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 Oswald Nigel Amherst Cecil,

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 ...

, CB (11 November 1925 – 10 March 2017) was a British naval officer.

Early life

Oswald Nigel Amherst Cecil was born 11 November 1925,Burke's Peerage & Gentry
/ref> to Commander Hon. Henry Mitford Amherst Cecil (1893–1963) and Hon. Yvonne Cornwallis (1896–1983). Cecil is a paternal grandson of Lord William Cecil (1854–1943) and the 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney (1857–1919) and a maternal grandson of the 1st Baron Cornwallis (1864–1935). He was educated at

Ludgrove School Ludgrove School is an English independent school, independent boys' Preparatory school (UK), preparatory boarding school. Ludgrove was founded in 1892 at Ludgrove Hall in Middlesex by the Old Etonian sportsman Arthur Dunn. Dunn had been employed ...

and the

Royal Naval College, Dartmouth 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 * Royal, ...

Naval career

In 1959, he reached the rank of

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 ...

. From 1961–63, Cecil commanded HMS ''Corunna'' 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 ...

and then HMS ''Royal Arthur'' from 1963–65. In 1966, he was promoted to the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. Cecil returned to Dartmouth to command a training squadron from 1969–71. In 1968 he was made an Esquire (Esq.St.J. the lowest grade) in the

Venerable Order of Saint John The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (), commonly known as the Order of St John, and also known as St John International, is an order of chivalry constituted in 1888 by royal charter from Queen Victoria and dedica ...

. Cecil received the acting rank of

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (India), in India ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ' ...

in 1971 and was sent to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

as a

Naval attaché A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

until 1973. He was then a director of the Naval Operational Requirements from 1973–75. On 7 January 1975, he was appointed a Naval aide-de-camp to The Queen. He left this position on being promoted to

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 ...

on 7 July 1975. He then became the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Commander of the South East Mediterranean and Flag Officer, Malta. In the

1978 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1978 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, to celebrate the year passed and mark the begin ...

, he was made a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregi ...

(CB). Cecil left the island with the last of the British Forces in 1979 on 31st March on what is called

Freedom day Freedom Day may refer to any of the following days: National and international * National Religious Freedom Day on 16 January in the United States, to commemorate the adoption of Thomas Jefferson's landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedo ...

aboard the HMS London was the last ship to leave Malta when the Maltese government closed the base and on, 16 June 1979, was made a

Knight 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 ...

(KBE). He retired from the navy on 15 September 1979. On 9 September 1980, Cecil became

Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man The lieutenant governor of the Isle of Man ( or ''lhiass-chiannoort vannin'') is the Lord of Mann's official personal representative in the Isle of Man. He has the power to grant royal assent and is styled "His Excellency". No Manx-born perso ...

, a post he held for five years. Also in 1980, he was promoted to Knight of the Order of Saint John (K.St.J.).

Personal life

On 6 April 1961, he married Annette Barclay (born 1934), daughter of Major Robert Edward

Barclay of Mathers Clan Barclay () is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands. History Origins of the clan Since the eighteenth century, Barclay historians, noted for their low level in medieval scholarship, have assumed the Scottish family Barclay (de Berc ...

and Urie (1906–1959) and Nesta Anne Bury-Barry (1909–2004). Together they had: *Robert Barclay Amherst Cecil (born 1965), who married Laurie A. Kohan Cecil, who lived with his wife of over fifty-five years, on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

, died on 10 March 2017, at the age of 91.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cecil, Sir Nigel 1925 births 2017 deaths People educated at Ludgrove School Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College Royal Navy rear admirals Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Esquires of the Order of St John Lieutenant governors of the Isle of Man Nigel Cecil