Ragnar Colvin KBE CB
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Ragnar Musgrave Colvin KBE CB (1882 - 1954)

Adm Sir Ragnar Musgrave Colvin KBE CB
Born in Whitehall, London, Middlesex, Englandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 18 Mar 1918 in Dublin, Irelandmap
Descendants descendants
Died at age 71 in Royal Hospital, Haslar, Hampshire, Englandmap
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Profile last modified | Created 14 Jun 2015
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Contents

Biography

Life events

Ragnar Musgrave Colvin was born in 1882 in Whitehall, London, the son of Clement Sneyd Colvin, Esq. and Alice Jane Lethbridge.[1]
In 1885 when he was three-years-old, Ragnar's mother died, aged thirty-four years.[2]
On 18th March 1918, he married Frances Sybil Ferguson Kays, daughter of Brigadier-General Horace Francis Kays, C.B. and Emily Colvin. The marriage was solemnized in Dublin.[3][4]
Admiral Sir Ragnar Musgrave Colvin, R.N., K.B.E., C.B., died at Haslar, Hampshire, on the 22nd February 1954, aged seventy-one years.[1][5]

Career notes

Extract from Who’s Who in Australia (Knox, 1933):
COLVIN, Vice-Admiral Sir Ragnar Musgrave, K.B.E., C.B., First Naval Memb., Department of Defence, Melb.; 3rd son of late C.S. Colvin, C.S.I.; cadet H.M.S. Britannia, 1896; promoted Lieut., 1902; specialised in gunnery; Commander 1913; served in H.M.S. Revenge at Battle of Jutland; Capt., 1917, served at Admiralty as Asst. Dir. of Plans; Naval Attache for Japan & China, 1922-24; Flag Capt. to Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, Dir. Tactical Sch. at Portsmouth; Rear Admiral, 1929; Chief of Staff to Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, 1930-32; Rea[r] Admiral, 2nd Battle Squadron, 1932-33; Vice-Admiral, 1934; Vice-Admiral, commanding R.N. War College, Greenwich, 1934-37; 1st Naval Member C’wealth Naval Bd., 1937; m. 1918 Sybil, y.d. Brig.-Gen. H.S. Kayes [sic], 1s., 1 d.; club, United Service, Lond.; address, Dept. of Defence, Melb., Vic.[6]
Vice-Admiral Colvin was lent to the Australian Government, to fill the post of First Naval Member of the Commonwealth Naval Board from 1937-39.[7]

Census enumerations

1891 census (England):
  • Clement S Colvin, head, widower, age 4[6]; Assistant Secretary, India Office; born in Paddington, London
  • Ragnar M., son, age 8, scholar; born in Westminster, London
  • Eleanor O. [or C.], daughter, age 7, scholar; born in do.
  • Jane Gooding, visitor, single, age [6]9, Living on her own means; born in Londonderry, Ireland
  • household servants (3)
  • census place: 10 Victoria Road, Clapham, London.[8]
When the 1901 census was enumerated, Midshipman Ragnar M Colvin—single, age 18 years, born in Whitehall, London—was aboard H.M.S. Warspite, C.R. Keppel, C.B., D.S.O., commanding, in the Pacific. Warspite was described as a “2nd class ship; armoured cruiser 1st class.”[9]
In 1911, Lieutenant Ragnar M Colvin was in the Commissioned Officers Block of the Royal Naval Barracks at Gillingham, Kent. He was age 28 years, single, and born in London, Middlesex.[10]

News extracts

Australian post, 1937-39

News extract from the Portsmouth Evening News, 6 September 1937:
Admiral Lent to Australia.
The Admiralty announces that Vice-Admiral Sir Ragnar Musgrave Colvin is to be lent to the Government of Australia for duty as First Naval Member of the Commonwealth Naval Board in the vacancy caused by the death of Admiral Sir Frances Hyde. Vice-Adml. Colvin’s appointment dates from next Saturday, and he will leave England in the Orient liner Orontes on September 25, arriving in Melbourne on Nov. 1.
Vice-Admiral Colvin is a gunner specialist. During the War he served as executive officer of the battleships Hibernia and Revenge, being in the latter ship at the Battle of Jutland.
For two years, until February last, he held the combined posts of President of the Royal Naval College and Vice Admiral commanding the Royal Naval War College at Greenwich.[7]

Legacy

Autobiography

Colvin, Sir Ragnar Musgrave. Memoirs of Admiral Sir Ragnar Musgrave Colvin, K.B.E., C.B., 1882–1954. Hampshire: P.E. Balfour, Wintershill Publications, 1992.

