Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Julian Robertson Oswald (11 August 1933 – 19 July 2011) was a senior

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 ...

officer. After training as a gunnery specialist, Oswald commanded a frigate and then a destroyer before achieving higher command in the navy. He served as

First Sea Lord The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS) is the military head of the Royal Navy and Naval Service of the United Kingdom. The First Sea Lord is usually the highest ranking and most senior admiral to serve in the British Armed Fo ...

and Chief of Naval Staff in the early 1990s. In that capacity he advised the British Government on the reduction in the size of the fleet under the

Options for Change Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War. Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces, ...

restructuring programme and on the deployment of Naval Support for the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

in 1991: he also made the decision that members of the

Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the ...

should be allowed to serve in Royal Navy ships.

Naval career

Oswald was born to Captain George Hamilton Oswald, RN and his wife Margaret Elliott Oswald (née Robertson). The Oswalds were a landed gentry family of Cavens, Dumfries and Auchincruive (now named "Oswald Hall"), South Ayrshire,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, descending from merchant

George Oswald George Oswald of Scotstoun (1735–1819) was a Scottish merchant of Glasgow. In 1797 he was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow. Life He was the son of the Rev. James Oswald (1703–1793), and nephew of the merchant Richard Oswald (170 ...

Rector of the University of Glasgow The (Lord) Rector of the University of Glasgow is one of the most senior posts within the institution, elected every three years by students. The theoretical role of the rector is to represent students to the senior management of the university ...

from 1797 to 1799, Oswald was educated at

Beaudesert Park School Box is a small village in Gloucestershire, England. It is in the civil parish of Minchinhampton, and is located south of Stroud and west of Cirencester. Minchinhampton is about away and Nailsworth is about away. Box has a population of a ...

and 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 ci ...

.'' Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010, He joined the

as a cadet on 1 May 1947.Heathcote, p. 203 During his early career he served in the cruiser HMS ''Devonshire'' and was commissioned as a midshipman on 1 January 1952. He then served in the battleship HMS ''Vanguard'' and then the frigate HMS ''Verulam''. Promoted to sub-lieutenant on 1 May 1953, he was posted to the aircraft carrier in February 1955. Promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on 1 June 1955, he subsequently served in the cruiser HMS ''Newfoundland'' and then the

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

. After qualifying in gunnery Oswald joined the aircraft carrier in 1960. He was given command of the minesweeper in April 1962 and was promoted to

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

on 1 June 1963. After attending the Royal Navy Staff College in 1964, he was posted to the shore establishment HMS ''Excellent'' at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

as Air Weapons Officer in 1965.Heathcote, p. 204 HMS ''Excellent'' maintains the gun carriage used for state funerals, and Oswald was the Funeral Gun Carriage Officer for the Funeral of

Sir Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

on 30 January 1965. He was posted to the frigate HMS ''Naiad'' in September 1966 and promoted to commander on 31 December 1968 on his appointment to the Directorate of Naval Plans at the Ministry of Defence. Oswald was given command of the frigate HMS ''Bacchante'' in January 1971 and then joined the staff of the Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff at the Ministry of Defence in 1972. Promoted to captain on 31 December 1973, he attended the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest lev ...

in 1976 before being given command of the destroyer HMS ''Newcastle'' in January 1977 and joining the Royal Navy Presentation Team in 1979. He went on to be Captain of the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in June 1980. He was appointed Aide-de-Camp to

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

on 7 July 1982 and was promoted to rear admiral on 2 September 1982 on his appointment as Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Programmes). Oswald became Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Policy and Nuclear) in January 1985 and went on to become Flag Officer, Third Flotilla and Commander, Anti-Submarine Warfare Striking Fleet in October 1985. Promoted to vice-admiral on 3 January 1986, he was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as o ...

in the 1987

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

. He was promoted to full admiral on 29 May 1987, on appointment as

Commander-in-Chief Fleet The Commander-in-Chief Fleet (CINCFLEET) was the admiral responsible for the operations of the ships, submarines and aircraft of the British Royal Navy from 1971 until April 2012. The post was subordinate to the First Sea Lord, the professional he ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Commander-in-Chief, Channel and Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic. Advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1989

, Oswald became

and Chief of the Naval Staff in May 1989. In that capacity he advised the British Government on the reduction in the size of the fleet under the

restructuring programme and on the deployment of Naval Support for the

in 1991: he also made the decision that members of the

should be allowed to serve in Royal Navy ships. He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on his retirement in March 1993.

Later career

In retirement Oswald became Chairman of Aerosystems International and of

Sema Group Sema Group plc was an Anglo-French IT services company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was acquired by Schlumberger in 2001. History The Company was founded in 1988 by the merger of th ...

plc, an Information Technology business, until the latter was acquired in 2001. He was also President of the Sea Cadet Association, Vice-President of the

Royal United Services Institute The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI, Rusi), registered as Royal United Service Institute for Defence and Security Studies and formerly the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, is a British defence and security think tank. ...

and a Trustee of the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

. His interests included walking, stamp-collecting, family and fishing. He died at his home at Shedfield in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

on 19 July 2011.

Family

In 1958 he married Veronica ('Roni') Thompson; they had two sons and three daughters. His nephew is the playwright

Peter Oswald Peter Charles Patrick Oswald (born 1965) is an English playwright specialising in verse drama, resident at Shakespeare's Globe from 1998 to 2009. Early life Oswald was born the second of four children (eldest of three sons) of farmer and sto ...

.Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, p. 1987

References

Sources

External links

Imperial War Museum Interview
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Oswald, Julian 1933 births 2011 deaths Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies Scottish military personnel Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College Graduates of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich First Sea Lords and Chiefs of the Naval Staff Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath People educated at Beaudesert Park School People from the Scottish Borders Royal Navy admirals of the fleet