Henry Peel Ritchie
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| Henry Peel Ritchie | |
|---|---|
| 29 January 1876 - 9 December 1958 | |
 Henry Peel Ritchie, VC |
|
| Place of birth | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Place of death | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |  Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1890 to 1917 |
| Rank | Captain, R.N. |
| Unit | Royal Navy |
| Battles/wars | Raid on Dar-es-Salaam |
| Awards | Victoria Cross |
Captain Henry Peel Ritchie, VC (January 29, 1879 - December 9, 1958) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He received one of the first crosses awarded to naval personnel during the First World War for his actions during a daring commando raid on the German colonial harbour of Dar-es-Salaam in November 1914, which left him seriously and permanently wounded.
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[edit] Early Life
Born in Edinburgh to Dr Robert and Mary Ritchie, Henry was educated at George Watson's Boys' College and Blair Lodge in the city before embarking at the training ship HMS Britannia aged sixteen in 1890. Rapidly rising in the navy due to keen intelligence and impressive strength, Henry Ritchie became a lieutenant six years later and served at Sheerness Gunnery School, giving him the chance to become the armed forces lightweight boxing champion in 1900 and runner up in 1901. Whilst stationed at Sheerness, he met and married Christiana Lilian Jardine with whom he would have two daughters.
His shore service finally ended in March 1911, when he was posted as senior lieutenant to the pre-Dreadnought battleship HMS Goliath. He was promoted later that year to commander and managed the ships' gunnery exercises and procedures for the next three years as part of the Channel Fleet in British waters. It has been said by one of his junior officers that "Ritchie had the reputation of being very strict, but I always found him most fair" [1].
[edit] War Service
At the outbreak of World War One, Ritchie and the Goliath were ordered to East Africa to lead the blockade of the German colony of German East Africa (now part of Tanzania), specifically the main port of Dar-es-Salaam. It was feared that the German navy would use its colonial ports to resupply and support ocean raiding cruisers such as the SMS Emden or the SMS Konigsberg which were known to be operating in the Indian Ocean at this time. In fact, Konigsberg had operated from the harbour in the early months of the war, and had sunk the British cruiser HMS Pegasus on just one such sortie, although now she was blockaded in the delta of the Rufiji River. Inside the port were the German cargo ships SS Konig and SS Feldmarschall, the hospital ship SS Tabora and several smaller coastal vessels all of which could be used to resupply the trapped cruiser should they escape the port.
The decision was made by local commanders that the port must be blocked, an ambition aided by an earlier sunken dock in the channel. Teams were prepared from the small flotilla blocking the port to enter and immobilise or sink the merchant ships to prevent their use by the enemy. Command of this raiding party was given to Commander Ritchie as the second most senior officer present, and he prepared for the assault, commandeering two small auxiliary gunboats, Dupleix and Helmuth to carry the raiding parties.
[edit] Raid on Dar-es-Salaam
The early months of the First World War retained some of the chivalric ideals from the Victorian era and for this reason the astonishing decision was made to warn the German defenses via a brief meeting that the British raiding party would be coming on the morning of the 28 November 1914 and could the Germans please evacuate the ships so no one need be hurt. The German defenders requested that the British conduct the operations under a white flag, which was denied and then both sides returned to their positions and Ritchie was informed that he could now begin his assault on the port.
The Dupleix broke down before entering the harbour, and so it was in the little Helmuth that Ritchie and his men began their attack, sweeping peacefully into the port and laying charges unopposed on the Konig and the Feldmarschall. There they were stopped by the port's commanding officer, who seemed unaware that they were an enemy force and demanded to observe their actions for his report. He was eventually politely asked to leave the Helmuth and finally did so soon afterwards. Ritchie took the Helmuth further down river to check for other shipping, but grounded and assumed that the way was blocked and so returned to the men he had left with the two cargo ships. It was at this stage, whilst conducting a final inspection of the ship that Ritchie made the disturbing discovery of a large number of empty ammunition cases and stray bullets, indicating that the crew (who could not be found), had disembarked in a hurry, heavily armed.
