Ronald Stuart
Ronald Niel Stuart, VC, DSO, RD, RNR was a British Merchant Navy commodore and Royal Navy captain. During World War I he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, the French Croix de Guerre avec Palmes and the United States’ Navy Cross. His later career included command of the liner RMS Empress of Britain and the management of the London office of a major transatlantic shipping company. Stuart died in 1951 and was buried in a private ceremony at St Pancras, London.
About Ronald Stuart in brief
Ronald Niel Stuart, VC, DSO, RD, RNR was a British Merchant Navy commodore and Royal Navy captain. During World War I he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, the French Croix de Guerre avec Palmes and the United States’ Navy Cross. His later career included command of the liner RMS Empress of Britain and the management of the London office of a major transatlantic shipping company. Following his retirement in 1951, Stuart moved into his sister’s cottage in Kent and died three years later. Stuart received his Victoria Cross following a ballot by the men under his command. This unusual method of selection was used after the Admiralty board was unable to choose which members of the crew deserved the honour after a desperate engagement between a Q-ship and a German submarine off the Irish coast. He was reportedly embarrassed by any fuss surrounding his celebrity and was known to exclaim “Mush!” at any demonstration of strong emotion. Stuart was born in 1886 in Liverpool to Neil Stuart and Mary Harrison, both from experienced seafaring families. His father worked in the city as a dock superintendent and owner of a wholesale tea shop before dying suddenly while preparing for a return to the Merchant Navy. Neil Sr. had been born on Prince Edward Island in Canada and had met and married Mary in Montreal. She was the daughter of a master mariner from Australia. In the 1880s the family moved to Liverpool, where he was born as the youngest of six children.
Stuart survived the sinking of the Kirkhill and returned to England to continue his training. After several years service he achieved his mariner’s qualifications and gained a job with the Allan Line as a junior officer. He then served in a variety of sailing and steam ships traveling across most of the world. He became increasingly impatient with the life and repeatedly applied to his senior officers with requests for transfer; at one point he even requested that he be commissioned into the army. His commanders were reported to have told him to ‘Go to hell! And shut the door behind you!’ Stuart was by this time a stocky, blonde, blue-eyed man described as ‘powerful but very bleak and penetrating’ His first year of service was frustrating for Stuart and the crew of Q5 Farnborough, but he soon became attached to the ship. In February 1917, Stuart succeeded in sinking an enemy submarine, Farnborough. Stuart and Campbell would later fall out over Stuart’s belief that Campbell was exaggerating the danger of Q-ships, comparing his own life to that of a soldier in the trenches. Stuart’s experience in shipping proved invaluable to his work and he soon maintained himself with his executive officer, declaring himself very pleased with his top line officer. Stuart died in 1951 and was buried in a private ceremony at St Pancras, London. He is survived by his wife and three children. His son, Neil Stuart, was a member of the Canadian Pacific Line and served in the Royal Naval Reserve.
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This page is based on the article Ronald Stuart published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
