 7655. 9 November, 1923.
  9. ↑ London Gazette: no. 32878. p. 7658. 9 November, 1923.

Bibliography

  • "Adm. Sir Dudley de Chair" (Obituaries). The Times. Tuesday, 19 August, 1958. Issue 54233, col D, pg. 10.
  • Clune, David; Griffith, Gareth (2006). Decision and Deliberation: The Parliament of New South Wales 1856-2003. Sydney: The Federation Press. ISBN 1-86287-591-X.
  • de Chair, Admiral Sir Dudley (1961). The Sea is Strong. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd..

Papers

  • Papers in the possession of the Imperial War Museum. Catalogue numbers 7865 P38-41 & PP/MCR/C4.

Service Records

Retrieved from "http://dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php?title=Dudley_Rawson_Stratford_de_Chair&oldid=15875"