Ralph Douglas Binney

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Captain Ralph Douglas Binney, C.B., Royal Navy, Retired (14 October, 1888 – 8 December, 1944) was an officer in the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

{UK-Swiftsure}}, with Home Fleet, 15 June 190? through 10 July 1906.[1]

Implacable in the Mediterranean from 10 July 1906 to December 1907.[1]

"C" class destroyer Star from 30 June 1908.[1]

"B" class destroyer Quail 17 June 1909.[1]

To Blake for appointment to the River class destroyer Itchen with the Home Fleet.[1]

With Template:UK Shannon from 1 March, 1910 to 31 April, 1911.[1]


Joined staff of Inspector of Torpedo Practice for Home Fleet Battle Practice.[1]

Gunnery Officer of London 13 February, 1914 to 27 October, 1916.[1]

He served as Gunnery Officer of Collingwood from 5 April, 1917 to 12 February, 1919.[1]

Post War

He was gunnery officer in King George V from 19 July, 1919 through 31 January, 1921, being reappointed on promotion to Commander on 31 December 1920.[1]

He was promoted to Captain upon retirement on 21 October, 1934.[1]

Death

The driver of the car, a labourer named Ronald Hedley, was charged and found guilty of murder, the sentence being death by hanging. His accomplice, Thomas James Jenkins, welder, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years' penal servitude. Hedley was an experienced burglar, having been nicknamed "Silver" for repeatedly breaking into a jewellers named Silver's in Bermondsey. The trial took six days and the two were convicted on 12 March, 1945. Hedley's subsequent appeal was dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeals on 13 April. However, Hedley was reprieved by the Home Secretary on 26 April, two days before his planned execution on 28 April. In October, 1949 the Metropolitan Commissioner of Police appeared before the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment and stated that he believed that the key reason for the rise of armed gangs after the war had been the failure to execute Hedley in 1945.[2]

Footnotes

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Service Record. ADM 196/51
  2. Thomas. Villains' Paradise. pp. 179-180.

Bibliography

  • "Marriages" (Marriages). The Times. Thursday, 7 November, 1918. Issue 41941, col C, pg. 9.
  • "Naval Officer Dragged Under Car" (News). The Times. Saturday, 9 December, 1944. Issue 50012, col C, pg. 4.
  • "Obituary" (Deaths). The Times. Monday, 11 December, 1944. Issue 50013, col E, pg. 6.
  • "Funerals" (Deaths). The Times. Friday, 15 December, 1944. Issue 50017, col B, pg. 6.
  • Thomas, Donald (2006). Villains' Paradise: A History of Britain's Underworld. London: Pegasus Books. ISBN 1933648171.

Service Record

Naval Appointments