Royal Navy MemoriesHMS Devonshire and HMS Leopard and HMS Glasgow Portal
HMS Devonshire’s Captains
Devonshire Captains
The First “Devonshire”
Built by William Wyatt at Burlesdon on Southampton Water.
Launched 6th May 1692.
10 Oct.1707 blew up after putting up a running fight for five hours.
All crew perished with the exception of two.
Commanding Officers: 1692-1707
14-03-1692 — 22-08-1695 Henry Haughton
04-09-1695 — 16-12-1695 Thomas Fauldis
01-01-1696 — 08-05-1696 Thomas Ley
08-05-1696 – 15-09-1698 John Hubbard
29-12-1704 — 28-08-1706 The Rt. Hon. James Lord Dursley
30-08-1706 — 10-10-1707 John Watkins
The Second “Devonshire”
Built at Woolwich.
Launched 12th December 1710.
In 1760 she was sold out of the sevice for £285
Commanding Officers: 1711-1717
12-01-1711 — 17-07-1711 Robert Arris
17-07-1711 — 05-11-1711 John Cooper
26-02-1717 — 26-03-1717 Richard Hughes
27-03-1717 — 11-06-1717 Thomas Kempthorne
The Third “Devonshire”:
Built at Woolwich.
Launched 19th July 1745.
Broken up at Portsmouth in 1772.
Commanding Officers: 1745-1763
08-08-1745 – 19-01-1746 Charles Knowles
20-01-1746 – 15-05-1746 William Chambers
15-05-1746 – 04-04-1747 John Pritchard
04-04-1747 – 08-01-1748 Temple West
09-01-1748 – 01-09-1748 Thomas Sturton
25-11-1748 – 20-11-1752 Merric de l’Angle
31-03-1756 – 04-05-1757 John Moore
12-05-1757 – 10-03-1760 William Gordon
11-03-1760 – 10-02-1762 George Darby
19-02-1762 – 01-07-1762 Samuel Marshall
02-01-1762 – 29-07-1762 Richard Carteret
? John Lindsey
09-09-1762 – 13-05-1763 Matthew Barton
The Forth “Devonshire”
very little is known about?
The Fifth “Devonshire”
Built by Messrs. Barnard & Co. at Deptford.
Launched 23rd September 1812.
Broken up in 1869.
Commanding Officers:1813-1814
02-06-1813 — 03-05-1814. Ross Donnelly
The Sixth “Devonshire”
Built by Chatham Dockyard.
Designed by Sir William White.
First keel plate laid by the Prince of Wales, 25-3-1902.
Launched 30-04-1904.
Paid off 21-05-1919.
In 1921 broken up by T.W Ward Ltd of sheffield.
Commanding Officers: 1905-1917
24-10-1905. Arthur T.Stuart
08-05-1907. John de M.Hutchinson
19-03-1909. Cuthbert G.Chapman
08-11-1910. Herbert C.C.da Costa
15-10-1912. Henry B.Petty
10-08-1913. William J.5.Alderson
09-06-1914. Edwin V.Underhill
03-03-1916. John D.Kelly
20-10-1916. Henry B.T.Somerville
10-11-1917. George B. Powell
The Seventh “Devonshire” 18 March 1928.
Completed 1929. Built at Devonport.
The seventh Devonshire became a Training ship 1947-1953.
She was finally broken up by Cashmore, Newport, Wales in 1954.
1929 After an explosion in he “A” Turret She was paid off and re-commissioned in October 1931.
HMS Devonshire, 1931 – 1934
First Cruiser Squadron
October 1931 — March 1933 Captain D. B. Le Mottee
March 1933 – February 1934 Captain L. F. Potter
Mediterranean Fleet detached on special service in China February 1932 — March 1933.
