Louis Keppel Hamilton

Admiral Sir Louis Henry Keppel Hamilton (31 December 1890 – 27 June 1957) was a senior Royal Navy officer who was Flag Officer in Malta (1943–1945) and later served as First Naval Member and Chief of Naval Staff of the Royal Australian Navy. During his early career he was generally known as L. H. Keppel Hamilton. Background and early life Hamilton was the first of the two sons of Admiral Sir Frederick Hamilton, who was Second Sea Lord during the First World War, by his marriage to Maria Walpole Keppel, a daughter of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Keppel. He grew up at Anmer Hall near King's Lynn in Norfolk. Two of his middle names were in honour of his notable grandfather, Henry Keppel. His paternal grandfather, Captain Henry George Hamilton (1808–1879), was also a Royal Navy officer, while his great grandfather, William Richard Hamilton (1777–1859), was an Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, British Minister to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and an archaeologist. An uncle, his mother's brother, became Admiral Sir Colin Richard Keppel. His grandfather's two eldest brothers were Augustus Keppel, 5th Earl of Albemarle and George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle. Naval career Hamilton joined the Royal Navy in 1908 with the rank of midshipman. On 30 June 1911, he was promoted sub-lieutenant, and on 30 June 1913 lieutenant.