Campbell Tait

Admiral Sir William Eric Campbell Tait (12 August 1886 – 17 July 1946) was a senior British naval officer, courtier and the fifth Governor of Southern Rhodesia after his naval retirement in 1944, serving from 1945 to 1946. He commanded various cruisers between 1928 and 1937. He became Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic in 1942. Naval career Born in Morice Town, Devon to Deputy Surgeon-General and author, William Tait, and his wife Emma, Tait entered the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in 1902. Following his graduation, Tait became a career naval officer, serving in the Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean and China. He became a friend of the royal household of King George V, serving as a mentor to his two oldest sons, the future kings Edward VIII and George VI. After serving in World War I, during which he was made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO), Tait married Katie Grenfell, daughter of Captain Hubert Grenfell, inventor of illuminated night sights for naval guns, on 3 November 1919. They had two daughters. Under the name Cynthia Tait (1894–1962) his wife became a well-known botanical illustrator, particularly of South African flowers.