Charles Iain Hamilton

Last updated

Charles Iain Hamilton is a naval historian at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Contents

Early life

Hamilton took a BA at Keele University and a PhD at Queens' College, Cambridge in 1974 with a thesis on “The Royal Navy, Seapower, and the Screwship of the Line, 1845-1860”. [1]

Academic career

He joined the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 1982 as a lecturer in history and was promoted to associate professor. His particular research interests are in the British and French navies of the nineteenth century, naval administration, and the links between signals intelligence and naval operations during the Second World War. [2]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Admiralty (United Kingdom)</span> British Government ministry responsible for the Royal Navy until 1964

The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of its history, from the early 18th century until its abolition, the role of the Lord High Admiral was almost invariably put "in commission" and exercised by the Lords Commissioner of the Admiralty, who sat on the governing Board of Admiralty, rather than by a single person. The Admiralty was replaced by the Admiralty Board in 1964, as part of the reforms that created the Ministry of Defence and its Navy Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Ministry</span> Department of the Government of the United Kingdom (1918–1964)

The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State for Air.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Childers</span> Australian politician

Hugh Culling Eardley Childers was a British Liberal statesman of the nineteenth century. He is perhaps best known for his reform efforts at the Admiralty and the War Office. Later in his career, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his attempt to correct a budget shortfall led to the fall of the Liberal government led by William Gladstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Navy Board</span> Organisation of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832

The Navy Board was the commission responsible for the day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. The board was headquartered within the Navy Office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Board of Admiralty</span> Authority with administrative and operational control of the Royal Navy

The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requirements of the Royal Navy; at that point administrative control of the navy was still the responsibility of the Navy Board, established in 1546. This system remained in place until 1832, when the Board of Admiralty became the sole authority charged with both administrative and operational control of the navy when the Navy Board was abolished. The term Admiralty has become synonymous with the command and control of the Royal Navy, partly personified in the Board of Admiralty and in the Admiralty buildings in London from where operations were in large part directed. It existed until 1964 when the office of First Lord of the Admiralty was finally abolished and the functions of the Lords Commissioners were transferred to the new Admiralty Board and the tri-service Defence Council of the United Kingdom.

Captain Stephen Wentworth Roskill, was a senior career officer of the Royal Navy, serving during the Second World War and, after his enforced medical retirement, served as the official historian of the Royal Navy from 1949 to 1960. He is now chiefly remembered as a prodigious author of books on British maritime history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Navy Records Society</span>

The Navy Records Society was established in 1893 as a scholarly text publication society to publish historical documents relating to the history of the Royal Navy. Professor Sir John Knox Laughton and Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge were the key leaders who organized the society, basing it on the model of earlier organisations such as the Hakluyt Society and the Camden Society. The American naval historian, Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, was one of the first overseas members to join the Navy Records Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Indies Station</span> Military unit

The East Indies Station was a formation and command of the British Royal Navy. Created in 1744 by the Admiralty, it was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Lord of the Admiralty</span> Political head of the Royal Navy (1628–1964)

The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the direction and control of the Admiralty, and also of general administration of the Naval Service of the Kingdom of England, Great Britain in the 18th century, and then the United Kingdom, including the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, and other services. It was one of the earliest known permanent government posts. Apart from being the political head of the Naval Service the post holder was simultaneously the pre-eminent member of the Board of Admiralty. The office of First Lord of the Admiralty existed from 1628 until it was abolished when the Admiralty, Air Ministry, Ministry of Defence and War Office were all merged to form the new Ministry of Defence in 1964. Its modern-day equivalent is the Secretary of State for Defence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Secretary</span> Royal Navy officer

The Naval Secretary is the Royal Navy officer who advises the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff on naval officer appointing.

Patrick Beesly was a British author and intelligence officer during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (United Kingdom)</span>

The Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS) is a senior appointment in the Royal Navy currently held by the Second Sea Lord. The incumbent is usually a three-star rank and had a NATO ranking code of OF-8, but the position has previously been held by an acting two-star ranked officer and a four-star ranked officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Admiralty in the 17th century</span>

During the early 17th century, England's relative naval power deteriorated, In the course of the rest of the 17th century, The office of the Admiralty and Marine Affairs steered the Navy's transition from a semi-amateur Navy Royal fighting in conjunction with private vessels into a fully professional institution, a Royal Navy. Its financial provisions were gradually regularised, it came to rely on dedicated warships only, and it developed a professional officer corps with a defined career structure, superseding an earlier mix of sailors and socially prominent former soldiers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Admiralty in the 18th century</span>

The Glorious Revolution of 1688 rearranged the political map of Europe, and led to a series of wars with France that lasted well over a century. This was the classic age of sail; while the ships themselves evolved in only minor ways, technique and tactics were honed to a high degree, and the battles of the Napoleonic Wars entailed feats that would have been impossible for the fleets of the 17th century. Because of parliamentary opposition, James II fled the country. The landing of William III and the Glorious Revolution itself was a gigantic effort involving 100 warships and 400 transports carrying 11,000 infantry and 4,000 horses. It was not opposed by the English or Scottish fleets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Admiralty Naval Staff</span>

The Admiralty Naval Staff was the former senior command, operational planning, policy and strategy department within the British Admiralty. It was established in 1917 and existed until 1964 when the department of the Admiralty was abolished. It was replaced by the Ministry of Defence as part of the Ministry of Defence Navy Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plans Division (Royal Navy)</span>

The Plans Division was the former war preparation and wartime strategic planning arm of the Admiralty Department from 1917 to 1964, The division originally became the main policy advisory and formulating body to the Chief of the Naval Staff. It later came under the supervision of the Assistant-Chief of the Naval staff (Policy).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobilisation Division (Royal Navy)</span>

The Mobilisation Division was the former Directorate of the British Admiralty Naval Staff responsible for mobilisation requirements, manning and war preparation planning from 1912–1918.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of the Permanent Secretary (Royal Navy)</span>

The Department of the Permanent Secretary also formally known as the Department of the Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty or the Department of the Secretary was the Civil Service department responsible for the control, direction and guidance of all administrative functions of the British Admiralty from 1702 to 1964, it was headed by the Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercantile Movements Division (Royal Navy)</span>

The Mercantile Movements Division originally known as the Convoy Section was a former Directorate of the British Admiralty, Naval Staff that coordinated, organised and plotted all Merchant Navy convoys, routing and schedules from 1917 until 1920.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sixpenny Office</span>

The Sixpenny Office was one of the British admiralty's smaller offices. Established in 1696, it was originally based at Tower Hill, London. The office's main responsibility was the collection of six pence from all serving seaman's wage's on a monthly basis that was used to fund Greenwich Hospital's provision of care for sick and aged seaman..

References

  1. Cambridge University library Catalogue
  2. Biography on the Witwatersrand website

External sources

Biography on the University of Witwatersrand website