Vice-Admiral John Hughes-Hallett
CB DSO (1 December 1901 – 5 April 1972) was a British naval commander and politician. He was the Naval Commander during the
Dieppe Raid
Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was an Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, supported by a regiment o ...
of 1942.
Early life and career
Hughes-Hallett was born in December 1901, to a distinguished armed services family. His father was Colonel Wyndham Hughes-Hallett, his mother Clementina Mary Loch (25 Mar 1869 – 8 Dec 1948). They were relatively old at 56 and 31 years old, respectively, at the time of his birth.
Educated at
Bedford School
:''Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Girls' School, Bedford High School, Bedford Modern School, Old Bedford School in Bedford, Texas or Bedford Academy in Bedford, Nova Scotia.''
Bedford School is a public school (English indep ...
, Hughes-Hallett had a distinguished career 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 ...
, beginning as a
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...
on
HMS ''Lion'', May 1918. He was promoted to staff rank and during the
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 ...
served in a variety of roles. During the
Norwegian campaign of 1940 he saw active service on
HMS ''Devonshire'' and was
mentioned in despatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
.
Later naval career
In 1940 to 1941 Hughes-Hallett played a key role in cross-
Channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
raids. He assisted in planning raids under
Mountbatten
The Mountbatten family is a British dynasty that originated as an English branch of the German princely Battenberg family. The name was adopted on 14 July 1917, three days before the British royal family changed its name to “Windsor”, by ...
and was the Naval Commander during the misconceived
Dieppe Raid
Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was an Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, supported by a regiment o ...
of 1942. Although the raid itself was not successful and cost many lives, it did lead to new strategies for cross-Channel operations. The actual proposer of the idea of the
Mulberry Harbour is disputed, but it is believed by some to have been Hughes-Hallett. At a meeting following the Dieppe raid, he declared that if a port could not be captured, then one should be taken across the Channel. Although this was met with derision at the time, the concept of Mulberry Harbours began to take shape when Hughes-Hallett moved to be Naval Chief of Staff to the
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...
planners.
Hughes-Hallett became
Commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore, a ...
commanding the Channel Assault Force and Naval Chief of Staff (X) from 1942 to 1943. Of the five Assault Forces, Hughes-Hallett's Force "J" started its training with a decided advantage over the other four; its nucleus having been formed as far back as October 1942, with headquarters at
Cowes
Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...
. On 1 May 1943, Commodore Hughes-Hallett succeeded Rear Admiral
Philip Vian
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Philip Louis Vian, & Two Bars (15 July 1894 – 27 May 1968) was a Royal Navy officer who served in both World Wars.
Vian specialised in naval gunnery from the end of World War I, and subsequently received sever ...
as the head of the Naval Branch at Supreme Allied Command. He served as Captain of
HMS ''Jamaica'' from December 1943. After the war, he was in command of
HMS ''Vernon'', (1946-8). Vernon in Portsmouth was the navy's Torpedo training centre and he had to cope with the problems arising from the recent creation of the Electrical branch. Until this a ship's electrics had been looked after by torpedomen but they had become so complex a new separate branch was deemed necessary. He then commanded HMS Illustrious'(1948–1949) and after that was Vice-Controller of the Navy in Bath, 1950–1952, and then Flag Officer, Heavy Squadron,
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 ...
, 1952–3. A strict disciplinarian, he was sometimes known as 'Hughes-Hitler'.
Political career
Hughes-Hallett retired from the Royal Navy in 1954 as Vice-Admiral on his adoption as a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
ary candidate. A problem arose when he enquired of the Secretary of the Admiralty what pension he could expect, at that time MPs got no pension, and the Secretary erroneously gave him a figure that was far too high. When he discovered this he threatened legal proceedings and as he was now an MP this was very embarrassing to the Government; it was discussed at Cabinet level on at least two occasions. (Cabinet Minutes in National Archives).
First elected in September 1954, he served as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Croydon East, later
Croydon North East, until the 1964 election, defeating
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
's
Walter Wolfgang
Walter Jakob Wolfgang (23 June 1923 – 28 May 2019) was a German-born British socialist and peace activist. Up to the time of his death, he was Vice-President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Vice Chair oLabour CND a caucus of CND m ...
at the
1959 general election. He was a British Representative at the
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
between 1958 and 1960 and Parliamentary Secretary to the
Ministry of Transport
A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government age ...
for Shipping and Shipbuilding, 1961 to 1964. In the 1958–59 parliament, he successfully piloted his private members bill through parliament, although only tenth in the ballot. It became the Road Traffic (Driving of Motor Cycles) Act. He was very popular among the Young Conservatives and always interested in their activities.
Later years
In the late 1960s he suffered a serious stroke which hampered further activities. In his last years he lived in Slindon, near
Arundel
Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England.
The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...
, Sussex, England and died in 1972. He never married. His brother, Sir (Cecil)
Charles Hughes-Hallett was a Rear Admiral. He had drafted memoirs, but they have not as yet been published.
Film portrayals
Captain Hughes-Hallett was a major character in the Canadian
CBC miniseries ''Dieppe'', in which he was played by actor
Robert Joy
Robert Joy (born August 17, 1951) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as medical examiner Sid Hammerback on the police procedural series ''CSI: NY'', and his appearances in the films ''Atlantic City'' (1980), ''Ragtime'' (1981), ' ...
.
Homage
Around 1990, a street in
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,[France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...]
) was named after Commodore Hughes-Hallett,
[Caen map, La Poste, 1993.] linking ''avenue Amiral Mountbatten'' to ''avenue Maréchal Montgomery'' and ''rue
Colonel Rémy
Gilbert Renault (August 6, 1904 – July 29, 1984), known by the nom de guerre Colonel Rémy, was a notable French secret agent active in World War II, and was known under various pseudonyms such as ''Raymond'', ''Jean-Luc'', ''Morin'', ''Watteau' ...
'', in a district close to the
''Mémorial pour la Paix'' museum, where a majority of streets commemorate personalities linked with the
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 ...
, the
Résistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
, and the subsequent making of the
European Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
. Unfortunately, the surname is misspelt: ''rue Commodore J.H. Hallet''.
Notes
External links
*
The Papers of Vice-Admiral John Hughes-Hallettheld at
Churchill Archives Centre
The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers of ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes-Hallett, John
1901 births
1972 deaths
Royal Navy vice admirals
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Politics of the London Borough of Croydon
UK MPs 1951–1955
UK MPs 1955–1959
UK MPs 1959–1964
People educated at Bedford School
Royal Navy officers of World War II
Companions of the Order of the Bath
Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964