Years of service 1904 – 1941 Rank Vice admiral Service/branch Royal Navy | Died July 4, 1941 Name Norman Wodehouse Allegiance United Kingdom | |
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Born 18 May 1887
Basford, Nottinghamshire, England ( 1887-05-18 ) | ||
Vice Admiral Norman Atherton Wodehouse (18 May 1887 – 4 July 1941) was a Royal Navy officer killed in the second World War. He had gained 14 caps for England at rugby union, including six as captain between 1910 and 1913.
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Naval history
Wodehouse joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman in the Atlantic Fleet in 1904. During World War I, Wodehouse served in the battleship HMS Revenge at the Battle of Jutland, as a gunnery officer. Although several other members of his team were killed in the battle, Wodehouse survived, and went on to secure the position of aide-de-camp to King George VI and as a result was presented with the Companion of the Order of the Bath. He commanded Royal Naval College, Dartmouth from 1931 to 1934.
Wodehouse was recalled to active service in May 1939 and became Rear Admiral, Gibraltar, a post he held until November 1939, shortly after the beginning of the Second World War, when he became a Convoy Commodore. He was killed when the merchant vessel Robert L. Holt was sunk by U-69 on 4 July 1941, after he had ordered the South Africa bound convoy he was commanding to scatter due to the attacks by German submarines.
Family
He married Mrs Theodosia Frances Swire, née Boyle (1890–1966), daughter of Commander Edward Boyle and Theodosia Ogilvie, and widow of Captain Douglas William Swire (d. 1920), on 22 October 1923.
By his wife Theodosia, he had two sons: