Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Sir Kenyon Harry Terrell Peard,

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

, RN (1 June 1902 – 14 April 1994) was a senior Royal Navy officer.

Career

Born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

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 ...

, on 1 June 1902,"Rear Adml Sir Kenyon Peard", ''The Daily Telegraph'', 9 May 1994, p. 23. Kenyon Harry Terrell Peard was the son of Henry T. Peard."Peard, Rear-Adm. Sir Kenyon (Harry Terrell)"
''Who Was Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007). Retrieved 5 April 2018. Peard studied at the Royal Naval Colleges Osborne and Dartmouth after joining 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 ...

as a

cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...

in 1916. He joined HMS ''Cumberland'' in 1919, before serving on HMS ''Clematis'' and HMS ''Royal Sovereign'' as a

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

from 1923 to 1929, the year he qualified in the Navy's Torpedo Branch, which was responsible for electrics. He then served aboard HMS ''Eagle'', HMS ''Vernon'' and HMS ''Hawkins'', before his appointment as Fleet Torpedo Officer to 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 1 ...

in 1935; three years later, 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 ...

and joined HMS ''Cleopatra''. Peard then joined the torpedo school HMS ''Defiance'' and then served aboard HMS ''Norfolk'' as the executive officer during the

Battle of North Cape The Battle of the North Cape was a Second World War naval battle that occurred on 26 December 1943, as part of the Arctic campaign. The , on an operation to attack Arctic convoys of war materiel from the western Allies to the Soviet Union, ...

in 1943. With the

Second World War 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 ...

over, Peard was transferred to the Navy's Electrical Branch on its formation in 1946 and served at the electrical training school HMS ''Collingwood'' for a year, before taking over the command of HMS ''Ariel'', the air electrical school. In 1949, he was appointed Deputy Director (Personnel) of the Naval Electrical Department, and four years later took command of HMS ''Collingwood''. In 1955, he was appointed to Rear-Admiral and became Director of the Naval Electrical Department, serving until his retirement in 1958. According to ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'', Peard "played a key role in the post-war revolution in electrical engineering", which included the introduction of electrically operated weaponry and electrified galleys. He had been appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1951 and was promoted to Knight Commander on his retirement in 1958. He died on 14 April 1994, leaving a widow Mercy Leila (''née'' Bone) and two children Robin and Gillian, and 4 grandchildren.

Likenesses

* Black and white photograph in "Rear Adml Sir Kenyon Peard", ''The Daily Telegraph'', 9 May 1994, p. 23.

References

External links

Royal Navy Officers 1939−1945
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peard, Kenyon 1902 births 1994 deaths Royal Navy rear admirals Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Military personnel from Surrey Royal Navy personnel of World War II People educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College People from Croydon