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 ...

John Richard Hill (25 March 1929 – 25 March 2017) was a rear-admiral in the

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 ...

, a former chief executive of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, author, and editor of many books on naval affairs.

Early life and education

Richard Hill was born the son of Stanley Hill and May Henshaw Hill: he entered the

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 cit ...

, in 1942 and became a sub-lieutenant in 1946.

Naval career

Richard Hill went to sea in 1946 and served mainly in destroyers and frigates, specializing in navigation up to the age of thirty-three. He served as a sub-lieutenant on the China Station from 1946 to 1947, before attending his sub-lieutenant's courses from 1947 to 1949. Promoted to lieutenant, he served in in 1950, in 1950 to 1952, from 1952 to 1954 and then served ashore as a Navigation Specialist at in 1954, before returning to sea in in 1954 to 1956, in 1956 to 1958, and in 1958 to 1959. As a lieutenant-commander, he served at Pembroke Dockyard in 1959 to 1960 and in HMS ''Duchess'' in 1960 to 1962. Following his promotion to commander, he served mainly in appointments in the Ministry of Defence between 1963 and 1969, attending the Imperial Defence College from 1965 to 1967. In 1969 to 1971, he served at HMS ''Dryad''. In 1972, he was appointed Defence Fellow of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, where he wrote a thesis on 'The Rule of Law at Sea.' On promotion to captain, he returned to the Ministry of Defence from 1973 to 1975, then he was posted abroad to

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, where he served as Defence and Naval Attaché at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

from 1975 to 1977. Promoted to commodore in 1977, he returned to the Ministry of Defence until promoted to rear-admiral in 1981; he served as Flag Officer, Admiralty Interview Board from 1981 to 1983.Debrett's People of Today 1994 He retired from the Royal Navy as a rear-admiral in 1983.

Later career

Following his retirement as a serving officer, Hill became under-treasurer, the chief executive, of the

, one of the Inns of Court, and held that post for ten years until his retirement in 1994, when he was made Hon. Bencher, 1994. He served as Secretary of the Council of Inns of Court, 1987–1993. He has served as editor of the Naval Review, 1983–2002 and as its reviews editor from 2002. He has been a member of Council, Greenwich Forum, from 1983, and served on the Board of War Studies,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, 1986–1994; member of Council,

Foundation for International Security Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

, from 1987; member of Council, 1993-1997,´and Vice President, 1997-2001, of the Navy Records Society; member of Council, 1993–1994, and Chairman, 1994–1999, of the Society for Nautical Research. Trustee, 1994–1999, and Vice President, 2002, of the

Royal Naval Museum The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, formerly known as the Royal Naval Museum, is a museum of the history of the Royal Navy located in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard section of HMNB Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The ...

, Portsmouth. In 2000, the

British Maritime Foundation British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

awarded Admiral Hill the

Mountbatten Maritime Prize The Mountbatten Maritime Award is awarded annually by the Maritime Foundation (formerly the British Maritime Charitable Foundation) to the author of a distinguished publication that has made a significant contribution to the maritime history of th ...

. He died on 25 March 2017, his 88th birthday.

Published works

Rear-Admiral Hill published articles in a number of professional journals, including '' Survival'', ''

Navy International A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

'', ''

Brassey's Annual Brassey's is variously the name of a publisher, an imprint, or a published series of volumes, all mostly associated with military topics, that was in existence in one form or another from 1886 to around 2005. Brassey's in Britain The heritage of t ...

'', '' NATO's 15 Nations'', '' Naval Review'', ''

Naval Forces A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It inc ...

''. He has contributed to the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', for which he wrote biographies of Sir

Harold Burrough Admiral Sir Harold Martin Burrough (4 July 1889 – 22 October 1977) was a senior Royal Navy officer and Assistant Chief of Naval Staff to the Royal Navy during World War II. Early career Born the tenth son of Rev. Charles Burrough and his wif ...

, Sir John Hayes, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Lewin,

Vonla McBride Sara Vonla Adair McBride, (20 January 1921 – 2 August 2003) was a senior British naval officer who served as Director of the Women's Royal Naval Service from 1976 to 1979. She was sent to advise Haile Selassie and later in life served as Chair ...

, Sir

Roderick Douglas Macdonald Vice Admiral Sir Roderick Douglas Macdonald KBE (25 February 1921 – 19 January 2001) was Chief of Staff of Naval Home Command. Naval career Educated at Fettes College, Macdonald joined the Royal Navy in 1939.Ian McIntosh Ian McIntosh is a Zimbabwean rugby union coach. He served as head coach for the Springboks during 1993 and 1994. McIntosh grew up near Bulawayo. McIntosh never played for his country as a player but became acquainted with coaching in the 1970s ...

, and Sir Bernard Rawlings.
''French strategy and its political bases''
(1966)
''The Royal Navy, today and tomorrow''
(1983)
''Anti-submarine warfare''
(1984)
''Air defence at sea''
(1984)
''British sea power in the 1980s''
(1985)
''Maritime strategy for medium powers''
(1986)
''Arms control at sea''
(1989)
''The Oxford illustrated history of the Royal Navy''
general editor, J. R. Hill; consultant editor, Bryan Ranft (1995) * ''The prizes of war : the naval prize system in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, 1793-1815'' (1998) * ''Maritime operations in peace : drug interdiction, disaster relief, suppression of piracy'', Stephen Jermy, John Lippiett, Richard Hill. (1998). * ''War at sea in the ironclad age'' (2000) * ''Lewin of Greenwich: the authorised biography of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Lewin'' (2000) * ''Maritime Britain'' (2005) * ''A Light on the Shore'' (2009)

References

Rear-Admiral John Richard Hill
on the Google Books Library Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, J. Richard 1929 births 2017 deaths Royal Navy rear admirals English naval historians Academics of King's College London Members of the Middle Temple People associated with the University of London British naval historians