Admiral Sir Robert Henry Taunton Raikes KCB CVO DSO (23 August 1885 – 24 May 1953) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station.
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Early life and education
Raikes was born in Chislehurst, Kent, the fifth son of Robert Taunton Raikes, and his wife, Rosa Margaret Cripps. He was educated at Radley College and aboard HMS Britannia in September 1900.
Naval career
Raikes joined the Royal Navy in 1900, and as a midshipman was in February 1903 posted to the battleship HMS Caesar, serving in the Mediterranean Fleet. He served in World War I, earning the DSO in 1916, and went on to be Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth before becoming Director of the Royal Navy Staff College at Greenwich in 1932. He was made Chief of Staff of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1934 and Admiral in charge on a temporary basis at Alexandria in Egypt during the Abyssinian war in 1936 before becoming Rear Admiral Submarines in 1936. He served in World War II initially as Vice Admiral commanding the Reserve Fleet destroyers on the Northern Patrol before becoming Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station in 1940. He went on to be Flag Officer, Aberdeen from 1942 to 1944.
He lived at Mantyley Chase in Newent in Gloucestershire.