Naval Attaché (Royal Navy)

The Royal Navy had a varying number of naval attachés stationed in a changing global landscape of embassies throughout our period. This page's peculiar organization reflects that changing landscape. Prior to World War I, there were commonly eight attachés, sited in Washington, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Berlin, Stockholm, Vienna, and St. Petersburg. By the early 1930s, this had been reduced to six, sited in Washington, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Berlin and Buenos Aires.

Naval Attachés to Maritime Countries

Dates of appointment given:

• Vice-Admiral Alfred P. Ryder, February, 1873
• Captain Henry C. Kane, 8 January, 1883
• Captain Sir William C. H. Domville, Bart., 18 January, 1887 – 12 February, 1891
• Captain William H. May, 1 January, 1891
• Captain George Le C. Egerton, 1 June, 1893
• Captain Reginald N. Custance, 1 September, 1893 – 21 February, 1895
• Captain Henry M. T. Tudor, 6 November, 1895
• Captain Lewis E. Wintz, 22 February, 1895
• Captain Alfred W. Paget, 26 October, 1896
• Captain Henry B. Jackson, 1 November, 1897
• Captain Lewis Bayly, 15 July, 1900 – 10 July, 1902
• Captain Arthur W. Ewart, 9 October, 1900 – 16 June, 1903

European States

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain Edward H. Howard, 17 August, 1874 – 6 March, 1877
• Captain William H. May, 10 November, 1890 – 1 June, 1893

Paris

Dates of appointment given:

• Rear-Admiral Alfred P. Ryder, 1869 – c. 1872
• Captain Henry B. Jackson, November, 1897 – December, 1899
• Captain Charles L. Ottley, after April, 1901 – 24 June, 1904  (transferred in from Tokyo at some point)
• Captain Frederick R. W. Morgan, 24 June, 1904 – 30 June, 1907
• Captain Edward H. F. Heaton-Ellis, 30 June, 1907 – 16 February, 1911
• Captain W. A. Howard Kelly, 16 February, 1911 – 16 March, 1914
• Captain Michael H. Hodges, 16 March, 1914 – 9 September, 1915
• Acting Captain Fitzmaurice Acton, 9 September, 1915 – c. 1 October, 1917^[Inference]
• Acting Commander Sidney B. Mainguy, 1 October, 1917 – 17 January, 1920
• Captain The Hon. Alexander R. M. Ramsay, 15 July, 1919
• Captain Edward B. C. Dicken, c. September, 1922 – c. 1925
• Captain James M. Pipon, 15 July, 1925 – 20 October, 1928
• Captain Guy W. Hallifax, 15 October, 1928 – 15 October, 1931
• Captain John U. P. Fitzgerald, 8 October, 1931 – 8 October, 1934
• Captain Charles F. Hammill, 8 October, 1934 – 17 January, 1938
• Captain Cedric S. Holland, 17 January, 1938 – 9 April, 1940

Holland

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain Robin E. Jeffreys, 15 December, 1945

Copenhagen

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain The Hon. Bertram T. C. O. Freeman Mitford, 15 September, 1919 – 16 December, 1920

Madrid

Dates of appointment given:

• Acting Captain John Harvey, 20 January, 1918 – 30 December, 1920
• Captain Alan H. Hillgarth, 1 September, 1939

Berlin

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain Reginald A. Allenby, 16 June, 1903 – 9 February, 1906
• Captain Philip W. Dumas, 9 February, 1906
• Captain Herbert L. Heath, 1 August, 1908 – 9 August, 1910
• Captain Hugh D. R. Watson, 9 August, 1910 – 11 November, 1913
• Captain Wilfred Henderson, 15 October, 1913 – 20 August, 1914
• Commander Geoffrey S. F. Nash, 15 February, 1926 – 14 April, 1929
• Commander Melville A. Hawes, 4 April, 1929 – 7 August, 1933
• Captain Gerard C. Muirhead-Gould, 31 July, 1933 – 23 July, 1936
• Captain Thomas H. Troubridge, 23 July, 1936 – 14 September, 1939
• Captain Richard Shelley, 24 July, 1939 – 14 September, 1939  (perhaps never made it to Berlin?)

Washington, D.C.

