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 ...
Roy Alexander George Clare, (born 30 September 1950)
is a non-executive Director/Trustee in the 'third sector', including appointments as: inaugural Chair of the
Chelmsford Cultural Development Trust; as a member of the Board of Trustees of
Good Things Foundation, the UK's leading digital inclusion charity; and
The Heritage Alliance, a significant advocacy body for England's heritage.
Formerly a Flag Officer in the Royal Navy, he has more than twenty years' experience as a museum director and in leadership and governance of cultural bodies.
In April 2011 he was appointed director of the
Auckland War Memorial Museum
The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Aucklan ...
in New Zealand, replacing interim director
Sir Don McKinnon.
His contract was twice extended by the Museum's Trust Board, but he and his wife returned to the UK at the end of 2016 to be nearer family. His successor as Director was
David Gaimster.
Early life and naval career
Clare was born in
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
...
, London, on 30 September 1950. He moved with his family from London to
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, South Africa, where he attended
St George's Grammar School.
Clare joined 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 ...
as a
seaman
Seaman may refer to:
* Sailor, a member of a marine watercraft's crew
* Seaman (rank), a military rank in some navies
* Seaman (name) (including a list of people with the name)
* ''Seaman'' (video game), a 1999 simulation video game for the Seg ...
at in 1966, aged 15, and rose to become a
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 ...
in 1999, serving in a NATO appointment before leaving the service voluntarily in 2000 to take up the role of Director 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 United ...
, Greenwich.
During his naval career he studied at the
Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...
, Dartmouth (passing out in 1972 as the winner of that year's Queen's Sword of Honour), the
Royal Naval Staff College, Greenwich, and 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 level ...
(1993). He was Military Assistant to the
Minister of State for the Armed Forces
The minister of state for the armed forces is a mid-level ministerial position at the Ministry of Defence in the Government of the United Kingdom.
When of Minister of State rank (until the appointment of James Heappey as a Parliamentary Under-S ...
(1989–91) and the Assistant Director of Navy Plans (Ships) (1993–96).
Clare served at sea in , , , , and . His commands included the
minehunter
A minehunter is a naval vessel that seeks, detects, and destroys individual naval mines. Minesweepers, on the other hand, clear mined areas as a whole, without prior detection of mines. A vessel that combines both of these roles is known as a ...
[Clare was the first lieutenant from 1975 to 1977 with the Prince of Wales as the captain, and then commanded ''Bronington'' from 1980 to 1981.] the
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s (1987–89) and (1991–92), and the
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
(1996–97).
He was
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 ...
of the Third Destroyer Squadron in 1991–92 and in 1998–99 was
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 ...
of the Britannia Royal Naval College, where he was responsible for preparing new entrant officers for their careers. While Commodore at the college he founde
the Britannia Museum opening the college to public visitors for the first time.
Clare was a trustee of the historic vessel HMS ''Bronington'' between 1989 and 1999, after she was decommissioned from the Royal Navy; he was vice-president of the Bronington Trust in 1999 until the Trust ceased to exist in 2002. He edited the book ''HMS Bronington: A Tribute to One of Britain's Last Wooden Walls And a Celebration of The Ton Class'', which was published in 1996.
Museums career
Clare was director 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 United ...
between 2000 and 2007,
during which time he oversaw a series of exhibitions, including ''Elizabeth'', ''Skin Deep'' and ''Nelson & Napoleon''. He instigated ''SeaBritain 2005'',
a partnership with
Visit Britain
VisitBritain is the name used by the British Tourist Authority, the tourist board of Great Britain incorporated under the Development of Tourism Act 1969.
Under memoranda of understanding with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and the offshore is ...
and sixty other organisations to commemorate the bicentenary of
Admiral Nelson
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...
's victory in the
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
.
Clare also led a major re-structuring of collections management, including the creation of a comprehensive inventory, improved conservation facilities and a partnership project with
Chatham Historic Dockyard
The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former royal/naval dockyard at Chatham in Kent, South East England.
Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres (1.6 km²) and was one of the Royal Navy's main faciliti ...
to display and store models of ships. He initiated the £16 million
Time and Space
In physics, spacetime is a mathematical model that combines the three dimensions of space and one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional manifold. Spacetime diagrams can be used to visualize relativistic effects, such as why differen ...
project to restore buildings at the Royal Observatory, create new galleries and education spaces, build a 120-seat planetarium – the
Peter Harrison Planetarium
The Peter Harrison Planetarium is a 120-seat digital laser planetarium, situated in Greenwich Park, London and is part of the National Maritime Museum. It opened on 25 May 2007.
The planetarium uses Digistar 3 software with blue, red and green ...
– and generally upgrade the visitor facilities.
The refurbished Royal Observatory was opened by
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
in May 2007.
During this time Clare was also Director of
Queens House, the
Caird Library and the
Royal Observatory, Greenwich
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in ...
