Frederick Parham

Sir Frederick Parham
Born	9 January 1901 Bath, Somerset, England
Died	20 March 1991(1991-03-20) (aged 90)[1] Chichester, West Sussex, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1913–1959
Rank	Admiral
Commands	HMS Shikari HMS Gurkha HMS Belfast HMS Vanguard Nore Command
Battles / wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order

Admiral Sir Frederick Robertson Parham, GBE, KCB, DSO[2] (9 January 1901 – 20 March 1991) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.

Naval career

Educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth,[3] Parham joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1913.[4] He served in World War I as a midshipman on HMS Malaya.[4] In 1937 he was given command of HMS Shikari.[4]

He saw active service in the Second World War as Captain of the destroyer HMS Gurkha, which was sunk by enemy action in 1940.[5] From 1942 he had command of the cruiser HMS Belfast which remains permanently moored as a museum ship in London.[4]

After the War Parham commanded the battleship HMS Vanguard and then, in 1949 became Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel.[4] He was made Flag Officer (Flotillas) and Second in Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1951 and Fourth Sea Lord and Chief of Supplies and Transport in 1954.[4] Finally he was made Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, in 1955.[4] He retired in 1959.[4]

In retirement Parham chaired a Parliamentary Committee on Inland Waterways.[6]

Family

In 1926, he married Kathleen Dobrée; they had one son.[3] Following the death of his first wife, he married Joan Charig Saunders in 1978.[3]

References

1. Andrews, Deborah (1992). Annual Obituary, 1991. St. James Press. p. 161. ISBN 9781558621756.
2. "Cidadãos Estrangeiros Agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas". Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
3. The Papers of Admiral Sir Frederick Parham
4. "Sir Frederick Parham". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
5. Vian, Sir Philip (1960). Action This Day. London: Frederick Muller. p. 37.
6. Inland Waterways Archived 14 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Hansard, 4 December 1959

External links

• Imperial War Museum Interview

Military offices
Preceded by Sir Sydney Raw	Fourth Sea Lord 1954–1955	Succeeded by Sir Dymock Watson
Preceded by Sir Geoffrey Oliver	Commander-in-Chief, The Nore 1955–1958	Succeeded by Sir Robin Durnford-Slater