Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

Alwyn Thomas Lavender Covey-Crump (19 February 1907 – 19 May 1991) was a British officer of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. An assistant to the Chief of Naval Information, he was responsible in the mid-1950s for compiling a record of Jack-speak (naval

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

) and other historical marine linguistic details. The first edition appeared on 17 May 1955. The compilation, now continually updated, has led to the term ''Covey-Crump'' itself entering into Royal Navy slang. Covey-Crump served in various ships between 1927 and 1945, including HMS ''Vindictive'', HMS ''Enterprise'', HMS ''Duncan'', HMS ''Faulkner'', HMS ''Boscawen'', HMS ''Ceylon'' and HMS ''Liverpool''. He was the second son of Reverend Canon

Walter William Covey-Crump Canon Walter William Covey-Crump (1865–1949) was an Anglicanism, Anglican priest, serving as curate and vicar in the diocese of Ely, Cambridgeshire for over fifty years. He also held "high positions" as a Freemason, involving himself in Mason ...

, and was married with one son.

Background

Covey-Crump was born on 19 February 1907 in

Stopsley Stopsley is a suburb in the north-east of Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The area is roughly bounded by the edge of Luton to the north, Vauxhall Way and Turners Road North to the south, Bradgers Hill to the west, and Cannon Lane, Stapleford Road ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

. He was the second son of Reverend

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

; his mother was Hilda Sophia (). His parents married on 11 June 1903 at Haddenham, when his father was by then using the name Covey as a given name. The family was using the

double-barrelled name A double-barrelled name is a type of compound surname, typically featuring two words (occasionally more), often joined by a hyphen. Notable people with double-barrelled names include Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Beyonc ...

, Covey-Crump, by 1911. Covey-Crump had two brothers: musician Lewis Charles Leslie, and Leo William Rolf, who served in the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He attended

King's Ely King's Ely The School's Terms and Conditions and the Companies House registration would suggest that the School's legal name remains "The King's School, Ely" is an All-through school, all through Public school (United Kingdom), public school ...

. In 1938, Covey-Crump married Joyce Blackstone at St James, Picadilly, London. the daughter of T. W. Blackstone, former Deputy Inspector General of Police and

Police Commissioner A police commissioner is the head of a police department, responsible for overseeing its operations and ensuring the effective enforcement of laws and maintenance of public order. They develop and implement policies, manage budgets, and coordinate ...

Southern India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

. The 1939 England and Wales Register finds him at Flat 5, Nirvana Mansions, Portsmouth. (Note: this document confirms Covey-Crump's birth date. The 1957

Electoral Register An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, voters list, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is ...

finds Covey-Crump and his wife Joyce living at 19 Trenham Drive, Warlingham,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. They had one son. He died aged 84 on 19 May 1991 at St Albans, and was buried on 24 May.

Naval service

Inter-war years

On 1 September 1925, aged 18, Covey-Crump was appointed acting paymaster sub-lieutenant or

paymaster A paymaster is someone appointed by a group of buyers, sellers, investors or lenders to receive, hold, and dispense funds, commissions, fees, salaries (remuneration) or other trade, loan, or sales proceeds within the private sector or public secto ...

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

. In December 1927 he passed his accountant officers' examination, class 2, while serving on HMS '' Vindictive''. On 1 June 1929 he was promoted to paymaster lieutenant. In 1931 he was deployed to HMS ''

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

''. From 14 September 1934 he was deployed to HMS '' Vernon'', a shore establishment in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. He was appointed to HMS '' Duncan'' from 10 September 1935. From 28 September 1936 he was deployed as secretary to Captain Victor Danckwerts of HMS ''

Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in for Lafayette County where he s ...

'',

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

of the

6th Destroyer Flotilla The British 6th Destroyer Flotilla, or Sixth Destroyer Flotilla, was a military formation of the Royal Navy from 1911 to 1939 and again from 1947 to 1951 History The flotilla was formed in 1911 at Portsmouth, with its first commander, Captain Mor ...

. From 1 June 1937 he was paymaster lieutenant-commander. On 16 August 1938 he was sent to HMS ''Victory'' shore establishment for an accountant officers' technical course. On 2 January 1939 he was again deployed to HMS ''Victory'' for Tactical School.

Second World War

On 11 August 1939, Covey-Crump was appointed to the shore establishment '' HMS Boscawen''. In that year, he was assistant to the Chief of Naval Information. He was promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

on 1 June 1943. In 1944, he was serving on the cruiser HMS ''

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

''.

After the war

In 1946, Covey-Crump was serving at HMS ''

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

'' shore training establishment, finishing in January 1948. In February 1948, he was appointed to HMS '' St Vincent'', a shore training establishment. He was appointed to HMS ''

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

'' from 15 March 1948 until at least August 1950. On 22 January 1950, while Covey-Crump was serving in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

under Vice Admiral

Louis Mountbatten Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was a British statesman, Royal Navy of ...

on HMS ''

'',

King Farouk Farouk I (; ''Fārūq al-Awwal''; 11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965) was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936 and reigning until his ...

visited the ship, and was presented with a special matchbox when lighting his cigar. "From the ship's ''Father Christmas'' one of the officers, Commander A. T. L. Covey-Crump, had received the present of six boxes of matches. The specially-printed label bears the legend ''Commander Covey's Crumptious Matches'' beneath a horseshoe". Farouk was a collector and belonged to the British Matchbox Labels Society (BMLS); the gift was described as a "great rarity". The president of the BMLS also owned one of the six labels. In 1955, Covey-Crump's compilation of Jack-speak was published within the Navy. He was appointed registrar at the Royal Naval Barracks, Devonport the same year.

Compilation of naval terms

''Alphabetical Glossary of Naval Terms and Abbreviations'' (1955)

Covey-Crump privately published, within the Royal Navy, his first-edition typescript of ''Alphabetical Glossary of Naval Terms and Abbreviations'' on 17 May 1955. It contains "a collection of Naval slang, abbreviations, legends and historical tit-bits", and a list of Naval nicknames. The

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

website has an online transcription of it, commenting that it "provides a valuable resource for researchers looking for answers to many historical questions about the Royal Navy". The historical reenactment company HMS Richmond suggests that the collection of Jack-speak in this compilation is centred on the period around 1775. It is "mainly aimed at those with a background in the senior service", and was "the first official collection of naval slang". The compilation itself became known in the Royal Navy as ''Covey-Crump'' and the phrase thus entered the list of naval slang. One example from the compilation is: "Blazer: The name for this coloured coat comes from HMS ''Blazer'', whose Captain (Captain J. W. Washington) in 1845 had his boat's crew dressed in blue and white-striped jackets. This was, of course, before the days of authorised uniform for Naval ratings".

Reviews

* "So richly endowed is our language with the

patois ''Patois'' (, same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or sl ...

of the sea that it is surprising that so few glossaries of nautical terms and their origins have found their way into print. One excellent example that never got that far is the one compiled by Cdr. A. T. L. Covey-Crump for the Chief of Naval Information in the 1950s – ''Navy News'' still has its own well-thumbed copy of the type-script". t has an"idiosyncratic appeal".

Updated and modern versions of the ''Alphabetical Glossary''

Jackspeak continues to evolve: Covey-Crump's 1955 edition marks a moment in time, and there was an updated edition in 1967. Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly, who as a surgeon commander with the Commando Logistic Regiment commanded the field hospital at Ajax Bay during the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

produced his own dictionary of "Jackspeak" in aid of the South Atlantic Medal Association, in 2000.

Collections

Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...

Notes

References

External links

RN Life – Navy Slang
–

website (archived on

The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Covey-Crump, A. T. L. People from Bedfordshire Royal Navy officers of World War II Royal Navy traditions Military slang and jargon Military humor Nautical slang 1907 births 1991 deaths Military personnel from Bedfordshire People educated at King's Ely