Geoffrey Congreve
{{Short description|British Royal Navy officer and landowner}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = Sir
|name= Geoffrey Congreve
| honorific_suffix = 1st Baronet, {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100|sep=,|DSO|DL}}
|image=File:Geoffrey Congreve.png
|alt=
|caption=1939 portrait
|nickname=
|birth_date= 19 July 1897
|birth_place= Alverstoke, Hampshire, England
|death_date= {{death date and age|1941|7|28|1897|7|19|df=yes}}
|death_place= off Ambleteuse, Pas-de-Calais, France
|placeofburial=
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= Royal Navy
|serviceyears= 1911–1928, 1939–1941
|rank=
|unit=
|commands=*16th Anti-Submarine Group (1940)
- HMS Raven (1940)
|battles= *First World War
|awards= Distinguished Service Order
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
Sir Geoffrey Cecil Congreve, 1st Baronet (19 July 1897 – 28 July 1941){{cite web |title=Life story: Geoffrey Cecil Congreve, Lives of the First World War |url=https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/6895401 |website=livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk}} was a British Royal Navy officer and landowner. He was the son of General Sir Walter Congreve and entered the Royal Naval College, Osborne in 1911. During the First World Wr he served with the Grand Fleet. In the post-war years Congreve served as aide-de-camp to his father, who was commander of the British Troops in Egypt and Palestine. Congreve was granted the baronetcy intended for his father upon the latter's death in 1927. The following year Congreve retired from the navy to take up farming and was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Staffordshire.
During the Second World War Congreve returned to the navy, taking command of the 16th Anti-Submarine Group of four naval trawlers with which he participated in the 1940 Namsos campaign. He afterwards commanded a Q-boat, HMS Raven, and participated in amphibious operations. Congreve was killed in 1941 in Operation Chess, a commando raid on France.
Early life
Congreve, born on 19 July 1897 at Alverstoke, Hampshire,{{cite web |title=Portrait of Geoffrey Congreve |url=https://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/details.aspx?ResourceID=27238&ExhibitionID=27240&SearchType=2&ThemeID=120 |website=Staffordshire Past Track |publisher=Staffordshire County Council |access-date=1 January 2025}} was the second son of General Sir Walter Congreve and his wife Cecilia Henrietta Dolores La Touche, daughter of Cecil D'Urban La Touche of the Bombay Army.{{cite book|last=Fox-Davies|first=Arthur Charles|title=Armorial Families|edition=7th|year=1929|publisher=Hurst & Blackett|location=London|page=416|volume=I}} Billy Congreve (1891–1916) was his elder brother.{{cite web |title=Life story: Celia Congreve, Lives of the First World War |url=https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/4947236 |website=livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk}}
Congreve was educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, from 1911, and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.{{Who's Who|title=Congreve, Comdr Sir Geoffrey|id=U224041}}{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Luke |title=A Life-Long Springtime: The Life and Teaching of Fr George Congreve SSJE |date=1 January 2022 |publisher=Sacristy Press |isbn=978-1-78959-198-9 |page=181 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmpREAAAQBAJ&pg=PA181 |language=en}} In 1915 he was a midshipman on {{HMS|Benbow|1913|6}}, and served in the Grand Fleet through the First World War.{{cite book |title=Country Life |date=1915 |publisher=Country Life, Limited |page=646 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OFsiAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA646 |language=en}} During the period 1919 to 1923, when his father was General Officer Commanding, British Troops in Egypt and Palestine, he was in 1921–2 his aide-de-camp.{{cite ODNB|id=32528|first=Ian F. W.|last=Beckett|title=Congreve, Sir Walter Norris (1862–1927)}}
Walter Congreve died in 1927 as Governor of Malta. The baronetcy intended for him was given that year to Geoffrey, his eldest surviving son, the seat being Congreve, Staffordshire.{{London Gazette |issue=33292 |date=8 July 1927 |page=4406}} Geoffrey Congreve retired from the navy in 1928, with the rank of lieutenant commander. He farmed an estate of {{convert|3,000|acres}} He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Staffordshire on 15 December 1928.{{London Gazette |issue=33449|date=21 December 1928|page=8403|supp=y}}
Second World War
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Congreve became an instructor at the Signals School, {{HMS|Mercury|shore establishment|6}}, Portsmouth. He was then given command of four naval trawlers of the Royal Naval Patrol Service, based at Aberdeen and Scapa Flow, among then being HMT Arab. Congreve took command of the force on 22 January 1940, from HMT Aston Villa. After several months of convoy duties and anti-submarine warfare, Congreve received orders on 25 April to cross the North Sea to the coast of Norway, against the German Operation Weserübung. His 16th Anti-Submarine Group comprised the Angle, Arab, Aston Villa and Gaul.{{cite web |title=Private Papers of Commander Sir Geoffrey Congreve Bt DSO RN |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030011881 |website=Imperial War Museums |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Lassaque |first1=Jean |title=Guerre navale en Norvège: 8 avril-28 juillet 1940 |date=2003 |publisher=Le gerfaut |isbn=978-2-914622-29-5 |page=157 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzyGN9gHf_oC&pg=PA157 |language=fr}}
File:HMT Angle WWII IWM FL 667.jpg