Places visited;
Plymouth, Colombo, Hong Kong, St. Raphael, Alexandria, Gibraltar, Singapore, Malta, Gavrion Bay, Malta, Hong Kong, Penang, Corfu, Mudros Port Augusta, Amoy, Colombo, Durazzo, Milo, Vatika Bay, Wei Hat Wei, Aden, Ancona, Oropos Bay, Malta, Shanghai, Suez, Porto Rose, Navarin, Syracuse, Hankow, Port Said, Split, Malta, Port Said, Wei Hai Wei, Malta, Kotor, Gibraltar, Suez, Hong Kong, Pollenza Bay, Malta, Plymouth, Aden, Shanghai, Vado, Beirut
Distance Steamed 37,200 Miles,
1936..Captain GC Muirhead-Gould DSC. In 1935, prior to taking up 
command of “Devonshire” he was Naval Attaché at the British
Embassy in Berlin.He attended a banquet for Hitler for which he also organised the seating arrangements. When he left the embassy in 1936 he became Captain of HMS Devonshire and played an important part in the Spanish civil war. He went on to be a Rear Admiral with a somewhat contentious career. (As SNO Sydney he got drunk and upset the Aussies!) The photo shows Gerard Muirhead-Gould in khaki uniform, pictured in 1915 at about the time he was serving with an armoured train in Belgium.
Further history of this Captain can be found here.
Commanding Officers:1941-1950
1941..Captain Mansfield. RN
1942..Captain RD Oliver RN Oliver served in World War I taking part in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914, fighting at Gallipoli in 1915 and then undertaking mine-laying off the German and Belgian coast.. Promoted to Captain, he was given command of HMS Iron Duke in 1939.He also served in World War II and was commanding the HMS Devonshire, a heavy cruiser, on 21 November 1941 when he was informed that codebreakers had determined that German U-boats were going to be surfacing near him, to refuel from a merchant raider, the Hilfskreuzer (cruiser) Atlantis. Using the intelligence, Devonshire sunk Atlantis. He later commanded the gunnery school HMS Excellent and then the cruiser HMS Swiftsure. After the War he was appointed Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Weapons) and then Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff in 1946. His last appointment, in 1947, was as Flag Officer commanding the 5th Cruiser Squadron before he retired in 1948.
Naval career: Oliver served in World War I taking part in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914, fighting at Gallipoli in 1915 and then undertaking mine-laying off the German and Belgian coast. Promoted to Captain, he was given command of HMS Iron Duke in 1939.
In retirement he became Deputy Lieutenant of Roxburghshire.
Family: In 1928 he married Torfrida Lois Acantha Huddart; there were no children.Following the death of his first wife, he married Mrs M.J. Glendinning van der Velde in 1965
1944-6..Captain GMB Langley RN
1948…..Captain Henley RN
Sir Joseph Henley (Charles Cameron), Rear Admiral (1909-1999)
Joined RN 1927; Lt, HMS YORK 1932-1933; HMS DEVONSHIRE 1934; gunnery course, HMS EXCELLENT 1934-1935;
HMS BIRMINGHAM and HMS KING GEORGE V, World War II 1939-1945; commanded HMS DEVONSHIRE 1948; Capt, Miscellaneous Duties,
HMS DRAKE 1951-1953; commanded HMS DEFENDER 1954-1955; Naval Attache, Washington DC, USA 1956-1957; Director,
RN Staff College 1958; Chief of Staff, Mediterranean Station 1959-1961; Flag Officer, Royal Yachts 1962-1965;
retired 1965
1949..Captain St John Cronin.DSO. RN
ST. JOHN CRONYN, D.S.O.
The following was taken from one of the “Dartmouth Criuse”" magazines circa 1951. Upon reading it, I do believe that it was penned by some grovelling so and so who was after promotion! He certainly had his tongue somewhere else, than in his mouth!
It is five cruises since Captain Cronyn joined the Ship and for those who have served with him during that time it is almost impossible to imagine the Training Cruiser without him. He has given “Devonshire “ a character an identity which we not only proudly recognise ourselves but which is acclaimed also wherever we go. Doubtless, with such a personality, he has done the same in his previous ships, but none have been so important as this one where he has set before Cadets an ideal of mature leadership and has represented in his person, as well to the Crowned Heads of Scandinavia as to the peoples of the many places we visit, what they imagine a sea-captain to be.
