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 ...

Peter Douglas Herbert Raymond Pelly, CB, DSO, RN (24 September 1904 – 13 February 1980) was a senior Royal Navy officer.

Early life and family

Peter Douglas Herbert Raymond Pelly was born on 24 September 1904, the second son of ''Rev''. Douglas Raymond Pelly (1865–1943), DSO, and his wife Verena Noellie, ''née'' Herbert; the elder son was Air Marshal Sir Claude Pelly."Pelly, Rear-Adm. Peter Douglas Herbert Raymond"
''Who Was Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007). Retrieved 9 April 2018.''Burke's Peerage'', vol. 3 (2003), p. 3085. A graduate of

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

, Rev. Douglas Pelly fought in the Matabele War and the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

; he was the son of Rev. Canon Raymond Percy Pelly (died 1911), the vicar of

Great Malvern Great Malvern is an area of the civil parish of Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, in the Malvern Hills District, Malvern Hills district, in the county of Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of O ...

(1896–1910), himself the grandson of

Sir John Pelly, 1st Baronet Sir John Henry Pelly, 1st Baronet, DL (31 March 1777 – 13 August 1852) was an English businessman. During most of his career, he was an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), serving as Governor of the HBC for three decades. He held ...

.''Burke's Peerage'', vol. 3 (2003), pp. 3084-3085.

Career

Commissioned into 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 ...

in 1918, Peter Pelly served on HMY ''Victoria and Albert'' in 1939, but during 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 ...

commanded HMS ''Windsor'' in 1940 when it was engaged in evacuating from Northern European ports. He was appointed an Officer of the

Order of Orange Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

for the role he played in this work,"Rear-Admiral P. D. H. R. Pelly", ''The Times'' (London), 16 February 1980, p. 14. and was promoted to 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 ...

in the navy in the same year. He was then attached to the 15th Cruiser Squadron off

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

and

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and received the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

(in 1942). From 1943 to 1945, he was with the Plans Division at the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

and worked with the

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

and

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...

Conferences. In the last months of the war, Pelly commanded HMS ''Ameer'' off Malaya. In 1945 Pelly took command of HMS ''Raleigh''; two years later, he returned to the Admiralty with 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 ...

, and served there until his appointment in 1950 to the Reserve Fleet at

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

. He was appointed Chief Staff Officer at

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

in 1952, and then Director of the Operations Division at the Admiralty in 1954. Promotion to

followed two years later, coinciding with his appointment as Admiral Superintendent of

Rosyth Dockyard Rosyth Dockyard is a large Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation i ...

. Pelly was then Director-General of the Department of Dockyards and Maintenance at the Admiralty from 1958 to 1959, before retiring in 1960. Appointed 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 ...

in 1958, Pelly died on 13 February 1980, leaving a widow, Gwenllian Violet (''née'' Edwardes), and three daughters: Sara Ann (born 1937; married Peter Low and had two sons), Richenda (born 1939; married Major Douglas Alexander Nigel Capel Miers and had one son and three daughters), and Clare Margaret (born 1942; married Timothy Lawrence Ireland and had two sons and two daughters).

Likenesses

"Peter Douglas Herbert Raymond Pelly"
by

Elliott & Fry Elliott & Fry was a Victorian era, Victorian photography studio founded in 1863 by Joseph John Elliott and Clarence Edmund Fry. For a century, the firm's core business was taking and publishing photographs of the Victorian public and social, arti ...

(bromide print, 1958); Photographs Collection at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

(NPG x91008).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelly, Peter Douglas Herbert Raymond 1904 births 1980 deaths Royal Navy rear admirals Companions of the Order of the Bath

Early life and family

Career

Archives

Likenesses

References