Arthur Tudor Darley

Commander Arthur Tudor Darley, (29 August, 1876 – 1 November, 1914) was an officer of the Royal Navy in the period leading up to the First World War. He was killed while temporarily attached to the armoured cruiser Good Hope at the Battle of Coronel in November, 1914.

Life and Career

Darley was born in Glensouthweil, County Dublin, the son of Wellington Darley and Anne Frances Tudor on 29 August, 1876. He joined the training ship HMS Britannia in 1890, and passed out seventh out of fifty-seven naval cadets in January, 1893 before being promoted Midshipman on 15 March of that year.

On 15 September, 1896 Darley was promoted Sub-Lieutenant and was consequently given command of Torpedo Boat No. 53 on 15 June, 1897 for the 1897 Diamond Jubilee Fleet Review. On 15 December, 1898 he was promoted to Lieutenant and appointed to the battleship Repulse.

He was promoted to Commander on 31 December, 1909 and then appointed Flag Commander to Admiral Arthur Leigh Winsloe on the China Station. On 10 November, 1910, on leave, he married Charlotte Sinclair in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin. Darley was one of the first fifteen Commanders to be appointed to the Naval War Staff and after duty at the Admiralty he was in March, 1914 temporarily appointed to the cruiser Good Hope while waiting to tae up duty on the flagship on the China Station.

While in the Good Hope Darley was present at the Battle of Coronel, the first major British naval defeat in a hundred years, and was lost at sea. He left behind a daughter, Evelyn Elizabeth (born 23 October, 1911) and a son, Arthur who was born after Darley's death on 15 December, 1914.