It is inevitable that he should go on to other things, but he will certainly leave behind great traditions that now spring to mind whenever “the Devonshire “ is on people’s lips.
He came to us with a distinguished record of seamanship and an experience of training which ranged from Term Officer at Dartmouth to Training Commander at R.N.B., Portsmouth.
The elements of both backgrounds have been so well blended that, with a tongue that loves the ‘mot-juste’ as well as delighting in what he calls “the gutter wit,” he has been able to make clear to the Cadets the many factors in any situation. Coupled with that is a vast knowledge of Naval history and the tactics of warfare from which he draws many an illuminating parallel with great facility ; a knowledge of contemporary personalities and of events with which he keeps abreast through his favourite The Economist and other journals a memory that can be as disconcerting as it is phenomenal ; and a fund of stories that make many of his guests, who have laughed so much at the telling, seek him out again to hear the story itself afterwards.
With all that goes a great belief in sport not least in its bearing on the development of character; and his knowledge and estimate of Cadets has often been supplemented by the many games which he has unfailingly watched, if not played in himself. It has been a man with the widest experience of human nature and with a great feeling for the imponderables of life who has been in charge of their immediate destinies.
To the Ship’s Company he has been a Captain who has taken them into his confidence as much by the friendly and informative talks he has given each cruise, as by the trust and responsibility for the success of things which he has put in the Chief, Petty Officers and Presidents of Messes.
It has been known throughout the Ship that his interpretation of discipline was founded on justice, and the response to it has been shown in the noticeable decline in the number of offenders. No one could have taken more pains over individual cases of welfare or in trying to ensure that the general needs of Ships’ Company were being catered for ashore and afloat.
He has been very much father of the happy family which his Wardroom has become. The “cuddy” has always been open to our personal problems and many an Officer has availed himself of the shrewd and charitable advice that his experience gives.
Most generous in his hospitality, too, he has passed on to all of us a few of the secrets of his warm-hearted entertaining. “ Jimmy,” said his first girl friend when he was standing about being rather dumb, “your first duty when you go to a party is to see that the party goes.” And that surely has been the example and the tone which he has given to the vast amount of the social life in which we have inevitably been involved.
Even the most shy of his Officers has found little difficulty in entering into the spirit of things and turning what might have been rather formal occasions into most happy parties.
And how many of us have coveted that crowning gift of his of being able to make the speech of the evening when called upon and if not the speech, the song?
The Ship has profited greatly from the presence of Mrs. Cronyn too in all parts of the world that we have visited. Entertaining soldiers in the desert when she gets to Fayid ought to be a simple matter by comparison with some of the arduous duties she has undertaken with us.
And as the Captain knows the Middle East so well, being one of the first Naval members of the Royal Central Asian Society, the difficulties of settling down in a new place will be as good as halved.
We very much hope that they will both have a most enjoyable commission there and we feel sure that they must know that they take with them our grateful thanks for all that they have meant in the life of the Ship our best wishes for their health and happiness and our hope that in due time we shall see his flag, well earned and rightly flying.
1950..Captain G. H Stokes. C.B., D.S.C Captain G. H. Stokes, C.B.. D.S.C., had a great war-time destroyer record,
familiar to readers of Kenneth Edwards’“Seven Sailors.” As a Commander, in command of the “Sikh” he won the C.B. for a spirited action off Cape Don in 1941, when, in a matter of sixteen minutes, he destroyed two Italian cruisers, a torpedo boat and an “E” boat. He later commanded the “Sikh” in the “Bismark” action under Admiral Sir Philip Vian and won the D.S.C.
He then became Captain of the “Glory” and went to “Devonshire” after being Chief Staff Officer to the Flag Officer,
Flying Training.
