Congreve, Geoffrey Cecil, 1st Baronet

Date of birth:: July 19th, 1897 (Alverstoke/Hampshire, United Kingdom)
Date of death:: July 28th, 1941 (off Ambleteuse/Hauts-de-France, France)
Buried on:: Memorial Crematorium Golders Green
Nationality:: British

Biography

Sir Geoffrey Cecil Congreve was the second son of General Sir Walter Congreve and Cecilia Henrietta Dolores La Touche. His elder brother, Billy Congreve, was a decorated soldier who died in World War I. Geoffrey was educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, beginning in 1911, and later at Dartmouth, preparing him for a career in the Royal Navy.

During World War I, he served as a midshipman aboard HMS Benbow in the Grand Fleet. After the war, from 1919 to 1923, he acted as aide-de-camp to his father, who was then Commander of British Troops in Egypt and Palestine. In 1927, Geoffrey inherited the Congreve baronetcy following his father's death. He retired from active naval service in 1928 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander and took up the management of a 3,000-acre estate in Staffordshire. That same year, he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Staffordshire.

With the outbreak of World War II, Congreve returned to naval service in 1939 as an instructor at HMS Mercury, the Signals School in Portsmouth. He later commanded the 16th Anti-Submarine Group, which included naval trawlers such as HMT Arab and HMT Aston Villa, and participated in the Namsos campaign in Norway in 1940. He also commanded HMS Raven, a Q-boat converted from the Norwegian steamer SS Ranen, conducting sabotage operations against German forces. One of his notable missions was the successful destruction of oil tanks at Svolvær in May 1940. He was involved in demolition operations in Brest, France, and later trained amphibious forces in Scotland. His expertise in irregular warfare led to consultations on mounting naval guns on dhows for operations in the Red Sea. In May 1941, he was posted to HMS Quebec, a training establishment in Inverary.

Congreve served as an observer in Operation Claymore, the Lofoten raid, and later in Operation Chess, a commando raid on Ambleteuse, France. On 28 July 1941, he was killed by machine gun fire while aboard a landing craft during Operation Chess. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium in London.

Geoffrey married Helena Madeline Mary Allhusen in 1922, and they had three daughters. With no male heir, the Congreve baronetcy became extinct upon his death. His widow remarried in 1942 to Reginald James Tyler, a retired Ceylon Police officer.

Promotions and postings:
1 July 1914 – Midshipman, Grand Fleet
15 September 1916: Acting Sub-Lieutenant
17 March 1917: Sub Lieutenant
16 June 1918: Lieutenant
15 June 1926: Lieutenant Commander (retired on 25 August 1928)
19 July 1937: Commander (ret).

1920–1921 – Aide-de-camp to G.O.C. Egypt and Palestine
23 August 1939 – 16 January 1940 – HMS Victory (RN base, Portsmouth); instructor at HM Signal School
17 January 1940 – 3 May 1940 – Commanding Officer, HMS Aston Villa; command of 16th Anti-Submarine Striking Force (tender to HMS Flora and HMS Bacchante)
May 1940 – 11 June 1940 – Commanding Officer, decoy ship Ranen
12 June 1940 – 15 June 1940 – HMS Victory (additional; not to join)
16 June 1940 – 25 June 1940 – HMS Drake (RN base, Devonport); in charge of Demolition Party XD.O (Brest)
26 June 1940 – October 1940 – HMS President (Admiralty); special service with Director of Combined Operations at Lochailort
October 1940 – 21 October 1940 – Commanding Officer, Dutch vessel Jupiter
October 1940 – 13 June 1941 – HMS Quebec (combined training centre, Inverary); Commando's Senior Landing Officer
14 June 1941 – 28 July 1941 – HMS President (Admiralty); duty inside Admiralty with Director of Combined Operations; killed in action during Operation Chess