Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Sir Henry Daniel Pridham-Wippell, (12 August 1885 – 2 April 1952) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer 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 ...

Early life

Educated at The Limes, Greenwich, and at

Royal Naval College, Dartmouth Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

, Henry Daniel Pridham-Wippell joined the

in 1900. By coincidence he had several friends growing up who were

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, and he was always strongly opposed to

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> He served in the

First World War 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 ...

in ships of the

Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from the ...

. He took charge of the destroyers at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

in 1915 and served on the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

and

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

coasts from 1916. Pridham-Wippell was made Captain of in 1928 and Commander of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla of the

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

in 1932. He followed the news of the early Zionist movement, and he spoke "warmly and ethusiastically" about the idea of Jewish people finally having a country of their own where they would not be "subject to persecution." He stated "there are more of the Jewish people in the eastern half of Europe today than there are Irish in Ireland or Greeks in Greece, and they are treated in a most unjust manner in most of these places." Pridham-Wippell believed it made sense that they should have "a place of their own" and he was in favor of the aims of Zionist movement to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in what he called "the Holy Land." According to friends he was "deeply disturbed" when he read about the 1936 Tulkarm shooting and then he was again somewhat shaken by the subsequent news of the Jaffa riots later that year. Shortly after this he learned that a childhood friend of his who was a soldier in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

was wounded in the Battle of Anabta. Pridham-Wippell received updates of these events in a "blow-by-blow" fashion, getting one update of events every few weeks, and the news of those three events appeared to "grip him." He reacted in shock at news of the 1929 Hebron massacre, and reading about it appeared to his friends to deeply traumatize him. In 1932, he found in the middle of a

crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

when he led a squadron of destroyers into the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...

(modern Gdańsk, Poland) and was faced with the choice whatever to acknowledge or not the Polish destroyer ORP ''Wicher'' which had entered Danzig harbour without the permission of the Senate of Danzig. After seeking the advice of the British consul in Danzig, Pridham-Wippell exchanged visits with Lieutenant Commander Tadeusz Morgenstern-Podjazd of the ''Wicher'' on 15 June 1932. Pridham-Wippell went on to be Director of the Operations Division at the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

in 1933 and Commander of the Home Fleet Destroyer Flotillas in 1936. He went on to be Director of Personal Services at the Admiralty in 1938.

Second world war

Memorial to Henry Daniel Pridham-Wippell in Exeter Cathedral

Pridham-Wippell served in the

as Commander of the 1st Battle Squadron in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

from July 1940. He was the highest ranking British officer and Allied officer at the Battle of the Strait of Otranto in 1940 and he was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed for his part in the

Battle of Cape Matapan The Battle of Cape Matapan ( el, Ναυμαχία του Ταινάρου) was a naval battle during the Second World War between the Allies, represented by the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy, from 27 t ...

in the Mediterranean in March 1941, he was also a survivor of the sinking of the battleship in November 1941. He went on to be

Commander-in-Chief, Dover The Commander in Chief, Dover was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Dover Command. History First World War Dover Patrol In late July 1914, with ...

, in 1942.

Post-war career

After the war, Pridham-Wippell was appointed

Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth The Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. Plymouth Command was a name given to the units, establishments, and staff operating under the admiral's command. Between 1845 and 1896, this offic ...

. He retired in 1948. In December of 1949 he travelled to

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

where he lived for roughly two years. He mostly lived on a ranch just outside of Kitui in what has since become Kitui County, while also spending a lot of time with friends near

Lake Baringo Lake Baringo is, after Lake Turkana, the most northern of the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes, with a surface area of and an elevation of . The lake is fed by several rivers: the Molo, Perkerra and Ol Arabel. It has no obvious outlet; the waters ar ...

. Pridham-Wippell returned to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in January of 1952, staying in

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...

for two months, before returning home to

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in March. Pridham-Wippell died of old age on 2 April 1952.PWU Admiral Sir Henry Pridham-Wippell papers.

References

Sources

External links

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pridham-Wippell, Sir Henry Daniel Royal Navy officers of World War I Royal Navy admirals of World War II People from Bromley 1885 births 1952 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Recipients of the War Cross (Greece) Military personnel from Kent Royal Navy admirals