Reginald Tyrwhitt

Sir Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, 1st Baronet
Portrait of Tyrwhitt, by Francis Dodd
Born	(1870-05-10)10 May 1870 Ketelby, Oxfordshire
Died	30 May 1951(1951-05-30) (aged 81)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1883–1945
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands	Captain (D), 2nd Flotilla of Torpedo Boat Destroyers (Dec 1913); Destroyer Flotillas of First Fleet (1914); Senior Naval Officer, Gibraltar (1919); 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron (1920-1922); Coast of Scotland (1923-1925); China Station (Nov 1926-Feb 1929); The Nore (May 1930-May 1933)
Battles/wars	World War I Battle of Heligoland Bight Cuxhaven Raid Battle of Dogger Bank (1915)
Awards	GCB (1929) KCB (1917) CB (1914) DSO (1916) Officer of Military Order of Savoy (1917) Order of the Sacred Treasure 1st Class (Japanese); Commander, Legion of Honour (France, 1916); Croix de Guerre; Hon. DCL Oxon (1919); Freeman of Oxford and of Ipswich (1919)

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, 1st Baronet, GCB, DSO (10 May 1870 – 30 May 1951) was a senior officer of the Royal Navy in World War I who commanded light forces stationed at Harwich on the east coast of England during the first part of the war.

Naval career

Tyrwhitt entered the Navy as a cadet in July, 1885. By 1912 he was a Captain in command of the Second Flotilla of Torpedo Boat Destroyers. He was advanced in 1913 to the command of all destroyer flotillas of the Home Fleet, with the rank of Commodore, flying his flag from the light cruiser, HMS Amethyst.

The forces Tyrwhitt commanded were called the Harwich Force during World War I. His leadership was highly regarded, and he led his ships at the Battle of Heligoland Bight and in the Cuxhaven Raid in 1914, and in the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915. During the Battle of Jutland in 1916, the Admiralty held back Tyrwhitt's forces in case of a German attack on the coast.

After the War he commanded the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean Fleet and then became Commander-in-Chief, Coast of Scotland in 1923. From 1926 to 1928, Tyrwhitt was Commander-in-Chief on the China Station during a period of disturbances and tension with the Nationalist Government, and became the senior British officer in the region. In the aftermath of the Invergordon Mutiny, Tyrwhitt was instrumental in preventing Vice-Admiral Frederic C. Dreyer, the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, from taking command of the Atlantic Fleet and ending any hopes Dreyer had of becoming First Sea Lord. From 1930 to 1933, he served as Commander-in-Chief, The Nore. When he hauled down his flag for the last time in 1933 he was the last British flag officer of World War I to do so.

Tyrwhitt was created a Baronet, of Terschelling and of Oxford, in 1919, and in 1934 he was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet. He retired in 1939.

Mount Tyrwhitt (9,430 ft) in the Canadian Rocky Mountains was named after the admiral in 1918. It is situated at latitude 50°34'55" north in the province of Alberta near the headwaters of the Bow River and the Kootenay River.

Bibliography

• Temple Patterson, Alfred (1973). Tyrwhitt of the Harwich Force: The Life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt. London: Macdonald and Jane's. ISBN 0-356-04530-7.

External links

• {{DP-xlink|http://dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Reginald_Yorke_Tyrwhitt,_First_Baronet}