Despite this news, Ritchie resolved to continue operations, sending the Helmuth back and gathering several small launches and boats from the squadron in the harbour. As one of these boats, from the cruiser HMS Fox moved to the harbour entrance, it suddenly met with a hail of fire from the shore, where the hidden crews and town garrison had prepared an ambush. The Helmuth was the next to be attacked, and the two small boats limped out of the harbour with several wounded and severe damage. In response, the Fox and the large Goliath opened a hail of heavy shellfire on the town, reducing several streets and the Governor's Palace to rubble whilst Ritchie in the remaining boat attempted to pick up one of his officers, Surgeon Holtom, who had been aboard the Tabora for a medical inspection. Ritchie's small boat was hit worse than any of the others, being the sole target for the now angered garrison with machine guns, rifles and small artillery.
Most of the crew was grievously wounded or dead, including Ritchie who was hit in eight separate places but refused to relinquish his place at the boat's wheel until he had steered his boat to safety. He was discovered 'simply smothered in blood and barely conscious'[2] by Goliath's crew when they went to the aid of the small boat and was hustled to the sick bay, lucky to still be alive. The raid had cost the British one dead, fourteen seriously wounded and twelve captured after they were left behind in the confusion. The latter also included the hapless Surgeon Holtom, who had failed to reach Ritchie's boat. They had immobilised three vessels and destroyed several shore installations as well as taking thirty five prisoners.
Two days later, the wounded dropped off at Zanzibar, Goliath and Fox returned to Dar-es-Salaam and reduced most of the seafront to rubble and set fire to several other districts as a reprisal. The British considered that the white flags flying from several shore installations should have precluded any German attack, whilst the Germans said that the British had attempted to capture the crews of the vessels despite promises not to do so prompting their attack. In fact both sides entered the operation with premeditated plans to breach the agreement.
[edit] Retirement and the Victoria Cross
Nine men were honoured for their role in the operation, seven receiving Distinguished Service Medals, two Conspicuous Gallantry Medals and one, the grievously wounded Ritchie, the Victoria Cross. In fact, Ritchie had not been initially recommended for the award, and its presentation was approved by a still unidentified figure in the Admiralty, possibly as a morale boosting measure, although Ritchie's courage was never in question.
Ritchie spent six weeks in hospital in Zanzibar, receiving from his near-fatal wounds before he was well enough for a transport home to England, where he recovered in the spring of 1915 at Portsmouth Hospital with his family present to witness his progress. He was approved fit in late February but was forced into light duties due to his injuries and was not returned to Goliath, a disappointment which proved lucky for him, when she was sunk with hundreds of lives off the Dardanelles in May 1915 by the Turkish destroyer Muavenet. His Victoria Cross was presented by King George V at Buckingham Palace in November 1916, two years after his action and shortly before his retirement as a Naval Captain, his career ended by his wounds.
Post war, Ritchie settled into retirement in Edinburgh with his family and lived a quiet and uneventful life, having been deemed unfit for further service due to his injuries. He was not involved in any official capacity during the Second World War, and died peacefully but suddenly at his home in 1958 and was cremated at Warriston. There are no memorials or headstones dedicated to him today.
[edit] Victoria Cross Citation
Admiralty 10th April 1915
The King has been graciously pleased to approve of the grant of the Victoria Cross to Commander Henry Peel Ritchie Royal Navy for the conscious act of bravery specified below -
For most conspicuous bravery on the 28th November 1914 when in command of the searching and demolition operations at Dar-es-Salaam East Africa Though severely wounded several times his fortitude and resolution enabled him to continue to do his duty inspiring all by his example until at his eighth wound he became unconscious The interval between his first and last severe wound was between twenty and twenty five minutes
THE LONDON GAZETTE, 9th April 1915 [3]
[edit] References
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- Scotland's Forgotten Valour (Graham Ross, 1995)
- VCs of the First World War - 1914 (Gerald Gliddon, 1994)
- VCs of the First World War - The Naval VCs (Stephen Snelling, 2002)
- ^ P.7, The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling
- ^ P.5, The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling
- ^ London Gazette, 9th April 1915, Retrieved on 2007-01-17
[edit] External links
- Location of grave and VC medal (Edinburgh)
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ritchie, Henry Peel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | First World War Victoria Cross recipient |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 29 January 1876 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Edinburgh |
| DATE OF DEATH | 9 December 1958 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Edinburgh |