Research notes

  • Ragnar Musgrave Colvin and Frances Sybil Ferguson Kays were first cousins, once removed. ~Kilpatrick-1128

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 Primrose, B.N. “Colvin, Sir Ragnar Musgrave (1882–1954).” In Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. VIII (MUP), hardcopy version pub. 1981. Citing: (i) G. H. Gill, Royal Australian Navy, 1939-42 (Canb, 1957); (ii) Reveille (Sydney), Nov 1937; (iii) Times (London), 24 Feb 1954, p 10, 2 Mar 1954, p 10, 5 Mar 1954, p 10; (iv) Sydney Morning Herald, 25 Feb 1954; (v) B. N. Primrose, Australian Naval Policy 1919–1942. A Case Study in Empire Relations (Ph.D. thesis, Australian National University, 1974); (vi) AA1971/216, A2031, A2585, MP124/6, MP692, MP981, MP1049 series 3, 5, 7, 9 (National Archives of Australia). Online version hosted by Australian National University, at adb.anu.edu.au/biography/colvin-sir-ragnar-musgrave-5744 (accessed by Alison Kilpatrick, 2018-06-30.
  2. Pall Mall Gazette, 1 April 1885 (pg 6). Death notice: “COLVIN, Alice Jane, the beloved wife of Clement Sneyd Colvin, Esq., India Office, S.W., March 31.” Digital image online at The British Newspaper Archive, britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk (accessed by subscription, and transcribed by Alison Kilpatrick, 2018-08-23).
  3. Army and Navy Gazette, 9 March 1918 (pg 11). Engagement announcement: “Captain R.M. Colvin and Sibyl, younger daughter of Brigadier-General and Mrs. H.F. Kays, of 6, Burlington Road, Dublin, are shortly to be married. Captain Colvin is the youngest son of the late Clement Sneyd Colvin, C.S.I.” Digital image online at The British Newspaper Archive, britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk (accessed by subscription, and transcribed by Alison Kilpatrick, 2018-08-23).
  4. General Record Office, Ireland. Civil registration of a marriage. Ragnar Musgrave Colvin, full age, bachelor; Captain, Royal Navy; resident of 31 Half Moon St., London; son of Clement S. Colvin, Indian Civil Service; and Frances Sibyl Kays, full age, spinster; resident of 6 Raglan Road, Dublin; daughter of Horace Kays, Brigadier-General; married 18th April 1918 according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of Ireland, by licence, by F.W. Mervyn, Canon; witnesses: H.F. Kays, R.G. Hooper, Arthur V. Willcox, J.H. Greer. Archival ref. nos. 005523119/24. Digital image online at Irish Genealogy, hosted by the Department of Culture, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht, www.civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie (accessed by Alison Kilpatrick, 2018-08-29).
  5. Index of civil registrations of deaths, England. Ragnar M Colvin, aged 71 years, 1st quarter ending 31st March 1954, Gosport RD (Hampshire), vol. 6b, pg 347. Index and digital image online at FreeBMD, www.freebmd.org.uk (accessed by Alison Kilpatrick, 2018-08-29).
  6. Knox, Errol G. Who’s Who in Australia 1933-34. VIIIth Edition. “Colvin, Vice-Admiral Sir Ragnar Musgrave, K.B.E, C.B. (pg 133.) Melbourne: The Herald Press, 1934.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Portsmouth Evening News, 6 September 1937 (pg 6). “Admiral Lent to Australia.” Vice-Admiral Sir Ragnar Musgrave Colvin. Digital image online at The British Newspaper Archive, britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk (accessed by subscription, and transcribed by Alison Kilpatrick, 2018-08-29).
  8. England 1891 Census. Clement S Colvin, widower, age 46, with children, Ragnar M (8) and Eleanor O. (or C.) (7), in Clapham, London. Original records: Census Returns of England & Wales, 1891 (Kew, Surrey: The National Archives of the UK, 1891); sub-registration district: Clapham, enumeration district no. 1, civil parish of Clapham; PRO ref. RG12, piece 440, folio 11. Digital image online at ancestry.ca (accessed by Alison Kilpatrick by subscription, 2018-08-23).
  9. England 1901 Census. Ragnar M Colvin, age 18, midshipman, aboard HMS Warspite, in the Pacific. Original record: Census Returns for England & Wales, 1911 (Kew, Surrey: National Archives of the UK, 1911), PRO ref. RG 13, piece 5335, folio 112, registration district: Royal Navy at sea and in ports abroad, subregistration district: RN Ships; enumeration district no. 1, pg. 2, household schedule 1. Digital image online at ancestry.ca (accessed by Alison Kilpatrick 2018-08-29, by subscription).
  10. England 1911 Census. Lieut. Ragnar M Colvin, RN, age 28, in Gillingham, Kent. Original record: Census Returns for England & Wales, 1911 (Kew, Surrey: National Archives of the UK, 1911), PRO ref. RG 14, registration district: Medway, sub-registration district: Gillingham, enumeration district no. 32-35, piece 3961. Digital image online at ancestry.ca (accessed by Alison Kilpatrick 2018-08-29, by subscription).

Acknowledgements

  • ... with thanks to Eric Daly for opening this profile page, 14th June 2015.

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