Francis Albert Seward, RNR

Born  8 Sep 1908
Died  17 Jun 1982(73)


If you can help with photo or any information on this Officer please
use our comment form
.

Ranks

28 Feb 1940 T/S.Lt.
29 May 1940 T/Lt.
??? T/A/Lt.Cdr.

Decorations

Warship Commands listed for Francis Albert Seward, RNR


ShipRankTypeFromTo
HMS Lincoln CityT/S.Lt.ASW Trawler18 Mar 194021 Feb 1941
HMS ThorbrynT/Lt.ASW Whaler20 Mar 1941mid 1941
HMS Lydiard (FY 177)T/Lt.ASW TrawlerSep 1941mid 1944 ?

Career information

Officer Cadet training for the merchant service on HMS Worcester from the age of 14 to 16. Thereafter served with Booth line until 1930. Joined the Metropolitan Police in 1930 and by the start of WW2 was a sergeant in the River Police. He volunteered for the RNR at the outbreak of war and in February 1940 was appointed to HMS Osprey at Portland for anti-submarine training. After that he was put in command of HMS Lincoln City. In September 1940 he was sent to the Faroes where he stayed until the Lincoln City was sunk in February 41. He was subsequently appointed to HMS Thorbryn and sent first to Cape Town then to Alexandria. He was taken ill in Alexandria and another officer took his place. This unfortunate man was ill briefed and tried to take the ship into Tobruk in daylight. The ship was sunk and all survivors taken prisoner. Frank was then put in command of HMS Lydiard which he joined in Haifa. In 1942 he was appointed Staff Officer, Intelligence in Aden where he stayed for the next two years. In 1945 he was one of the first Naval officers to enter Hamburg whent he city surrendered. Frank spent about two years in Control Commission with responsibility for re-establishing the water police in the Hamburg and Keil areas. In 1947 he returned to the UK to the Metropolitan Police as a sergeant. He rose to the rank of Superintendent and was then appointed Commandant of the Police Training Centre for North West England. In 1959 he was asked to take on the job on Officer in Charge of the Admiralty Police in Malta. He retired from the Met in order to do this and from January 1960 to May 1965 was on the island. He was then appointed Chief Constable of the Admiralty Police, based in London. In 1970/1 when the three services were amalgamated as the Ministry of Defence, their civilian Police forces were also combined. Frank took on the role of Chief Constable of the MOD police with the proviso that he would ensure it was set up and then retire for a younger man to take over. True to his word he retired in 1972.

Events related to this officer

No events found for this officer. This may be due to unknown dates of command (we pull ship events to their respective commander pages).


You can help improve officers Francis Albert Seward's page
Click here to Submit events/comments/updates for this officer.
Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve his page.

Allied Commanders main page