Frederick Hamilton (Royal Navy officer)

Sir Frederick Hamilton

1917 portrait by Francis Dodd
Born 8 March 1856
London, England
Died 4 October 1917
Rosyth, Scotland
Allegiance United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service 1869 1917
Rank Admiral
Commands held HMS Rattlesnake[1]
HMS Bulwark (1899)[2]
Rosyth
Battles/wars Zulu War
World War I
Awards Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Admiral Sir Frederick Tower Hamilton GCVO KCB (8 March 1856 – 4 October 1917) was a senior Royal Navy officer who went on to be Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel.

Naval career

Hamilton joined the Royal Navy in 1869[3] as a cadet on the training ship Britannia.[1] He fought in Naval Brigade in the Zulu War in 1879, for which service he was mentioned in despatches.[3] After promotion to Lieutenant he specialised into the Torpedo Branch and in 1884 after training was appointed a staff officer at the Torpedo Schoolship Vernon.[1] In 1892 he was promoted to commander and serving aboard the battleship HMS Hood. By then a captain, on 18 March 1902 he was appointed flag captain of the battleship HMS Bulwark, which in May was to become flagship of Admiral Sir Compton Domvile, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet.[4] Hamilton was Aide-de-Camp to the King between 1906 and 1907.[5]

At the outset of World War I he was Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel and was promoted to full Admiral in June 1916.[6] He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Rosyth later that year[7] but died suddenly from a heart attack in 1917 and is buried in Fife.[8]

He lived at Anmer Hall near King's Lynn in Norfolk.[5]

Honours and awards

Family

Hamilton married Maria Walpole Keppel, the daughter of Admiral Sir Henry Keppel; they went on to have two sons (including Admiral Sir Louis Keppel Hamilton) and two daughters.[5]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Death of Admiral Sir F.T. Hamilton" (Deaths). The Times (London). Friday, 5 OCtober 1917. (41601), col D, p. 11.
  2. The Dreadnought Project
  3. 3.0 3.1 National Maritime Museum
  4. "Naval & Military intelligence" The Times (London). Wednesday, 5 March 1902. (36707), p. 5.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 The Peerage.com
  6. Admirals.org.uk
  7. Dunfermline Heritage Roots
  8. Great War Forum
  9. The London Gazette: no. 27560. p. 35235. 2 June 1903. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
  10. The London Gazette: no. 28194. p. 8162. 9 November 1908. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  11. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 28677. p. 1. 1 January 1913. Retrieved 17 July 2010.

External links

Military offices
Preceded by
Sir John Jellicoe
Second Sea Lord
19141916
Succeeded by
Sir Somerset Gough-Calthorpe
Preceded by
Sir Robert Lowry
Commander-in-Chief, Rosyth
19161917
Succeeded by
Sir Cecil Burney