Latest: an update Jan 2012 from Jeremy Grindle:
Alongside the mention of Captain Stokes (1950) you have a thumbnail photo, which I guess that someone thinks is of Stokes. I am sorry to tell you that it is of me as a Cadet, showing my newly awarded King’s Sword to my father, who was then commanding INDEFATIGABLE nearby in Devonport, and whom Captain Stokes had invited to watch the ceremony! Sorry to blow a trumpet!
The Photo was in the Western Morning News I think.
1951-1952 Captain R.G. Onslow DSO. RN
(Onslow, Sir Richard George (1904-1975) Knight, Admiral)
August 1942. HMS Ashanti as Captain (D) 6th DF; Commander R.G.Onslow
Convoy “Pedestal “- The Malta Convoy of (Force X)
Jan 1942 Home Fleet 6th Destroyer Flotilla – ASHANTI (Cdr R G Onslow),
1944 Capt.(D) 4th Destroyer Squandron Far East.
Service biography :
Joined RN 1918; World War I 1918; service in destroyers 1926-1945; Staff College 1935; Plans Div, Admiralty 1939; World War II 1939-1945; HMS ASHANTI 1941; Capt, HMS OSPREY 1943; Capt (D), 4 Destroyer Flotilla in HMS QUILLIAM 1944; Imperial Defence College 1946; Senior Naval Officer, Northern Ireland 1947; Director of Tactical Div, Naval Staff 1948; HMS DEVONSHIRE 1951; Naval Secretary to First Lord of the Admiralty 1952-1954; Flag Officer (Flotillas), Home Fleet 1955-1956; Flag Officer commanding Reserve Fleet 1956-1957; Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth 1958-1960; retired 1962
Please note that Capt/Admiral Onslow received 4 DSO’s. Could this be a record!
1952-53 Captain W Crawford DSC. RN
Vice-Admiral Sir William Crawford, KBE, CB, DSC, died 16 June, 2003,
at Broadwindsor House, Beaminster. He was 95.
William Godfrey Crawford was born 14 September, 1907, son of Henry
Edward Venner Crawford, JP, of Wyld Court, Hawkchurch, Axminster,
Devon, and Mrs M.E. Crawford, and was educated at the Royal Naval
College Dartmouth.
Career: Lieutenant, Royal Navy 1929; specialised in gunnery 1932;
Lieutenant-Commander 1937; Gunnery Officer, HMS Rodney 1940-42;
Commander, December 1941; SO to second in command, Eastern Fleet,
1942-44; Executive Officer, HMS Venerable 1944-46; Captain 1947; in
Command of HMS Pelican & 2nd Frigate Flotilla, Mediterranean, 1948-49;
Deputy-Director, RN Staff College, 1950-52; in Command of HMS
Devonshire, 1952-53; in Command of RN College Dartmouth, 1953-56;
Rear-Admiral 1956; Imperial Defence College, 1956-58; Flag Officer,
Sea Training 1958-60; Vice-Admiral 1959; Commander British Navy Staff
and Naval Attache Washington, 1960-62; retired list 1963; Director,
Overseas Office, BTA, 1964-72.
Vice-Admiral Crawford, of Whitchurch Canonicorum, Dorset, was awarded
the DSC in 1941; CB in 1958; and KBE in 1961.
He married in 1939, Mary Felicity Rosa, (b. 1911), daughter of Sir
Philip Williams, 2nd Baronet, (1884-1958), by his wife Margaret,
daughter of Sir Cuthbert Peek, 2nd Baronet, by whom he had three sons,
Ted, Alec and James, and a daughter, Prue.
Lady Crawford died in 1995.
The Eighth “Devonshire” Commissioned in 1962.
Commanding Officers: 1962-1978
1962-1964..Captain P N Howes DSC RN
(12/09/83)
Rear Admiral PETER HOWES who has died at his home- in Heytesbury, Wiltsthite, aged 67, won the DSC during a 35 year Naval career. From 1968 to 1972 he was Private Secretary to the Lord Mayor of London.
