Admiral Sir George Lambart Atkinson-Willes 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...

 (13 July 1847 – 25 December 1921) 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, East Indies Station

East Indies Station

The East Indies Station was a formation of the British Royal Navy from 1865 to 1941.From 1831 to 1865 the East Indies and the China Station were a single command known as the East Indies and China Station...

.

Naval career

Educated at Leamington College and at the Royal Naval Academy in Gosport

Gosport

Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...

, Atkinson-Willes 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...

 as a cadet in 1861 and took part in the Abyssinian Expedition

1868 Expedition to Abyssinia

The British 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia was a punitive expedition carried out by armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire...

 in 1868.

Promoted to Captain in 1886, he commanded HMS Comus

HMS Comus (1878)

HMS Comus was a corvette of the Royal Navy. She was the name ship of her class. Launched in April 1878, the vessel was built by Messrs. J. Elder & Co of Glasgow at a cost of ₤123,000....

, HMS Indefatigable, HMS Agamemnon

HMS Agamemnon (1879)

HMS Agamemnon was a Victorian Royal Navy Ajax class ironclad turret battleship, the sister-ship of .Agamemnon and Ajax were built to the same design, and were smaller and less expensive versions of Inflexible...

, HMS Hero

HMS Hero (1885)

HMS Hero was the second and final Conqueror-class battleship. She was an ironclad who served in the Victorian Royal Navy.Hero was — like her sister-ship — designed to be an improved version of with a ram as her main armament...

 and then HMS Howe

HMS Howe (1885)

HMS Howe was an Admiral-class battleship of the Royal Navy, the last of the Admiral-class to be completed.Along with her sisters, , and , she was a progressive development of the design of . She carried a main armament of four guns, compared to the guns carried in the earlier ship...

. He was appointed Commodore commanding the Training Squadron in 1895 and then commanded the Dockyard Reserve at Chatham

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

 from 1898. In 1901 he assumed the additional surname of Willes in compliance with the will of his uncle Admiral Sir George Ommanney Willes

George Willes

Admiral Sir George Ommanney Willes GCB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.-Naval career:...

. Promoted to Rear Admiral that year, he became Second-in-Command of the Home Fleet in 1902 and Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station

East Indies Station

The East Indies Station was a formation of the British Royal Navy from 1865 to 1941.From 1831 to 1865 the East Indies and the China Station were a single command known as the East Indies and China Station...

 in 1903. He was at the head of a squadron of three ships which took part in the Somaliland Campaign

Somaliland Campaign

The Somaliland Campaign was a series of military engagements fought early in the 20th century in the Horn of Africa by British and Italian colonial forces against the Dervish State of the Somali religious and nationalist leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan...

in 1904. He retired in 1912.