Arthur Waistell

Admiral Sir Arthur Kipling Waistell KCB (30 March 1873 – 26 October 1953) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.

Sir Arthur Waistell
1917 portrait by Francis Dodd
Born(1873-03-30)30 March 1873
Died26 October 1953(1953-10-26) (aged 80)
Buried
Winchester, Hampshire
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
RankAdmiral
Commands heldChina Station
Portsmouth Command
Battles/warsWorld War I
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Waistell joined the Royal Navy in 1892.[1] He was a lieutenant when in May 1902 he was appointed to the senior staff at the torpedo school HMS Vernon.[2] He was appointed in command of the destroyer HMS Stag in the Mediterranean Fleet in 1906.[3]

He was appointed to command 8th Submarine Flotilla and HMS Maidstone, the depot ship for the flotilla, on 1 September 1913. This was based at Harwich during World War I as the main offensive submarine flotilla in UK waters. The flotilla became the 9th Submarine Flotilla on 9 August 1916.[4] He transferred to command of the battleship HMS Benbow in the Grand Fleet on 29 September 1917.[5]

After the War, on 6 April 1920 he was appointed Director of the Torpedo Division of the Admiralty Naval Staff until April 1922. His next appointment was as Rear Admiral (D), Commanding Destroyer Flotillas Atlantic Fleet from 15 July 1922 to 19 April 1923.[6] He was Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff from 1923[7] and went on to be Commander of the 1st Cruiser Squadron from 1924.[8] He was appointed Commander in Chief, China Station in 1928[9] and Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in 1931; he retired in 1934.[10]

In retirement, Waistell lived in Winchester where he was especially involved with the affairs of the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, for some time being a member of its Court of Governors.[11] His wife died in 1948 and so, being an invalid, he moved to the Isle of Wight where a sister was able to look after him.[11]

He died on 26 October 1953; during the morning of Friday 30 October his funeral service took place at Yarmouth Parish Church, Isle of Wight. Immediately following this service his coffin was borne to the motor torpedo boat Pathfinder and then, in Yarmouth Roads, transferred to the destroyer Finisterre. His remains were taken to Southampton and later that day he was buried beside his wife in Magdalen Hill Cemetery, Winchester.[11]

References
  1. "No. 26492". The London Gazette. 6 March 1894. p. 1369.
  2. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36748). London. 22 April 1902. p. 12.
  3. The Royal Navy June 1906
  4. Naval Staff Monographs Volume XVII. Home Waters - Part VII. June 1916 to November 1916. London: HMSO. 1927.
  5. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/374 Waistell service record for WW1 service
  6. Parkinson, Jonathan (2018). The Royal Navy, China Station: 1864 - 1941: As seen through the lives of the Commanders in Chief. Leicester, United Kingdom: Troubador Publishing Ltd. p. 379. ISBN 9781788035217.
  7. "Royal Navy Flag Officers 1904 - 1975". Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  8. Whitaker's Almanack 1925
  9. Obituary: Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay January 1945
  10. HMS Nelson Canberra Times, 15 January 1934
  11. Isle of Wight County Press, 31 October 1953
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt		 Commander-in-Chief, China Station
1928–1931		 Succeeded by
Sir Howard Kelly
Preceded by
Sir Roger Keyes		 Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth
1931–1934		 Succeeded by
Sir John Kelly
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