Difference between revisions of "Osmond de Beauvoir Brock"

Revision as of 15:11, 4 December 2010

Admiral SIR Osmond de Beauvoir Brock, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., D.C.L., Royal Navy (5 January, 1869 – 14 October, 1947) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Early Life & Career

Brock was born at Plymouth 5 January, 1869, the eldest son and second of the six children of Commander Osmond de Beauvoir Brock, R.N., of Guernsey, by his wife, Lucretia Jenkins, daughter of Henry Clark, of Clifton, Bristol. Brock entered the Royal Navy in January, 1882, and after leaving the Britannia served as a midshipman in masted ships for three and a half years. While in the Raleigh he was awarded the Royal Humane Society's certificate on vellum for saving a stoker from drowning in Simon's Bay. In his Sub-Lieutenant's courses he gained the maximum award of seniority, being promoted to Lieutenant in February 1889 at the age of twenty. He specialized in gunnery and served as gunnery officer in the Cambrian, and then for five years in the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean.

Promoted to the rank of Commander on 1 January, 1900,^[1] he became executive officer of the Repulse in the Channel, and afterwards of the Renown, the flagship in the Mediterranean of Sir John (later Lord) Fisher. In 1903 he commanded the Alacrity in China and was promoted to Captain on 1 January, 1904.

He was flag captain to Lord Charles (later Lord) Beresford in the Mediterranean and later to Sir Berkeley Milne in the Home Fleet. Between sea appointments he served at the Admiralty as assistant director of naval intelligence and as assistant director of naval mobilization.

Great War & After

In 1913 he commissioned the new battle cruiser Princess Royal and joined the flag of David (later Earl) Beatty. He fought his ship successfully at the battles of Heligoland and the Dogger Bank, becoming Beatty's flag captain while the Lion was being repaired. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral on 5 March, 1915 and given command of the First Battle Cruiser Squadron with his flag in the Princess Royal. He followed in the wake of Beatty's flagship throughout the battle of Jutland, and when her wireless was shot away became responsible for passing on all Beatty's signals and reports. He was two years older than Beatty, but they saw eye to eye in all naval matters and were close friends. So when Beatty became Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet, he naturally selected Brock to be his chief of staff. It was a wise choice. The studious and intellectual Brock was the ideal complement. Beatty said of him in a letter: "O. de B. has developed a tremendous capacity for work and is perfectly excellent, clear as a bell, and is of the very greatest assistance". On 1 January, 1918, he was created a Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (K.C.M.G.).^[2] Brock was promoted to Vice-Admiral in 1919 and accompanied Beatty to the Admiralty as Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. He became Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet in April, 1922, and held the appointment for three years. His firm attitude to the Turks, after they had driven the Greeks out of Anatolia, was commended by the First Lord of the Admiralty in the House of Commons in 1923. He was promoted to Admiral in July, 1924 and in 1926 hoisted his flag as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth. Three years later he was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet, and was placed on the Retired List 31 July, 1934. He died at Winchester 14 October, 1947.

Brock was appointed C.B. (1915), K.C.B. (1919), G.C.B. (1929), C.M.G. (1916), K.C.M.G. (1918), and K.C.V.O. (1917); he received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the university of Oxford in 1929; he was a commander of the Legion of Honour and held a number of other foreign decorations. There is a portrait of him in Sir A. S. Cope's group "Some Sea Officers of the War of 1914–18" in the National Portrait Gallery; and a drawing by Francis Dodd in the Imperial War Museum.

He married in 1917 Irene Catherine Wake (died 1939), daughter of the late Vice-Admiral Sir Baldwin Wake Walker, second baronet, granddaughter of Admiral Sir Baldwin Wake Walker, and widow of Captain Philip Francklin who was killed at the Battle of Coronel. They had one daughter.

Brock had great tact and charm of manner, and a humility which endeared him to those with whom he was closely associated. He was brilliantly clever and a tremendous reader. His analytical brain was ever active, and his knowledge ranged over a wide field from art to the nuclear theory. He was more interested in things than in people, but he was generous, tolerant, and a great example. Although he paid great attention to detail, he never lost sight of the principles governing a problem, and his judgement was always sound.

Footnotes

Bibliography

Service Record