Geoffrey Congreve
Sir Geoffrey Cecil Congreve (1897–1941)[1] was a British naval officer and landowner. He is known as the commander of a trawler force that took part in the 1940 Namsos campaign. He was killed in 1941 in Operation Chess], a commando raid on France.
Life
He was the second son of General Sir Walter Congreve VC and his wife Cecilia Henrietta Dolores La Touche, daughter of Cecil D'Urban La Touche of the Bombay Army;[2] Billy Congreve (1891–1916) VC MC DSO was his elder brother.[3]
Congreve was educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, from 1911, and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.[4][5] In 1915 he was a midshipman on HMS Benbow, and served in the Grand Fleet through World War I.[4][6] During the period 1919 to 1923 when his father was GOC, Troops in Egypt and Palestine, he was in 1921–2 his aide-de-camp.[4][7]
Walter Congreve died in 1927 as Governor of Malta. The baronetcy intended for him was given that year to Geoffrey, his eldest surviving son.[7] Geoffrey Congreve retired from the Navy in 1928.[4]
In 1940, after returning from the campaign, Congreve became an amphibious operations trainer on the west coast of Scotland at Dorlin and Mallaig.[8]
Notes
- ^ "Life story: Geoffrey Cecil Congreve, Lives of the First World War". livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk.
- ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1929). Armorial Families. Vol. I (7th ed.). London: Hurst & Blackett. p. 416.
- ^ "Life story: Celia Congreve, Lives of the First World War". livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk.
- ^ a b c d "Congreve, Comdr Sir Geoffrey". Who's Who. A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Miller, Luke (1 January 2022). A Life-Long Springtime: The Life and Teaching of Fr George Congreve SSJE. Sacristy Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-78959-198-9.
- ^ Country Life. Country Life, Limited. 1915. p. 646.
- ^ a b Beckett, Ian F. W. "Congreve, Sir Walter Norris (1862–1927)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32528. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Fraser, Simon (31 December 2022). March Past: The Memoir of a Commando Leader, From Lofoten to Dieppe and D-Day. Frontline Books. pp. 252 and note page 255. ISBN 978-1-3990-6860-4.