Henry Blagrove

Rear-Admiral Henry Evelyn Charles Blagrove (26 April 1887 – 14 October 1939) was the first British Royal Navy officer of flag rank to be killed in the Second World War. An experienced staff officer and veteran of several actions of the First World War aboard the battlecruiser , Blagrove had only just received his appointment as commander of the 2nd Battleship Squadron of the Home Fleet when he was killed in the destruction of his flagship by . Biography Early life Henry Blagrove was born to Colonel Henry John Blagrove, CB of the 13th Hussars and Alice Evelyn Blagrove née Boothby at Harbledown, Kent in April 1887. His family owned the Blagrove Estate in the Browns Town & Orange Valley of St Ann's Jamaica. It had formerly been a slave plantation. In 1901 aged 14 he entered naval service and trained at , joining as a midshipman in 1903 aged 17. Three years later Blagrove departed the ship as a sub-lieutenant and over the next three years earned promotion to full lieutenant aboard several ships, including , and , the latter being the first of many appointments aboard capital ships.