The trawlers were under William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork, commanding the fleet of the allied forces attempting to capture Narvik.{{cite book |last1=Buchner |first1=Alex |title=Narvik: The Struggle of Battle Group Dietl in the Spring of 1940 |date=20 November 2020 |publisher=Casemate |isbn=978-1-61200-918-6 |page=179 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fJwQEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA179 |language=en}} The Namsenfjorden area in which they were to operate left the vessels exposed to air attack. Both HMT Aston Villa and HMT Gaul were damaged in attacks, to the point of lacking the seaworthiness to make the return crossing of the North Sea, and were scuttled by their crews.{{cite news |title=Naval Losses off Norway |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000330/19400510/028/0006 |work=Dover Express |date=10 May 1940|page=6}} Aston Villa was hit by dive-bombers on 30 April, and scuttled on 3 May in Kroken Bay of Namsenfjorden.{{cite book |last1=Oldfield |first1=Paul |title=Victoria Crosses on the Western Front - Somme 1916: 1st July 1916 to 13th November 1916 |date=30 August 2016 |publisher=Pen and Sword Military |isbn=978-1-4738-7457-2 |pages=308–309 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2_zsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA309 |language=en}}
Congreve moved to command of the SS Ranen, a Norwegian passenger steamer converted as a Q-boat, going by the name of HMS Raven; he operated against German forces under Eduard Dietl, moving north from Bodø and cut their telephone cables.{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=David |title=Naval Operations of the Campaign in Norway, April-June 1940 |date=5 November 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-27370-5 |page=122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZH7AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 |language=en}} On 7 May he was sent with HMT Northern Gem to destroy the oil tanks at Svolvær, with success, and engaged in armed action there.{{cite book |last1=Grehan |first1=John |last2=Mace |first2=Martin |title=The Battle for Norway 1940-1942 |date=2015 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |location=Barnsley |isbn=9781783462322 |pages=63–64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fYb3CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT63}}
In June 1940, after returning from the campaign, Congreve was attached to a demolition party sent to Brest, France. He then became an amphibious operations trainer on the west coast of Scotland at Dorlin and Mallaig.{{cite book |last1=Fraser |first1=Simon |title=March Past: The Memoir of a Commando Leader, From Lofoten to Dieppe and D-Day |date=31 December 2022 |publisher=Frontline Books |isbn=978-1-3990-6860-4 |pages=252 and note page 255 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2iIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT252 |language=en}} Robert Hamilton, an administrator in the Aden Protectorate tasked in August of that year with taking the war across the Red Sea to the Italians then occupying British Somaliland, went to Lochailort for consultation with and instruction from William Stirling and Congreve. The latter found a way of rigging a QF 2-pounder naval gun on a dhow.{{cite book |last1=Atkin |first1=Malcolm |title=Pioneers of Irregular Warfare: Secrets of the Military Intelligence Research Department of the Second World War |date=12 May 2021 |publisher=Pen and Sword Military |isbn=978-1-5267-6601-4 |pages=cxliii-cxliv |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=urQsEAAAQBAJ&pg=PR143 |language=en}} For a period he was given command of the Jupiter, a Dutch vessel.
On 12 May 1941 Congreve was posted to {{HMS|Quebec|shore establishment|6}}, a training establishment in Inverary.
=Death=
File:Penkridge St Michael - Congreve memorial.jpg parish church]]
According to Simon Fraser, a friend, Congreve was determined to win a Victoria Cross.{{cite book |last1=Fraser |first1=Simon |title=March Past: The Memoir of a Commando Leader, From Lofoten to Dieppe and D-Day |date=31 December 2022 |publisher=Frontline Books |isbn=978-1-3990-6860-4 |page=311 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2iIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT311 |language=en}} He took part as an observer in Operation Claymore on Lofoten in early 1941.{{cite book |last1=Buckton |first1=Henry |title=Dieppe: A Necessary Failure |date=15 July 2022 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-3981-0387-0 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SG17EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT19 |language=en}} He was an observer again for Operation Chess, a raid on the French coast at Ambleteuse by 16 men of No. 12 Commando. He died on 28 July 1941 on a landing craft where he had been ordered to remain, killed by machine gun fire.
Awards and honours
On 26 September 1940 it was announced in the London Gazette that Congreve, with rank of commander, had been made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). In the same issue the Distinguished Service Cross was awarded to William Arthur George, skipper of HMT Northern Gem.{{London Gazette |issue=34953 |date=26 September 1940 |page=5709 |supp=y}}
Works
The Congreve Family, by Congreve, was printed privately in 1980.{{cite book |last1=Robbins |first1=Simon |title=British Generalship during the Great War: The Military Career of Sir Henry Horne (1861–1929) |date=15 April 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-17197-3 |page=302 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vYgHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA302 |language=en}}
Family
Congreve married Helena Madeline Mary Allhusen in 1922. They had three daughters. He left no heir, and the baronetcy became extinct on his death. His wife remarried in 1942, her second husband being Reginald James Tyler, a retired officer of the Ceylon Police.{{cite book|last=Kelly's|title=Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes|year=1943|publisher=Kelly's Directories|page=1808}} Of the daughters, Ann Henrietta (born 1923) married in 1944 the architect Richard Tyler, son of Reginald Tyler by his first marriage.
Notes
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Congreve, Geoffrey Cecil}}
Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Category:British white supremacists
Category:Royal Navy personnel killed in World War II
Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War I
Category:Military personnel from Hampshire
Category:People educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne