Sir Lionel Halsey ⁴⁹⁹

  General Notes:

Educated at Stubbington House, Fareham, Hampshire. Entered the Royal
Naval College, Dartmouth in 1885.

From The Times, October 27, 1949

Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey, G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., K.C.I.E., C.B., who
after long and distinguished service in the Navy was for many years
Comptroller and Treasurer to the Prince of Wales, died at his home
near Biggleswade, Befordshire, yesterday at the age of 77.
He was on the active list of the Royal Navy from 1885 until 1922, was
in action in the South African war, and, in the war of 1914-18, was
one of the few officers who took part in all three North Sea battles.
During his service he was widely recognized as being in the front
rank. He was a born leader, a first-class seaman, and a master of his
profession. A man of much charm, he was regarded by all who knew him
or served under him with affection as well as with the loyalty which a
high sense of duty and unswerving devotion to an ideal can always
command. He had a great devotion to the Royal Family, and was deeply
moved by the abdication from the Throne of one whom he had served so
long and loyally. Though his appointment at Court caused him to move
among the great and to take part in great events, he never lost his
love of simple things, and he was never so happy as when he was
leading a quiet country life at his home in Bedfordshire.
The fourth son of the Right Hon. Sir Thomas Frederick Halsey, he was
born on February 26, 1872, joined the Navy in 1885, and served as a
sub-lieutenant in the Royal Yacht. In 1897 he joined the Powerful,
whence he was landed for duty with the naval guns in the South African
war. He was in command of a 4.7in. battery in Ladysmith during the
siege, towards the end of which he was in charge of all the naval
guns, and his services were mentioned in dispatches. He was commander
of the Good Hope, flagship of Rear Admiral W.H. Fawkes, in the Cruiser
Squadron, from 1902 to 1905, in June of which latter year he was
promoted to captain at the early age of 33.
After commanding the Donegal he was specially chosen in 1912 for the
New Zealand, the battle-cruiser presented to the Royal Navy by the
Dominion of that name, and he commanded her on the tour she made of
ports in the Antipodes and round the world during 1913, being made a
C.M.G. on the conclusion of the cruise. The New Zealand had a great
popular reception wherever she went, and it was during this voyage
that Halsey received from a Maori chief the kiwi robe which he
promised to wear, and indeed did wear, whenever he went into action in
the subsequent war. The outbreak of war with Germany found the New
Zealand back in the North Sea, and Halsey commanded her in the
Heligoland Bight and Dogger Bank actions. In May, 1915, he was
appointed Captain of the Fleet, with the rank of commodore. During
the battle of Jutland he earned the warm commendation of his chief,
and was made a C.B. later in the year. On the nomination of Jellicoe
as First Sea Lord Halsey accompanied him to the Admiralty as Fourth
Sea Lord, and in May, 1917, a few days after he had been promoted to
rear admiral, became Third Sea Lord. He hoisted hsi flag in
September, 1918, in the Australia as Rear Admiral Commanding the
Australian Fleet and in command of the Second Battle-Cruiser Squadron
of the Grand Fleet, and he was present at the German surrender on
November 22 of that year and promoted ot K.C.M.G.
Created a K.C.V.O. in 1919, he was appointed in the course of the next
year Comptroller and Treasurer to the Prince of Wales, a member of the
Council of the Duchy of Cornwall, and promoted G.C.V.O. He became an
Extra Equerry to the Prince in 1821, and accompanied him on his tours
to Canada in 1919, to Australia in 1920, and to India and Japan in
1921-22, when he was made a K.C.I.E. Promoted to vice admiral in
1921, he retired voluntarily towards the end of the next year. He was
made G.C.M.G. in 1925, and was promoted admiral onthe retired list in
1926. After his retirement he became a J.P. and Deputy Lieutenant for
the county of Hertfordshire, and threw himself with enthusiasm into
the work of the Navy League, particularly in connexion with the Sea
Cadet Corps, of which he became Honorary Commodore in England and
Wales in 1942. During the 1939-45 war he was county director for
Bedfordshire of the British Red Cross Society, and had been president
since 1945. He inherited his father's interest Freemasonry, and
himself attained high rank in the craft.
He married in 1905 Morwenna, youngest daughter of Major Bevil
Granville, of Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, and by her had two
daughters.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Promotion: 1893, Lieutenant.

2. Promotion: 1 January 1901, Commander.

3. Census UK 1911: 1911, St. Anns, Saltash, Cornwall. ¹⁰

4. He had an estate probated on 17 December 1949 in London. ¹³

Lionel married Morwenna Granville, daughter of Major Bevil Granville and Unknown, on 24 January 1905. (Morwenna Granville was born c 1878 in North Church, Hertfordshire ¹⁰ and died on 20 February 1959 in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire ^13,54.)