Robert Armitage (Royal Navy officer)

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Robert Selby Armitage
Born(1905-03-28)28 March 1905
Second World War
AwardsGeorge Cross
George Medal
Other workStockbroker

Robert Selby Armitage,

Second World War,[2] one of only eight people to have been awarded both.[3]

Early life

The son of the Rev. Philip Armitage (1870–1960) and his wife Elizabeth Christina Armitage, née Marshall (c1875-1934), he was born in Birling in Kent on 28 March 1905[4] and educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge.[5] On 28 September 1938 he married Frances Bland Tucker.

Second World War

He defused unexploded bombs during the

London Gazette on 27 December 1940, and he was invested on 24 May 1941 at the medal's first investiture ceremony. He was one of four recipients: one civilian and one each from the Navy, Army and Air Force.[6]

Also in 1940, he commanded a small coaster at the evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk.[7]

His George Medal, gazetted on 15 February 1944, was for mine disposal work at Corton Sands, Suffolk on 15 June 1942 while serving in HMS Vernon.

Later life and family

On 26 May 1982, at his home in Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, he shot his wife, wounding her slightly, and then killed himself.[8]

Armitage was a nephew of

Thomas Rhodes Armitage, and third cousin of Edward Leathley Armitage
.

Citations

  1. ^ Michael Ashcroft, George Cross Heroes, 2010
  2. ^ The George Cross at Sea Retrieved 23 December 2007.
  3. ^ Stephen Stratford, British Military & Criminal History in the period 1900 to 1999 Archived 27 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 23 December 2007.
  4. ^ The Times, 2 June 1982
  5. ^ George Cross database Robert Selby Armitage Retrieved 23 December 2007. Archived 16 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ George Cross database Facts & Statistics page. Retrieved 23 December 2007. Archived 19 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) Officers Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  8. ^ Henley Standard, 28 May 1982.