Admiral Sir Hugh Dudley Richards Watson (20 April 1872 – 22 May 1954) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

officer who became

Naval Secretary The Naval Secretary is the Royal Navy officer who advises the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff on naval officer appointing (and General Officers). Their counterpart in the British Army is the Military Secretary. The Royal Air Force equiv ...

Naval career

Watson joined the

in 1885. From 6 May 1902 he served as 1st

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on the

armoured cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast e ...

HMS ''Sutlej'', soon to be commissioned for service on the

China station The Commander-in-Chief, China was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 18 ...

. He was promoted to the rank of

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain ...

on 1 January 1903, and later appointed Commander of the School of Physical Training before becoming Naval

Attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

in 1910Senior Royal Navy Appointments
. (PDF). gulabin.com. Retrieved 2012-06-05. and then serving in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as Captain of the cruiser HMS ''Essex'' from 1914, the battleship HMS ''Bellerophon'' from 1915 and the battleship

HMS Canada Four ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Canada'', after the former British colony and modern Dominion of Canada: * was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line launched in 1765. She became a prison ship in 1810, and was sold broken up in 1 ...

from 1918. He played one

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

match for the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influenc ...

in 1908. After the War he served with the Allied Post War

Control Commission {{Unreferenced, date=November 2019 A control commission is an independent regulatory body. Control commissions are most often found in regulated industries and political organisations. They typically have full authority to operate within the regu ...

and then became

in 1921 before becoming Commander of the 4th Battle Squadron (renumbered the

3rd Battle Squadron The 3rd Battle Squadron was a Squadron (naval), naval squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships and other vessels, active from at least 1914 to 1945. The 3rd Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. ...

in November 1924) and Second-in-Command of the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...

in August 1923. His last appointment was as Admiral commanding the

Reserve Fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; ...

in 1926 before he retired in 1928.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Hugh 1872 births 1954 deaths Royal Navy admirals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers British naval attachés Royal Navy officers of World War I Military personnel from Lincolnshire