He entered the Navy at. Dartmouth in 1930, and served as a junior officer in ships of every kind. In 1941 he was awarded the DSC for service with the 6th Motor Gunboat Flotilla. The following year, he became a communications specialist and was on the senior officer’s staff during the Dieeppe raid.
In 1947 he was senior Aide de Camp to lord Mountbatten as Viceroy of India- and from 1955 to 1958 was Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord.
Captain Howes was Captain of the Dartmouth training squadron in about 1958/9 possibly in H.M.S Vigilant.
He was Commander of the Navy’s first guided missile destroyer HMS Devonshire, 5,200 tons, when she commissioned in 1963. he was made CB in 1966.
1964-1966..Captain D Williams RN
1966-1967…Captain Leslie.OBE. RN George Cunningham Leslie (1920-1988), Rear Admiral) Service biography;
Joined RN 1938; World War II service in HMS YORK, HMS HARVESTER, HMS VOLUNTEER AND HMS CASSANDRA 1939-1945;commanding
HMS WRANGLER 1950-1951; commanding HMS WILTON 1951; commanding HMS SURPRISE 1954-1955; Capt, Fishery Protection Sqn 1960-1962;
Cdre, HMS DRAKE 1964-1965; commanding HMS DEVONSHIRE 1966-1967; Flag Officer, Admiralty Interview Board 1967-1968;
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Headquarters, Brussels 1968-1970; retired 1970; Domestic Bursar and Fellow
of St Edmund Hall, Oxford 1970-1988.
1966/67 Captain R K.Emden RN
1971…. Captain Sefton Sanford. RN (His mother is believed to be Lady Trent who lived on the Island of Jersey!)
SANDFORD, Rear-Admiral. Sefton Ronald, CB 1976; b 23 July 1925;
son of Col H. R. Sandford and Mrs Faye Sandford (née’ Renouf)
Married 1st, 1950, Mary Ann Prins (d 1972); one son; 2nd, 1972, at Simonstown, South Africa, Jennifer Rachel Newell; two daughters.
Educ: St Aubyns, Rottingdean, 1934—38
Royal Naval College., Dartmouth, 1939—42.
Served War: went to sea,July 1942; Commanded HMMTB 2017, Lieut, 1946—47;
ADC to Comdr British Forces, Hong Kong (Lt-Gen.Sir Terence Airey), 1952—53; Commanded HMS Teazer (rank Comdr), 1958;
Staff of Imperial Defence College., 1963—65;
Command HMS Protector, Captain 1965—67;
Naval Attaché, Moscow, 1968—70;
Command HMS Devonshire, 1971—73;
ADC to the Queen, 1974;
Flag Officer, Gibraltar, 1974—76.
A Younger Brother of Trinity House, 1968.
Recreations: cricket, sailing, fishing, photography.
Clubs: Marylebone Cricket (MCC); Royal Yacht Squadron (Cowes).
1974 – 1976 Captain Skinner. RN
Photo shows Capt Skinner handing over command to Capt Buchanan
1976 – 1978 Capt Buchanan. RN
Devonshire was decommissioned under defence cuts in 1978. Laid up in Portsmouth harbour for six years, the ship was sunk by the submarine, HMS Splendid as a target on 17 July 1984 in the North Atlantic, whilst testing the Mark 24-Mod-2 Tigerfish.
I have a old newspaper dated december 18 1967 when HMS DEVONSHIRE visited SIMONSTOWN South Africa, we where there till 27/12/1967. There is a picture of Adam Faithfull , Gillespie, Peter Leader & another shipmate cant remember name and myself ,Terry Ricketts and it has a write up of the commanding officer . CAPTAIN R.K.N.EMDEN calling on the Mayor of Simonstown for a cocktail party on board HMS DEVONSHIRE. So just conferming Captain Emden was our captain 1966/1968