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 ...

Sir Richard Pike Pim,

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 ...

, VRD, DL,

RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two Volunteer Reserves (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve (United Kingdom), ...

(10 July 1900 – 26 June 1987) was a British civil servant and naval officer. He was the Inspector-General of the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the ...

from August 1945 to January 1961. During

World War II 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 ...

he served as supervisor of the Defence Map Room,

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...

and head of the Upper War Room,

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 ...

. Pim was born in 1900, the younger son of late Cecil Pim. He was in the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve 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 * Roya ...

during

World War I 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 ...

in Europe. In 1921 he joined the

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...

before being appointed to Civil Service,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

becoming the Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs of Northern Ireland in 1935. In 1938 he was transferred to the staff of

Prime Minister of Northern Ireland The prime minister of Northern Ireland was the head of the Government of Northern Ireland (1921–1972), Government of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920; however, the L ...

. With the outbreak of World War II, he was mobilized a captain in the RNVR on 9 September 1939 into the Naval Staff, Operations Division at the

. There he was in charge of the War Room of the newly appointed

First Lord of the Admiralty First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

, and later headed the Map Room at 10 Downing Street, when Churchill became prime minister. Pim remained at Downing Street during the course of the war except for a brief stint on the Staff Allied Naval Commander, Algiers. Pim attended many overseas trips to set up temporary map rooms for the meetings with Roosevelt and later Stalin. On Churchill's departure from Downing Street in 1945, Pim was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in the

prime minister's resignation honours The Prime Minister's Resignation Honours in the United Kingdom are honours granted at the behest of an outgoing prime minister following their resignation. In such a list, a prime minister may ask the monarch to bestow peerages, or lesser honours ...

.The London Gazette
/ref> Returning to Northern Ireland, he was appointed Inspector General, Royal Ulster Constabulary a post he held until his retirement in 1961. In 1960 he was made a Knight Commander of Order of the British Empire. He served as

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's National Governor for Northern Ireland from 1962 to 1967 and was a Member of Council, Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts, 1965–69; Member,

Ulster Transport Authority The Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) ran rail and bus transport in Northern Ireland that operated from 1948 until 1967. Formation and consolidation The UTA was formed by the , which merged the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board (NIRTB) ...

, 1962–64. He was made Deputy Lieutenant of

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

in 1957. He married Marjorie Young in 1925, they had two sons. Lady Pim died in 1986 and Sir Richard the following year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pim, Richard 1987 deaths 1900 births Royal Navy captains Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Deputy lieutenants of Belfast Inspectors-General of the Royal Ulster Constabulary BBC governors Knights Bachelor Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire