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 regarded ...

Peter Douglas Herbert Raymond Pelly, CB, DSO, RN (24 September 1904 – 13 February 1980) was a senior Royal Navy officer.

Early life and family

Peter Douglas Herbert Raymond Pelly was born on 24 September 1904, the second son of ''Rev''. Douglas Raymond Pelly (1865–1943), DSO, and his wife Verena Noellie, ''née'' Herbert; the elder son was Air Marshal Sir

Claude Pelly Air Chief Marshal Sir Claude Bernard Raymond Pelly, (19 August 1902 – 12 August 1972) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the middle of the 20th century. RAF career Claude Pelly started his Air Force career at the RAF Colleg ...

."Pelly, Rear-Adm. Peter Douglas Herbert Raymond"
''Who Was Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007). Retrieved 9 April 2018.''Burke's Peerage'', vol. 3 (2003), p. 3085. A graduate of

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

, Rev. Douglas Pelly fought in the Matabele War and 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 ...

; he was the son of Rev. Canon Raymond Percy Pelly (died 1911), the vicar of

Great Malvern Great Malvern is an area of the spa town of Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the eastern flanks of the Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill, and is ...

(1896–1910), himself the grandson of

Sir John Pelly, 1st Baronet Sir John Henry Pelly, 1st Baronet, Deputy Lieutenant, DL (31 March 1777 – 13 August 1852) was an English people, English businessman. During most of his career, he was an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), serving as Hudson's Bay Com ...

.''Burke's Peerage'', vol. 3 (2003), pp. 3084-3085.

Career

Commissioned into 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 ...

in 1918, Peter Pelly served on HMY ''Victoria and Albert'' in 1939, but 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 ...

commanded HMS ''Windsor'' in 1940 when it was engaged in evacuating from Northern European ports. He was appointed an Officer of the

Order of Orange Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

for the role he played in this work,"Rear-Admiral P. D. H. R. Pelly", ''The Times'' (London), 16 February 1980, p. 14. and was promoted to the rank of

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

in the navy in the same year. He was then attached to the 15th Cruiser Squadron off

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

and

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and received the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

(in 1942). From 1943 to 1945, he was with the Plans 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, Tr ...

and worked with the

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

and

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crimea ...

Conferences. In the last months of the war, Pelly commanded HMS ''Ameer'' off Malaya. In 1945 Pelly took command of HMS ''Raleigh''; two years later, he returned to the Admiralty with the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, and served there until his appointment in 1950 to the Reserve Fleet at

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

. He was appointed Chief Staff Officer at

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

in 1952, and then Director of the Operations Division at the Admiralty in 1954. Promotion to

followed two years later, coinciding with his appointment as Admiral Superintendent of

Rosyth Dockyard Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation in the 1990s it was fo ...

. Pelly was then Director-General of the Department of Dockyards and Maintenance at the Admiralty from 1958 to 1959, before retiring in 1960. Appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

in 1958, Pelly died on 13 February 1980, leaving a widow, Gwenllian Violet (''née'' Edwardes), and three daughters: Sara Ann (born 1937; married Peter Low and had two sons), Richenda (born 1939; married Major Douglas Alexander Nigel Capel Miers and had one son and three daughters), and Clare Margaret (born 1942; married Timothy Lawrence Ireland and had two sons and two daughters).

Likenesses

"Peter Douglas Herbert Raymond Pelly"
by

Elliott & Fry Elliott & Fry was a Victorian era, Victorian photography studio founded in 1863 by Joseph John Elliott (14 October 1835 – 30 March 1903) and Clarence Edmund Fry (1840 – 12 April 1897). For a century, the firm's core business was taking and pu ...

(bromide print, 1958); Photographs Collection at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

(NPG x91008).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelly, Peter Douglas Herbert Raymond 1904 births 1980 deaths Royal Navy officers Companions of the Order of the Bath

Early life and family

Career

Archives

Likenesses

References