Guy Hallifax

Rear-Admiral Guy Waterhouse Hallifax CMG[4] (21 June 1884–28 March 1941) was a South African military commander.

Guy Waterhouse Hallifax

CMG
Born(1884-06-21)21 June 1884
South Stoneham, Hampshire, England[1]
Died28 March 1941(1941-03-28) (aged 56)[2]
Baboon Point, 74 km north of Saldanha, Western Cape 32°19′0.00″S 18°19′0.00″E
Buried
Plumstead Cemetery
Service/branchRoyal Navy
RankRear Admiral
Awards

He served in the Royal Navy from 1899 to 1935, and ended his RN career on the staff of the last British governor-general of South Africa, the Earl of Clarendon. He stayed in South Africa in retirement, and on the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he was recruited by the South African government to organise a navy, which was named the Seaward Defence Force.[5]

Royal Navy

Hallifax joined HMS Britannia in 1899 and served as a Naval Advisor in Turkey, for which he was awarded the Order of the Medjideh (3rd class).[3] During the First World War served as first lieutenant and torpedo lieutenant on board HMS Ajax. After being attached to the Inter-Allied Commission in Berlin he served in HMS Valiant, Home Fleet, from 1921 to 1923. He then attended various disarmarmament meetings at Geneva and was promoted captain in 1924. Two years later he commanded the cruiser HMS Carlisle, of the China Squadron, remaining there until 1928. He was later appointed naval attaché in Paris and also served in that capacity in Madrid, Brussels and The Hague. He returned to active naval duties when he was appointed in command of HMS Malaya from 1932 to 1934. In 1935 he became Director of the Signal Division of the Admiralty, and was promoted Rear-Admiral, retired, in the same year.[1]

Rear-Admiral Hallifax went out to South Africa as secretary to Lord Clarendon, who was then Governor-General in South Africa, in 1936, and continued in this capacity for the first four months of the governor-generalship of Sir Patrick Duncan.

South African Navy

As Director of the Seaward Defence Force, he established a small fleet of minesweepers and anti-submarine vessels for coastal defence, and organised naval detachments in the major ports.

Promotions
  • Confirmed in the rank of Sub-Lieutenant 15 July 1903.[6]
  • Sub-Lieutenant to Lieutenant 15 January 1905.[7]
  • Commander to Captain 30 June 1924.[8]
  • Captain to Rear-Admiral 3 October 1935.[9]
  • Placed on the Retired List 4 October 1935.[9]

Death

He was killed in an aeroplane crash at Baboon Point, 74 kilometres (46 mi) north of Saldanha while returning from a tour of inspection to the newly established naval detachment in Walvis Bay.[10]

References
  1. "Rear Admiral Guy Waterhouse Hallifax". Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  2. Uys, Ian (1992). South African Military Who's Who 1452-1992. Fortress Publishers. p. 98. ISBN 0-9583173-3-X.
  3. Harris, C J (1991). War at Sea:South African Maritime Operations during WW2. Ashanti Publishing. p. 9. ISBN 1-874800-16-2.
  4. "No. 34518". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 June 1938. p. 3689.
  5. scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/620-1854-1-PB.pdf
  6. "No. 27754". The London Gazette. 13 January 1905. p. 328.
  7. "No. 32952". The London Gazette. 4 July 1905. p. 4630.
  8. "No. 32952". The London Gazette. 1 July 1924. p. 5083.
  9. "No. 34204". The London Gazette. 4 October 1935. p. 6216.
  10. Goosen, JC (1973). South Africa's Navy The First Fifty Years. Cape Town: WJ Flesch & Partners. p. 228. ISBN 0-949989-02-9.

See also
Military offices
New title Director, South African Naval Forces
1940 – 1941		 Succeeded by
James Dalgleish
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