. From 2001 to 2007 he was chairman of a leadership working-group established by the
National Museum Directors' Council. During that period he was a member of a maritime policy think-tank called the Greenwich Forum.
Between 2005 and 2007 he was a member of the board of
Creative and Cultural Skills (a
Sector Skills Council for museums) and between 2009 and 2011 he was a member of the board of the
Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency
The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) was a charity, and an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) of the Department for Education. In England and Northern Ireland, the QCDA maintained and developed the National Cu ...
.
From 2007 Clare was chief executive of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), of which he had been a board member during the previous year.
During his tenure as chief executive the MLA was substantially restructured to improve effectiveness and reduce operating costs. The slimmed-down organisation was subsequently merged within Arts Council England. During that period Clare was also chairman of
Living Places, a grouping of UK cultural agencies which aimed to foster the benefits of cultural and sporting opportunities in the community. The five agencies involved in the project were the
Arts Council England
Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...
, the
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for C ...
(CABE),
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and
Sport England
Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...
.
In April 2011 Clare was appointed director of the
Auckland War Memorial Museum
The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Aucklan ...
in New Zealand, replacing interim director Sir
Don McKinnon
Sir Donald Charles McKinnon (born 27 February 1939) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 12th deputy prime minister of New Zealand and the minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand. He was the secretary-general of the Commonwealth of ...
.
In this role, he was responsible for leading a fundamental review of the museum's strategic vision, culminating in the publication of
Future Museum in 2012. Since then, guided by the published vision, the museum has invested substantially in its collections, professional capacities and digital resources; detailed plans for further capital investment are being laid. In October 2015 the Trust Board of the museum reported double-digit growth in audiences and high levels of customer satisfaction.
In 2014 Clare was elected to the Board o
Museums Aotearoa(the association for New Zealand's museums); he was elected Chair of Museums Aotearoa in May 2015. He stepped down from the Board at the conclusion of a year as chair in May 2016. That month he announced that despite being urged to do so he had chosen not to accept the Trust Board's offer of a further extension to his contract as Director of Auckland War Memorial Museum. He and his wife returned to the UK at the end of December 2016, to rejoin their family who live in England.
During a sabbatical in 2017 Clare progressed a long-postponed maritime research project. He now has roles as a non-executive director/trustee in the 'third sector', social businesses, charities and not-for-profit organisations. He is a regular guest speaker on board ships of the
Noble Caledonia cruise line, where his subjects include maritime history, navigational practice, museum life and contemporary leadership.
Recognition
Clare was appointed a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in 2007 "for services to museums",
and in the same year he received an honorary doctorate from the
University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic.
The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along with it ...
.
In 2018 Clare was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant
Deputy Lieutenant of Essex. He was awarded the
Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal
The Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (french: link=no, Médaille du jubilé d'argent de la reine Elizabeth II) is a commemorative medal created in 1977 to mark the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession in 1952. The medal is p ...
in 1977 and also the General Service Medal in 1977 and in 1989. He was made a Freeman of the City of London in 2001, of the
Worshipful Company of Shipwrights
The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights is one of the ancient livery companies of the City of London. Although the Shipwrights' Company is no longer a shipbuilding trade association representing solely London-based industry, through its membershi ...
in 2002 and of the
Worshipful Company of Clockmakers
The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers was established under a royal charter granted by King Charles I in 1631. It ranks sixty-first among the livery companies of the City of London, and comes under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. The c ...
in 2004.
In 2001 he became a Companion of the
Chartered Management Institute
The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional institution for management based in the United Kingdom.
The major membership classes are ''Member'', ''Fellow'' - for those with significant expertise - and ''Companion'' - the most sen ...
; and he was a Fellow of the
Royal Institute of Navigation
The Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) is a learned society and a professional body for navigation. The RIN was founded in 1947 as a forum for mariners, pilots, engineers and academics to compare their experiences and exchange information. Toda ...
between 2005 and 2008.
Personal life
A keen yachtsman, Clare was
chief mate
A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the shi ...
of the Royal Navy yacht ''Adventure'' in the first
Whitbread Round the World Race
The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Rac ...
.
He and his wife Sarah
(an Anglican Priest) have a son and two daughters and two granddaughters. Their home is in Essex on the
Blackwater Estuary
The Blackwater Estuary is the estuary of the River Blackwater between Maldon and West Mersea in Essex. It is a 5,538 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). An area of 4,395 hectares is also designated a Ramsar Wetland o ...
where they keep a sailing boat. He is a naval member of the
Royal Yacht Squadron
The Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) is a British yacht club. Its clubhouse is Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. Member yachts are given the suffix RYS to their names, and are permitted (with the appropriate warrant) to we ...
.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clare, Roy
Living people
Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Deputy Lieutenants of Essex
Directors of the National Maritime Museum
Royal Navy rear admirals
1950 births
Directors of the Auckland War Memorial Museum
Military personnel from London
Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies
Graduates of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich