William Wybrow Hallwright

From The Dreadnought Project
Jump to: navigation, search

Lieutenant-Commander William Wybrow Hallwright, D.S.O, R.N. (16 June, 1883 – 21 April, 1917) served in the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

Born in Birmingham the son of surgeon Matthew Hallwright, Hallwright studied at Portsmouth Grammar School before entering the Royal Navy.[1] He placed fifth of sixty-one cadets passing out of Britannia in August 1899, earning 1835 of 2250 possible marks.[2] He was awarded eight months' time on passing out of Britannia.

Hallwright was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 30 June, 1905.

Hallwright was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 30 June, 1913.

Hallwright was appointed in command of H.M.S. Q.16 on 3 March, 1917. Almost immediately, he was in action, engaging and appearing to damage an enemy submarine on 19 March. This performance merited a D.S.O. award, gazetted on 12 May, 1917. However, the pace of operations proved so intense that Hallwright died before this, killed Q 16 was struck by shell fire from U 52 in a running battle west or Ireland.

Gordon Campbell wrote of Hallwright's death:[3]

"While fitting out, news was received that Lt Cdr Hallwright, who had towed us in the Q-5, had been killed in action. Details showed that he had been lying in his lookout at the end of the bridge of his Q-sloop, HMS Heather, when a shell from a submarine had struck the ship. A splinter had penetrated the deck, hit his head, and killed him. On hearing this, I arranged for the ends of the bridge to be armoured with 1-in plating..."

See Also

Naval Appointments
Preceded by
New Command
Captain of H.M.S. Marigold
17 Jul, 1915 – 18 Jul, 1915
Succeeded by
Francis Howard
Preceded by
New Command
Captain of H.M.S. Laburnum
18 Jul, 1915[4] – 3 Mar, 1917
Succeeded by
Arthur M. Y. Dane
Preceded by
Frederick W. Law
Captain of H.M.S. Q.16
3 Mar, 1917 – 21 Apr, 1917
Succeeded by
Harold Auten

Footnotes

  1. Hampshire Telegraph and Naval Chronicle (Portsmouth, England), 23 Apr 1898 p. 8.
  2. "Naval & Military Intelligence" The Times (London, England), Thursday, Aug 10, 1899; pg. 8; Issue 35904.
  3. Campbell, Gordon. "My Mystery Ships".
  4. The Navy List. (December, 1916). p. 395t.