Louis Keppel Hamilton

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Sir Louis Keppel Hamilton

Rear Admiral Keppel Hamilton, second from left,

meetsKing George VI aboard HMSDuke of
York at Scapa Flow, August 1943
Born

31 December 1890

Died

27 June 1957 (aged 66)

Allegiance

United

Service/branch

Royal Navy

Years of service

19081948

Rank

Admiral

Commands held

Chief of the Australian Naval

Staff
Flag Officer, Malta
HMSAurora

Battles/wars

First World War

Kingdom

West Africa Campaign

Second World War

Awards

Norwegian Campaign

Arctic Convoys

Knight Commander of the Order

of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Order of St Stanislaus (Russia)
War Cross (Norway)

Admiral Sir Louis Henry Keppel Hamilton KCB, DSO, RN (31 December 1890
27 June 1957) was a senior Royal Navyofficer who was Flag
Officer in Malta (19431945) and later served as First Naval Member & Chief of
Staff of the Royal Australian Navy. During his early career he was generally known
as L. H. Keppel Hamilton.

Background and early life[edit]

Hamilton was the first of the two sons of Admiral Sir Frederick Hamilton, who
was Second Sea Lord during the First World War, by his marriage to Maria Walpole
Keppel, a daughter of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Keppel. He grew up at Anmer
Hall near King's Lynn in Norfolk. Two of his middle names were in honour of his
notable grandfather, Henry Keppel.[1] His paternal grandfather, Captain Henry
George Hamilton (18081879), was also a Royal Navy officer, while his great
grandfather, William Richard Hamilton (17771859), was an Under-Secretary at
the Foreign Office, British Minister to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and an
archaeologist.
An uncle, his mother's brother, became Admiral Sir Colin Richard Keppel. His
grandfather's two eldest brothers wereAugustus Keppel, 5th Earl of
Albemarle and George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle.[2]

Naval career[edit]
Hamilton joined the Royal Navy in 1908 with the rank of midshipman. On 30 June
1911, he was promoted Sub-Lieutenant,[3]and on 30 June 1913 lieutenant.[4]
During the First World War, Hamilton saw active service in the West Africa
Campaign, on the Niger River and in the German colony of Kamerun. He commanded
the Niger river flotilla which drove the Germans out of Dehane in December 1914,
then led a party from the coast which transported a naval 12-pounder gun taken out
of HMSChallenger on an epic journey of 640 miles along the Niger
and Benue rivers, then sixty miles overland, to assist Brigadier-General Cunliffe in
the taking of Garouafrom a German garrison. Garua fell in June 1915.[5][6][7][8] In

September 1915 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order "for his services in
the operations in the Cameroons" and was also awarded the Order of Saint
Stanislaus of Russia, 3rd class.
He saw active service again in the Second World War, including taking part in the
Allied reactions to the German invasion of Norway in 1940 (as commander of HMS
Aurora), for which he was awarded the Norwegian War Cross,[9] and the protection
of Arctic convoys. In 1942, he was a Rear Admiral commanding the First Cruiser
Squadron (CS1), which consisted of the British cruisers HMSLondon and Norfolk,
the American cruisers USSWichita and Tuscaloosa, and four destroyers. In that role,
he was one of the senior officers of the disastrous Convoy PQ 17.[10]
Between 1943 and 1945, Hamilton was Flag Officer, Malta, and while there was
knighted by being appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. After the
war, he served as Chief Naval Advisor to the Government of Australia and wasFirst
Naval Member & Chief of Staff of the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board,
effectively head of the Royal Australian Navy, from 1945 to 1948.[11]