Sir Henry Oliver | |
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1917 portrait by Francis Dodd
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Born |
Kelso, Scotland |
22 January 1865
Died | 15 October 1965 London, England |
(aged 100)
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | Royal Navy |
Years of service | 1878–1933 |
Rank | Admiral of the Fleet |
Commands held |
HMS Mercury HMS Achilles HMS Thunderer 1st Battlecruiser Squadron 2nd Battle Squadron Home Fleet Reserve Fleet Atlantic Fleet |
Battles/wars |
Second Boer War First World War |
Awards |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Member of the Royal Victorian Order |
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Francis Oliver, GCB, KCMG, MVO (22 January 1865 – 15 October 1965) was a Royal Navy officer. After serving in the Second Boer War as a navigating officer in a cruiser on the Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station, he became the first commanding officer of the new navigation school HMS Mercury in the early years of the 20th century. He went to be commanding officer first of the armoured cruiser HMS Achilles and then of the new battleship HMS Thunderer before becoming Director of the Intelligence Division at the Admiralty.
During the First World War, Oliver was sent to Antwerp where, with Belgian support, he blew up the engine rooms of 38 stranded German merchant vessels. He became Naval Secretary to Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, and then Chief of the Admiralty War Staff before serving as Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and in that capacity was closely involved in directing the allied forces at the Battle of Jutland. He served as Commander of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron in the Grand Fleet in the last year of the War.