Sir Angus Cunninghame Graham | |
|---|---|
 Admiral Sir Angus Cunnnghame Graham KBE CB RN | |
| Born | 16 February 1893 London, England |
| Died | 14 February 1981 (1981-02-15) (aged 87) |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1905–1951 |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Commands | Senior Naval Officer, West River, China HM Signal School HMSKent Royal Navy Barracks, Chatham 10th & 2nd Cruiser Squadrons HM Dockyard, Rosyth Flag Officer Scotland |
| Battles / wars | World War I Second Sino-Japanese War World War II |
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companion of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire |
| Spouses | Mary Patricia, Lady Cunninghame Graham (née Hanbury; m. 1924) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relations | Adm. Hon.Charles Elphinstone-Fleeming RN MP (great-grandfather) Rt RevRichard Bagot (great-grandfather) R.B. Cunninghame Graham MP (uncle) Cdr Charles E.- F. Cunninghame Graham, MVO RN, (father) |
AdmiralSir Angus Edward Malise Bontine Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore and ArdochKBE CB (16 February 1893 – 14 February 1981) was aRoyal Navy officer who becameFlag Officer, Scotland.
Educated atAscham St. Vincent's School, Cunninghame Graham joined theRoyal Navy in 1905[1] when he entered theRNC, Osborne.[2] His tutors thought well of him[3] and in 1907 he progressed toRNCDartmouth where he continued to get good grades in everything[3] except engineering.[2] He completed his cadet training onHMSCumberland[3] and passed out as amidshipman in 1910.[3] One of his first postings was toHMSCochrane,[3] which was one of the ships that escortedGeorge V andQueen Mary to theDelhi Durbar of 1911.[2] He was promoted tosub-lieutenant in 1912[3] and at the beginning of 1914 he was appointed toHM YachtVictoria and Albert[1] on which his father had also served.
At the outbreak ofWorld War I, all Royal Yachtsmen were transferred to two ships in theGrand Fleet,[2]HMSAgincourt andHMSErin. Cunninghame Graham served onHMSAgincourt[3] and saw action at theBattle of Jutland in command of number 4 gun turret.[2] He specialised in signals[2] and was promoted to flag lieutenant in 1917.[3]
After the war, he held a number of brief appointments, including a period as tutor at HM Signal School, before being appointed, despite his lowly rank, toHMSIron Duke in the spring of 1922 as fleet signal officer of the Mediterranean Fleet,[3] under the command of Admiral SirOsmond Brock C-in-C.[2] He gained the rank oflieutenant-commander in 1924[3] just prior to his marriage to Patricia Hanbury, the sister-in-law ofHerbert Fitzherbert, the executive officer of theIron Duke[2] and was made acommander in 1928.[3]
Cunninghame Graham had the unusual experience of attending all three staff colleges: Naval at Greenwich 1929–30; Army at Camberwell 1930–31; and Air Force at Andover 1934.[2] Between 1931 and 1934, he served as executive officer on thecruiserHMSCardiff on the South Africa station. He was appointed staff officer (operations and intelligence) atNore Command in 1935.[3] Having resigned himself, as had happened to his father, to remain a commander for the rest of his naval service,[2] he was promoted tocaptain, at the last possible juncture under the batch system then in force, on 31 December 1935.[3]
In January 1936,George V died and Cunninghame Graham, awaiting his first command, acted asaide-de-camp toPrince Paul of Greece[2] during his visit to London for the state funeral. He was appointed in the autumn of 1936 toHMSTarantula as senior naval officer on theWest River inChina.[3] This was the time of theSecond Sino-Japanese War.[4] On his return from China, he was offered the post of captain of the "stone frigate"HMSPresident,[2] which he declined, going onHalf-pay at his own request from 14 April 1938 until 2 March 1939, when he was appointed captain of HM Signal School.[3]
DuringWorld War II he held four commands. When war was declared he was serving as captain of HM Signal School, which also entailed being deputy to the commodore ofRoyal Naval Barracks, Portsmouth, and, thus, oversaw the research into the development of navalRDF.[2]
His next appointment, in 1941, was as captain of thecruiserHMSKent[3] on theRussian convoys. HMSKent was selected to carry a diplomatic party which included: H.E.Ivan M Maisky, theSovietAmbassador; Rt HonAnthony Eden,Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; SirAlexander Cadogan,Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office; andLieutenant General SirArchibald Nye,VCIGS, toMurmansk, from where they would travel by train toMoscow for talks withStalin.[2] As the diplomatic party were without any ciphering staff, it fell to Cunninghame Graham to inform the foreign secretary that the UK had declared war on Japan.[2] In the autumn of 1942, he becameflag-captain toRear-AdmiralLouis "Turtle" Hamilton, who had chosen to hoist his flag in HMSKent.[2][3]
In August 1943, he was promoted to commodore (2nd class) in charge of theRoyal Naval Barracks, Chatham,[3] in command of 20,000 officers, men and women with a daily turnover of 1,000.[2] Also during this time, he was anaide-de-camp tothe King[4] (his father had been a groom-in-waiting toEdward VII and an equerry toGeorge V) and was appointed aCBE in the 1944 New Year's Honours List.[3] In January 1945, there came a second promotion torear-admiral in command of the10th Cruiser Squadron,[3] and second in command of theHome Fleet, hoisting his flag first inHMS Diadem and then inHMS Birmingham.[2]
After the war he continued to command the 10th Cruiser Squadron (later2nd Cruiser Squadron with his flag inHMSSuperb), during which time he took part in the victory celebrations in the Netherlands and had the honour of havingPrincess Juliana andPrince Bernhardt as dinner guests;[2] he was also dispatched to Sweden on an official goodwill visit, being granted a private audience withKing Gustav V.[2]
In 1947, he became admiral superintendent atHM Dockyard, Rosyth.,[1] receiving aCB, and was promoted tovice admiral a year later. He was appointedFlag Officer, Scotland in 1950. He was advanced toKBE in the 1951 New Year Honours[3] and retired in October of the same year.[5] He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Dumabarton on 4 March 1952,[6] and received his final promotion to admiral on 15 March of the same year.[3]
In retirement he becameLord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire (1955–1968) and Keeper ofDumbarton Castle (1955–1981), the first naval officer to hold the post. In 1985, his widow donated his uniform and medals to the castle, where they are on public display.[7] He also was a member of theRoyal Company of Archers achieving a final rank of captain.
He donated hispapers (1913–1980) toChurchill College, Cambridge, and hisnaval archive (covering the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries) to theUniversity of California, Irvine.
Born in Chelsea, Angus was the second child and only son of Commander Charles Elphinstone-Fleeming Cunninghame GrahamMVORN and Mildred Emily Barbara, daughter of Charles Walter Bagot,Rector ofCastle Rising,Norfolk. He was baptised on 25 March 1893 in Holy Trinity, Chelsea, having Albert Edward,Prince of Wales (laterEdward VII) as his godfather andPrincess Louise, Duchess of Fife (later thePrincess Royal), as his godmother. This led to his attending thecoronation ofEdward VII aspage to theDuke of Fife, for which he was awarded the1902 Coronation Medal.
In October 1924, he married Mary Patricia, the youngest daughter of banker, Col Lionel Hanbury of Hitcham HouseCMG, VDHigh Sheriff of the County of London (1920–21);[4] they had one son, Robert Elphinstone, who followed his father into theRoyal Navy; and one daughter, Jean, who first marriedCharles Jauncey of Tullichettle and secondlyHarry Polwarth. He had seven grandchildren. He was the only nephew ofRobert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, a Scottish author and politician,[8] to whom he was heir.
| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Flag Officer, Scotland 1950–1951 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire 1955–1968 | Succeeded by Robert Arbuthnott |
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| National | |
| Other | |