Dates of appointment given:

• Rear-Admiral Edward A. Inglefield, 8 January, 1872 – 9 August, 1872
• Captain William Arthur, 1 December, 1879 – 15 March, 1882
• Captain Reginald N. Custance, 1 September, 1893 – 26 February, 1895
• Captain Lewis Bayly, 15 July, 1900 – 10 July, 1902
• Captain Dudley R. S. De Chair, 10 September, 1902 – 31 August, 1904
• Captain Frank E. C. Ryan, 1 September, 1905 – 12 September, 1907
• Captain The Hon. Horace L. A. Hood, 16 August, 1907 – 11 November, 1908
• Captain Charles F. Sowerby, 11 November, 1908 – 21 June, 1912
• Captain Heathcoat S. Grant, 1 June, 1912 – 13 June, 1914
• Captain Guy R. A. Gaunt, 1 June, 1914 – 22 March, 1917
• Acting Captain Arthur L. Snagge, 21 May, 1918 – 1 October, 1919
• Captain Geoffrey Blake, 1 October, 1919 – March, 1921
• Captain Sidney R. Bailey, March, 1921 – 13 November, 1922
• Captain Francis W. Loftus Tottenham, 4 October, 1922 – 24 October, 1925
• Captain The Hon. Arthur Stopford, October, 1925 – 7 May, 1928
• Captain James S. M. Ritchie, March, 1928 – March, 1931
• Captain Patrick Macnamara, March, 1931 – May, 1933
• Captain Alan R. Dewar, 6 May, 1933 – 19 June, 1936
• Captain Frederic C. Bradley, 19 June, 1935 – June, 1938
• Captain Leicester C. A. St. J. Curzon-Howe, 28 May, 1938 – 11 June, 1940
• Rear-Admiral Herbert Pott, 11 June, 1940 – September, 1944

Gerald Charles Langley may also have held this post at some point.^{[Fact Check]}

Assistant Naval Attaché

• Commander (emergency) Hugh C. Arnold-Forster, 6 September, 1918 – 16 January, 1920  (medically unfit at end)
• Lieutenant-Commander Eric W. M. King, 4 July, 1920 – 2 August, 1921
• Commander Edward O. Broadley, 9 April, 1920 – 9 April, 1922
• Captain Arthur W. Clarke, 20 July, 1940 – 1 August, 1941
• Commander (E) William S. Jameson, 1 September, 1939

Perhaps King and Broadley are showing us there were more than one man in this post at times.

St. Petersburg and Rome

• Captain Somerset A. G. Calthorpe, 19 March, 1902 – 1 November, 1905

Moscow

• Acting Captain Henry Clanchy, c. October, 1936 – c. 1940

Rome

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain Mark E. F. Kerr, 24 June, 1903 – 1 January, 1905
• Captain Roger J. B. Keyes, 1 January, 1905 – 1 January, 1908
• Captain Adolphus H. Williamson, 1 January, 1908 – 20 June, 1910
• Captain Arthur C. Stewart, 1 June, 1910 – 24 June, 1913
• Captain William H. D. Boyle, 24 June, 1913 – 27 September, 1915
• Acting Captain, retired Dennis A. H. Larking, 8 November, 1915 – 16 August, 1919
• Commander Neston W. Diggle, 1 July, 1919 – 20 July, 1922
• Commander Richard T. Down, 12 June, 1922 – February, 1926
• Captain Richard H. L. Bevan, 28 April, 1928 – 30 April, 1931
• Captain Herbert Pott,  – 2 August, 1936
• Captain Robert H. Bevan, 2 August, 1936 – 31 January, 1939  (also for Durazzo)

Assistant Naval Attaché

• Lieutenant Norman B. F. Peploe, 1 June, 1920 – 5 February, 1922  (drowned at Rapallo)

St. Petersburg/Petrograd

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain The Hon. Victor A. Stanley, 1 November, 1905 – November, 1908
• Captain Aubrey C. H. Smith, 7 November, 1908 – 30 April, 1912
• Commander Harold G. Grenfell, 1 April, 1912 – October, 1917
• Acting Captain Francis A. N. Cromie, 10 January, 1918 – 31 August, 1918  (temporary, killed by Bolshevik soldiers while in post)

