Real memorial obituaries – Combe Down, Monkton Combe, Midford

In memoriam et celebrationem

In memorial and celebration

ADMIRAL SIR RICHARD PEIRSE SPECIALIST IN NAVAL GUNNERY

Admiral Sir Richard H, Peirse, who was Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies at the outbreak of the last War, and Tater was an assistant to Lord Fisher on the Board of Invention and Research, died at Belmont, Combe Down, near Bath, yesterday.

He was a specialist in naval gunnery.

Richard Henry Peirse, who was born at York on September 4, 1860, was the son of the late Lieutenant-Colonel C. H. Peirse, and entered the Royal Navy in 1873.

He served as a midshipman in the Channel and in the corvette Charybdis in China, and after passing meritorious examinations for promotion, taking three first-class certificates, he became a lieutenant in January, 1881,

He won the Goodenough Medal and the Beaufort Testimonial

Peirse was present at the bombardment of Alexandria in H.M.S. Inflexible, commanded by Captain (later Lord) Fisher, and took part in other operations. of the Peirse was present at the bombardment of Alexandria in H.M.S. Inflexible, commanded by Captain (later Lord) Fisher. and took part in other operations of the Egyptian War.

Later he qualified in gunnery in the Excellent, where he again had Fisher as his captain, and wa winner of the £80 gunnery Naval College at Greenwich. For two years he was gunnery lieutenant of the Edinburgh in tho Mediterranean after which he returned to the Excellent as senior staff officer.

In April, 1892, he was transferred to the Naval Ordinance’ Department at the Admiralty, and in the following January was promoted commander, but he continued at the Department until 1896, thus completing seven years in technical appointments ashore.

On August 10, 1898, he received his first dependent commissioned, the small cruiser Bacouts, ont the Cape and West Africa Stations. From the outbreak of the war in South Africa he was continuously employed in the arduous and then unhealthy work of the Sierra Leone Division 4s Senior Naval Officer.

He was promoted captain in June, 1900, and returned to land, and front 1901.ta 1903 was employed on special service at the Admiralty.

He later commanded the light cruiser Dido, the armoured cruiser Bedford, and the battleship Commonwealth, and in October, 1907, went to Woolwich “as Naval member of the Ordnance Board, where he served until. he became a rear-admiral in February, 1909, when he was appointed as Inspector of Target Practice, a post created four years earlier, of which Sir Percy Scott was the first occupant.

After two years, he hoisted his flag in the the St. Vincent as Rear-Admiral in the First Battle Squadron.

He was next selected as Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies, and took Up that command in January, 1913, in which month he was also made C.B.

On the out- break of the last War he was charged wit the protection of the Bombay-Aden route. in connexion with the passage of the main Indian convoy, and the Red Sea from Aden to Suez was added to his station.

When in November, 1914, the Egyptian zone became of increasing importance Peirse proceeded to the Suez Canal to take charge, and was in command there when the Turkish attack ‘on Egypt was expelled.

On March 5, 1915, with a squadron of three ships, he was sent to bombard. the forts at Smyrna,

He had become a vice- admiral in October, 1914, and soon after his return to England in 1916 he was appointed a member of the Central Committee of the Naval Board of Invention and Research.

Promoted to admiral on March 11, 1918, he was the first naval created K.B.E.

He retired soon after.

In 1889 he married Blanche, only child of the Rev. E. J. Wemyss Whiltaker. incumbent of St. Mary Magdalene, Bath, and had one son Air Marshal Richard Peirse, the present Vice-Chief of the Air Staff, and two daughters.

AIR VICE-CHIEF'S FATHER

DEATH OF ADMIRAL SIR RICHARD PEIRSE

Admiral Sir Richard Henry Peirse, K.C.B., K.B.E., M.V.O., D.L., J.P., of "Belmont," Combe
Down, passed away at 5.45 on Wednesday morning in his 80th year.

He had been critically ill for some days and his death was not unexpected.

Sir Richard, whose residence for many years was "Fiesole," Bathwick Hill, was, with Lady Peirse, keenly interested in local affairs, and actively concerned in numerous spheres of philanthropic work, although after an illness several years ago, he was unable to take an active part owing to heart trouble. He was interested particularly in the Royal National
Hospital, the Holburne Museum, and the British Legion.

Sir Richard and Lady Peirse's only son is Air-Marshal Richard Edmund Charles Peirse, C.B., D.S.O., A.F.C., who in April of this year was appointed Vice-Chief of the Air Staff, in order to relieve the war strain on the Chief of that Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril L. N. Newall.

By a singular coincidence Air- Marshal Peirse received a Knighthood, the K.C.B., in the
honours list published on the same day that his father died, so that the title Sir Richard Peirse continues without any hiatus.

An old boy of the Monkton Combe School, he has had a distinguished career in the Air Force.

Naval Career.

Sir Richard, who was born in York in 1860, was the son of the late Lt.-Col. C. H. Peirse. He married Blanche Weymss-Whittaker, daughter of the late Rev. E. J. Weymss- Whittaker, in 1889.

Joining the Royal Navy in 1873, Sir Richard was specially promoted lieutenant in 1881 for meritorious examinations.

An expert gunnery officer, he was responsible for the amendments of the Signal Instruction Book which is still used in the Royal Navy.

As lieutenant he was with the Inflexible at the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882, and was
known in the Navy as an "X-chaser."

He served in the Egyptian War, receiving a medal and clasp, and the Khedive's Star. During the South African War he commanded the Barracuda. He was awarded a medal and promoted to the rank of captain.

He was Assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance from 1892-5, and from 1903-7 commanded successively H.M.S. Dido, Bedford and Commonwealth.

In 1904 he received the Second Class Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia.

In 1907, Captain (as he was then) Peirse became a member of the Ordnance Board; served as A.D.C. to King Edward in 1908-9; was Inspector of Target Practice from 1909 to 1911; and commanded the 1st Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet, 1911-12. In 1909 he was promoted Rear Admiral.

In The Great War.

In 1913 he was Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station of the Allied Naval Forces in Egypt from 1914-16. In 1914 he was promoted Vice Admiral.

From 1916-18 he was Naval member of the Central Committee of the Board of Education and Research.

He was in charge of the convoys in the last war for bringing Colonial troops to this country.

He was also in charge of Suez Canal defences and was in the bombardment of Smyrna, during which several forts were destroyed.

He was in action in the Suez Canal against the Turks on which occasion Lady Peirse, who was staying in an hotel in Port Said, was disturbed by the sound of gunfire.

His appointment as Admiral came in 1918 and he retired a year later. His many decorations included the Naval General Service medal for the suppression of arms-running in the Persian Gulf, and in addition he was a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour and held the Grand Cordon of the Nile.

In 1929, by commission signed by the Lord Lieutenant of the County, Sir Richard was appointed as Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset.

His two daughters, Beena and Juanita both married Naval officers, who are now serving.

The elder daughter Beena married the Flag- Lieutenant to Admiral Sir Richard Peirse, and
he is now Captain Richard Lloyd-Hamer. He was presented with the Royal Humane Society's Medal for bravery when he jumped into the icy waters of a Baltic harbour to rescue a sailor.

The second daughter is the wife of Commander A. D. S. Grant, who is the Flag Commander to the Commander-in-Chief, the Nore.