Admiral Sir Cecil Fiennes Thursby KCB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 KCMG

Order of St Michael and St George

The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....

 (1861 – May 1936) was a Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth

Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth

The Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. Plymouth Command was a name given to the units, establishments, and staff operating under the admiral's command. In the nineteenth century the holder of the office was known as Commander-in-Chief,...

.

Naval career

Thursby joined the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 in 1874. He was present during the engagement with the Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

vian rebel ship Huáscar

Huáscar (ship)

Huáscar is a 19th century small armoured turret ship of a type similar to a monitor. She was built in Britain for Peru and played a significant role in the battle of Pacocha and the War of the Pacific against Chile before being captured and commissioned with the Chilean Navy. Today she is one of...

 in 1877 and also took part in the Niger expedition in 1882. Promoted Captain in 1901, he commanded the cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

 HMS King Alfred

HMS King Alfred (1901)

HMS King Alfred was a 14,100-ton Drake-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name, after Alfred the Great, historical king of Wessex...

 and then the battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

 HMS Swiftsure

HMS Swiftsure (1903)

HMS Swiftsure was the lead ship of the Swiftsure class of British predreadnought battleships.-Technical Characteristics:HMS Swiftsure was ordered by Chile as Constitución and laid down by Armstrong Whitworth at Elswick...

. He commanded the International Squadron in Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

 in 1910 and became Commodore at the Royal Naval Barracks at Chatham in 1910. He went on to be Rear Admiral commanding the 3rd Battle Squadron in 1912.

He served in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 initially as Commander of the 5th Battle Squadron in the Dardanelles

Dardanelles

The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...

 and then as Commander of the 2nd Squadron landing ANZAC

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps

The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force that was formed in Egypt in 1915 and operated during the Battle of Gallipoli. General William Birdwood commanded the corps, which comprised troops from the First Australian Imperial...

 forces at Gaba Tepe

Kabatepe

Kabatepe, or Gaba Tepe, is a headland overlooking the northern Aegean Sea in what is now the Gallipoli Historic National Park, on the Gallipoli peninsula in northwestern Turkey....

 in Gallipoli

Gallipoli

The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...

 in 1915. He commanded the British Adriatic Squadron in 1916 before becoming Commander-in-Chief, East Mediterranean in 1916 and Commander of the Coastguards and Reserves in 1918.

After the War he became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth

Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth

The Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. Plymouth Command was a name given to the units, establishments, and staff operating under the admiral's command. In the nineteenth century the holder of the office was known as Commander-in-Chief,...

and retired in 1920.