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 rega ...

Iain Robert Henderson, (born 1 April 1948) is a retired 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 Fr ...

officer.

Early life and education

Henderson was born on 1 April 1948. He was educated at

Epsom College Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a boys' school to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orp ...

, then an all-boys

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British En ...

. He entered 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 ...

in 1965.

Naval career

Henderson joined the

and trained as a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

and fast jet pilot, including a secondment to the RAF where he flew McDonnell Douglas Phantom interceptors out of

RAF Leuchars Royal Air Force Leuchars or RAF Leuchars was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located in Leuchars, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. Throughout the Cold War and beyond, the station was home to fighter aircraft which policed northern UK airspa ...

. He became second-in-command of the frigate and saw action during the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial ...

. He went on to be commanding officer of the frigate , the frigate and the frigate . In HMS ''London'' he saw action during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. He went on to command RNAS ''Yeovilton'' and

HMNB Portsmouth His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is lo ...

. Henderson became

Flag Officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countries ...

, Naval Air Command in 1998 before retiring in 2001.

Later life

After his retirement from the navy, Henderson joined the third sector. From 2001 to 2007, he served as

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Sue Ryder Care Sue Ryder is a British palliative, neurological and bereavement support charity based in the United Kingdom. Formed as The Sue Ryder Foundation in 1953 by World War II Special Operations Executive volunteer Sue Ryder, the organisation provides c ...

, a British

social care Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wor ...

charity. From 2002 to 2006, he was

Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod The Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod is the Gentleman Usher to the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, established 14 January 1726. The Brunswick Herald, an officer of arms of the Order of the Bath, was annexed with the position at the time it ...

. His final duty as Gentlemen Usher of the Scarlet Rod occurred in May 2006, during that year's Installation of Knights. In June 2006, he was appointed Registrar and Secretary 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) a ...

. In 2006, Henderson was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of

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 ...

. He has served as

Vice Lord-Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

of Hampshire since 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Iain Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Deputy Lieutenants of Hampshire Gentlemen Ushers Living people Royal Navy rear admirals Royal Navy personnel of the Falklands War Royal Navy personnel of the Gulf War 1948 births People educated at Epsom College Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College