Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

Sir Hugo Lewis Pearson, KCB (30 June 1843 – 12 June 1912) was a

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 ...

officer who served as both

Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station The Australia Station was the British, and later Australian, naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent. Australia Station was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station, whose rank varied over t ...

and

Commander-in-Chief, The Nore The Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Nore Station or Nore Command. Nore, The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of t ...

Naval career

Hugo Lewis Pearson joined the

in 1855.Obituary: Admiral Sir H L Pearson
Evening Post, 14 June 2010 In his early career, he was promoted to Lieutenant on 14 September 1863 and only 3 weeks later, On 20 October, Captain Henry Boys reported on Pearson's "active conduct in a fire breaking out out in the Pelorus." In February, 1865 Pearson destroyed piratical junks in Jungwa Bay. Pearson was promoted to Commander with seniority of 6 February 1872, and was promoted to the rank of Captain with seniority of 9 December 1879. He was Captain of the

first-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a first rate was the designation for the largest ships of the line. Originating in the Jacobean era with the designation of Ships Royal capable of carrying at least ...

HMS ''St Vincent'', the

Royal yacht A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head. The royal yacht is most often c ...

''Osborne'' and the

second-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

, HMS ''Colossus''. He went on to command the shore establishment HMS ''Excellent'' and, later, the

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s HMS ''Collingwood'' and HMS ''Barfleur''. Between 1892 and 1895 he was Aide-de-Camp to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, and was the Rear Admiral of the Reserve Fleet during the Jubilee Review in 1897. In 1898 he became Commander in Chief, Australia Station and served as such for two years until late 1900, when he returned to the United Kingdom and bought Rocklands House in Goodrich,

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

. On 19 March 1901, he was promoted to

vice-admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

and in 1903 he became

, a post he held until 1907. He retired on 30 June 1908.

Personal life

A member of a notable

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

family with a long tradition of service in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...

, Pearson was the grandson of John Pearson (1771-1841), who was a barrister and senior

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

official who served as

Advocate-General of Bengal The Advocate-General of Bengal was charged with advising the Government of the British administered Bengal Presidency on legal matters. The Presidency existed from 1765 to 1947. Prior to 1858, when it was administered by the East India Company, t ...

from 1824 to 1840. His father General Thomas Hooke Pearson CB (1806-1892) served as an ADC to the

Earl Amherst Earl Amherst (), of Arracan in the East Indies, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 December 1826, for William Amherst, 2nd Baron Amherst, the Governor-General of India. He was made Viscount Holmesdale, in ...

, then Governor-General of India. In 1874 he married Emily Frances Mary Key (1848-1930) who was the second daughter of General George William Key. The couple had two sons and a daughter that survived into adulthood (two other children died in infancy). Their eldest son, Lieutenant Reginald William Pearson, was killed in 1900 in the

Siege of Ladysmith The siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal. Boer invasion of Natal Outbreak of war The Second Boer War began on 11 October 1899 wh ...

during the

Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

and his parents erected a memorial window in Goodrich Church in his honour which can still be seen today. His younger son was

Vice-Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

John Lewis Pearson CMG (1879-1965). Hugo Pearson died on 12 June 1912, aged 69. He left estate of the gross value of £51,971, with net

personalty Personal property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—any property that can be m ...

of £43,888. His surviving son John inherited Rocklands House. Of note, Hugo Pearson's grandson (John Pearson's son) was

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Sir Thomas Cecil Hook Pearson, (1 July 1914 – 15 December 2019), a senior officer of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

who served as Commander-in-Chief of

Allied Forces Northern Europe Allied Forces Northern Europe (AFNORTH) was the northern Major Subordinate command (military formation), Command of NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Allied Command Europe (ACE), located at Kolsås outside Oslo. In the case of war ...

, thus making him the fourth generation of the Pearson family to achieve Flag or General rank.

Arms

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, Hugo 1843 births 1912 deaths Royal Navy admirals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People from Barwell