Stockholm

• Rear-Admiral Montagu W. W. P. Consett, 27 July, 1912

Norway & Sweden

• Commander (retired) John R. Poland, 31 October, 1939 – 24 September, 1940

Tokyo

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain Charles L. Ottley, July, 1899 – after April, 1901  (transferred to Paris at some point)
• Captain Thomas Jackson, 1 January, 1906 – 1 May, 1906
• Commander Charles J. T. Dormer, 1 May, 1906 – 1908
• Captain Charles H. Dundas, 1 March, 1908 – 16 September, 1910
• Captain Douglas E. R. Brownrigg, 3 September, 1910 – 9 October, 1912
• Captain The Hon. Hubert G. Brand, 9 October, 1912 – 1 December, 1914
• Captain Edward H. Rymer, 1 December, 1914 – 11 February, 1918
• Acting Captain Fitzmaurice Acton, October, 1917 – 27 January, 1919
• Rear-Admiral James C. Ley, 25 November, 1918 – 31 March, 1920
• Captain John P. R. Marriott, 31 March, 1920
• Captain Ragnar M. Colvin, 10 March, 1922 – 10 April, 1924  (end year not entirely legible)
• Captain Montague G. B. Legge, 20 February, 1930 – January, 1933
• Captain Henry B. Rawlings, 3 January, 1936 – 3 September, 1938
• Captain Desmond N. C. Tufnell, 31 December, 1938 – 1941
• Rear-Admiral Hector Boyes, 21 May, 1941

The Hague

Dates of appointment given:

• Rear-Admiral Richard P. F. Purefoy, 15 February, 1916 – 16 February, 1918
• Acting Captain Henry C. R. Brocklebank, 30 January, 1918 – 31 August, 1919
• Gerald C. Dickens, 8 February, 1940 – 16 May, 1940
• Vice-Admiral Gerald C. Dickens, 8 February, 1940 – 16 May, 1940  (vice "Schofield", whomever that is)

Vienna

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain John R. Segrave, 1 January, 1914 – August, 1914

Peking

Dates of appointment given:

• Lieutenant-Commander Illtyd A. S. Hutton, 6 October, 1916 – 1 June, 1919

Norway, Sweden and Denmark

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain James W. Murray, 8 December, 1920 – 1 December, 1921
• Captain Hector Boyes, 25 August, 1939 – 10 May, 1940

Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Latvia

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain James W. Murray, 1 December, 1921 – 27 February, 1923
• Captain Wion de M. Egerton, 15 February, 1923 – 20 February, 1926

Athens

Dates of appointment given:

• Commander William F. Sells, 26 June, 1915 – 28 June, 1917
• Acting Commander R.N.V.R. Gerald Talbot, 23 August, 1917
• Acting Captain Robert H. Bevan, 14 December, 1935 – 17 July, 1936
• Captain Herbert A. Packer, 21 January, 1937 – 6 July, 1939
• Captain George E. M. O'Donnell, 6 July, 1939 – 21 August, 1939

Angora

Angora is now known as Ankara.

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain George E. M. O'Donnell, 21 August, 1939 – 1941
• Rear-Admiral William L. Jackson, 1 January, 1942 – 30 October, 1946

South America

Dates of appointment given:

• Acting Captain Edward L. D. Boyle, 4 December, 1914 – 15 June, 1919
• Captain James S. C. Salmond, 26 February, 1925 – 12 August, 1927
• Captain St. Aubyn B. Wake, 12 August, 1927 – August, 1930
• Captain Edward de F. Renouf, 15 August, 1930 – 9 December, 1933

Buenos Aires

Dates of appointment given:

• Commander Charles L. Backhouse, 10 April, 1919 – April, 1922
• Commander Henry W. U. McCall, 12 November, 1935 – 24 April, 1940
• Captain Herbert A. Forster, 29 July, 1942

Rio de Janeiro

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain Donal S. McGrath, 7 May, 1940 – 5 May, 1941

Assistant Naval Attaché

• Commander Donal S. McGrath, 23 August, 1939 – 7 May, 1940

Chile, Peru and Ecuador

Arliss was the first attaché appointed to Chile, Peru and Ecuador, these duties having previously been handled out of Buenos Aires. He was sited in H. M. Embassy, Santiago.

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain Stephen H. T. Arliss, 22 April, 1938 – 26 May, 1940
• Captain Archibald C. W. Domvile, 27 May, 1940 – 15 November, 1946