Commander Joseph Arthur Hamilton Beresford (11 August 1861 – 28 December 1952) 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 ...

. Born in

Laugharne Laugharne ( cy, Talacharn) is a town on the south coast of Carmarthenshire, Wales, lying on the estuary of the River Tâf. The ancient borough of Laugharne Township ( cy, Treflan Lacharn) with its Corporation and Charter is a unique survival ...

, Wales, Beresford came to Australia in 1900 on loan from the British

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 ...

. During the early stages of the First World War he commanded the naval brigade attached to the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) which captured

German New Guinea German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...

in September 1914. He was later mentioned in despatches. His only son, Arthur, was killed during the war serving with the 26th Battalion. Beresford later settled in Sydney where he lived until the death of his wife in 1951. He died at the age of 91 in Hobart, Tasmania. He was survived by a grandson and a granddaughter.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beresford, Joseph Arthur Hamilton 1861 births 1952 deaths Australian military personnel of World War I People from Laugharne Royal Australian Navy officers Royal Navy officers Welsh emigrants to Australia