Hugo Pearson
Royal Navy Admiral (1843–1912)

Admiral

Sir Hugo Pearson

KCB
Admiral Sir Hugo Lewis Pearson
Born30 June 1843[1]
Barwell, Leicestershire, England
Died12 June 1912(1912-06-12) (aged 68)
Goodrich, Herefordshire, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Branch Royal Navy
Service years1855–1908
RankAdmiral
CommandsHMS St Vincent
HMY Osborne
HMS Colossus
HMS Excellent
HMS Collingwood
HMS Barfleur
Australia Station
Nore Command
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Admiral Sir Hugo Lewis Pearson, KCB (30 June 1843 – 12 June 1912) was a Royal Navy officer who served as both Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station and Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.

Early life and education

Hugo Lewis Pearson was born at Barwell,[2] into a notable Staffordshire family with a long tradition of service in India and the British Armed Forces. He was the grandson of John Pearson (1771–1841), a barrister and senior East India Company official who served as Advocate-General of Bengal from 1824 to 1840.[3] His father General Thomas Hooke Pearson CB (1806–1892) served as an ADC to the Earl Amherst, then Governor-General of India.[3] He married in 1837 Frances Elizabeth Ashby Mettam, eldest daughter of George Mettam, Rector of Barwell.[3][4]

Pearson attended private schools in Southwell, Nottinghamshire and Wimbledon, London.[2]

Pearson joined the Royal Navy in 1855, at the age of 12 years.[5] In his early career, he was promoted to Lieutenant on 14 September 1863 and only 3 weeks later, on 20 October, Captain Henry Boys reported on Pearson's "active conduct in a fire breaking out out in the Pelorus."[6] In February, 1865 Pearson destroyed piratical junks in Jungwa Bay.[6]

Pearson was promoted to Commander with seniority of 6 February 1872, and was promoted to the rank of Captain with seniority of 9 December 1879.[7]

He was Captain of the first-rate HMS St Vincent, the Royal yacht Osborne and the second-rate, HMS Colossus.[5] He went on to command the shore establishment HMS Excellent and, later, the battleships HMS Collingwood and HMS Barfleur.[5] Between 1892 and 1895 he was Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria,[8] and was the Rear Admiral of the Reserve Fleet during the Jubilee Review in 1897.[5]

In 1898 he became Commander in Chief, Australia Station and served as such for two years until late 1900, when he returned to the United Kingdom and bought Rocklands House in Goodrich, Herefordshire. On 19 March 1901, he was promoted to vice-admiral[9] and in 1903 he became Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, a post he held until 1907.[10] He retired on 30 June 1908.[11]

Personal life

In 1874 Pearson married Emily Frances Mary Key (1848–1930), second daughter of General George William Key (1812–1883) of the 15th Hussars.[2][12][13] The couple had two sons and a daughter who survived into adulthood: two other children died in infancy.[3] Their eldest son, Lieutenant Reginald William Pearson, was killed in 1900 in the Siege of Ladysmith during the Boer War[14] and his parents erected a memorial window in Goodrich Church in his honour.[15] His younger son was Vice-Admiral John Lewis Pearson CMG (1879–1965).[16]

Hugo Pearson died on 12 June 1912, aged 69. He left estate of the gross value of £51,971, with net personalty of £43,888.[6] His son John married in 1912 Phoebe Charlotte Beadon, daughter of Col. Cecil Beadon of Copthorne, and granddaughter of Cecil Beadon. He inherited Rocklands House.[17][18][19] Their son Thomas Cecil Hook Pearson (1914–2019) was a senior officer of the British Army who served as Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Northern Europe.[20]

Arms

Coat of arms of Hugo Pearson
Crest
In front of a demi-sun in splendour proper, a parrot's head erased argent, gorged with a collar nebuly azure[3]
Escutcheon
Per fesse nebuly, azure and sable, in chief, two suns in splendour, and in base, issuant from a mount, a sun-flower, stalked and leaved, all proper[3]
Orders
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB)

References

  1. ^ "Pearson, Hugo Lewis". The National Archives (UK). 1856. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Pearson, Adm. Sir Hugo Lewis". Who's Who. A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Crisp, Frederick Arthur, ed. (1902). Visitation of England and Wales. Vol. 10. London: Privately printed. pp. 73–77.
  4. ^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1891). "Mettam, George" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: James Parker – via Wikisource.
  5. ^ a b c d Obituary: Admiral Sir H L Pearson Evening Post, 14 June 2010
  6. ^ a b c "Dreadnought Project – Hugo Lewis Pearson". Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  7. ^ "ADM 196/86/27". Naval Officer's service record – Hugo L Pearson. National Archives. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  8. ^ "Obituary of Admiral Sir H L Pearson". Evening Post. 15 June 1919.
  9. ^ "No. 27297". The London Gazette. 22 March 1901. p. 2021.
  10. ^ Whitaker's Almanack 1904
  11. ^ "No. 28156". The London Gazette. 7 July 1908. p. 4940.
  12. ^ Boase, Frederic (1897). Modern English Biography. Vol. 2. Netherton and Worth, For the author. p. 213.
  13. ^ "Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes". 1912. p. 1330.
  14. ^ "Officers Died: South Africa 1899 – 1902". Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Memorials in St Giles Church Goodrich – South East window 22" (PDF). Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Dreadnought Project – John Lewis Pearson".
  17. ^ Crisp, Frederick Arthur, ed. (1914). Visitation of England and Wales. Vol. 18. London: Privately printed. p. liv.
  18. ^ "Will of Admiral Sir H. L. Pearson, K.C.B." Ross Gazette. 11 July 1912. p. 2.
  19. ^ "Colonel Beadon". Torquay Directory and South Devon Journal. 22 January 1913. p. 8.
  20. ^ "Obituary of General Sir Thomas Pearson". The Times. 17 December 2019.
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