Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Harold Bruce Farncomb (28 February 1899 – 12 February 1971) was a senior officer in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

(RAN) who served in the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

s, and as a lawyer. He was the first Australian-born RAN officer to reach a flag rank in the RAN. The ''Collins'' class submarine is named in his honour.

Early life

Harold Farncomb was born in

North Sydney, New South Wales North Sydney is a suburb and major commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, Australia. North Sydney is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governme ...

on 28 February 1899, the second child of Frank Farncomb and Helen Louisa Farncomb, née Sampson. The family lived in

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

on the north shore of Sydney. He attended Gordon Public School and Sydney Boys' High School before entering the

Royal Australian Naval College The Royal Australian Naval College (RANC), commonly known as HMAS Creswell, is the naval academy of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). It consists of the RAN School of Survivability and Ship's Safety, Kalkara Flight, the Beecroft Weapons Range an ...

(RANC) at age 13 in the RANC's first intake. Farncomb excelled academically at the RANC, graduating with very impressive scores and topped his final year (1916).Alan Zammit
'Farncomb, Harold Bruce (1899–1971)'

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Volume 14,

Melbourne University Press Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne. History MUP was founded in 1922 as Melbourne University Press to sell text books and stationery to students, and soon began publishing books itself. ...

, 1996, pp. 139–141. On completing his studies at the RANC he was promoted to midshipman on 1 January 1917 and left immediately on the steamer ''Naldera'' for training with the Royal Navy. Farncomb was stationed on board the battleship in April 1917.

Naval career

Farncomb served on ''Royal Sovereign'' until shortly after the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. On leaving ''Royal Sovereign'' Farncomb was promoted to sub-lieutenant and sent to on Whale Island for course training. After completing training at Whale Island Farncomb was transferred to ''Woolsher'', a small craft attached to the destroyer force at the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

. He then received his first posting in Australia; stationed on board for a year as a gunnery officer, this posting was followed by a year on the staff of Commodore Percy Addison, Commodore Commanding the Australia Squadron (CCAS).David Stevens, ed. 1996. ''The Royal Australian Navy in World War II''. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. pp. 234–235 In May 1925, after a 10-month war staff course in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, he took a posting as a staff officer (operations) with the CCAS.

Naval career summary

Post-military life

Farncomb left the service in 1951 and learned Latin to enable him to study for the Barristers' Admission Board examinations. Admitted to the Bar on 6 June 1958, he developed a reasonably busy practice in Sydney and subsequently joined the solicitors, Alfred Rofe & Sons. A street in the town of Narooma is named in Farncomb's honour. Heart disease eventually led to his retirement.

Personal life

On 31 March 1927 at Trinity Congregational Church, Strathfield, Sydney, he married Jean Ross Nott; they were to remain childless. "Jean provided staunch support throughout the vicissitudes of her husband's career".

Retirement and death

Survived by his wife, Farncomb died of heart failure on 12 February 1971 in St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst, and was cremated with Anglican rites. His ashes were scattered at sea on 2 March from the flight deck of his last flagship, , off the coast of Western Australia.

References

External links

1956 portrait
of RAdm Farncomb by Harold Abbott {{DEFAULTSORT:Farncomb, Harold 1899 births 1971 deaths Australian military personnel of World War I Australian Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Australian Companions of the Order of the Bath Australian Members of the Royal Victorian Order Commanders of the Legion of Merit Graduates of the Royal Australian Naval College People from New South Wales Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States) Royal Australian Navy admirals Royal Australian Navy personnel of World War II