Hugh Haggard Explained

Hugh Alfred Vernon Haggard
Birth Date:21 June 1908
Death Date:17 November 1991 (aged 83)
Birth Place:Stock, Essex, England
Death Place:Northamptonshire, England
Rank: Commander
Commands:HMS H44 (1939 - 1940)
HMS Truant (1940 - 1943)
Awards:Distinguished Service Order (1942)
Distinguished Service Cross (1941)
Spouse:Lydia Constance Watson Haggard
Relations:Sir Vernon Harry Stuart Haggard
Sir Godfrey Digby Napier Haggard
Sir Henry Rider Haggard

Hugh Alfred Vernon Haggard, DSO, DSC (21 June 1908  - 17 November 1991)[1] was a Royal Navy officer who commanded, a T-class submarine, during World War II. Truant was one of the most successful of Britain's undersea prowlers during that war.

Background

A member of the Haggard family, he was the only son of Admiral Sir Vernon Harry Stuart Haggard and his wife Dorothy Booker Ellis Haggard, having been born on 21 June 1908 in Stock, Essex.[2] [3] [4] His father was Commander-in-Chief of the America and West Indies Station. Hugh Haggard was the nephew of diplomat Sir Godfrey Digby Napier Haggard, who served as British Consul General at New York during World War II.[5] [6] [7] He was also the grandnephew of prolific author Sir Henry Rider Haggard, who attained literary fame with his romances King Solomon's Mines and .[6] [8] [9]

Naval career

At 6inchesft5inchesin (ftin), Haggard was one of the tallest submarine officers in the Royal Navy.[9] By 15 September 1925, he had become a cadet and was serving in the battleship, of the Atlantic Fleet.[10] [11] He was a midshipman by 15 May 1926, and aboard the battlecruiser by 3 December 1926.[12] [13] By 1 September 1928, Haggard was an acting sub-lieutenant.[14] That year, he attended the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.[15] On 1 July 1929, Acting Sub-Lieutenant Haggard was promoted to sub-lieutenant and, in 1931, he served aboard the cruiser .[16] [17] [18] On 2 December 1931, he became a lieutenant, continuing to serve on the Cardiff.[19] [20] [21] By 17 May 1934, he was a lieutenant on the submarine, which had just been launched that year.[22] [23] [24] By 1937, Haggard was serving as lieutenant aboard the submarine of the 4th Submarine Flotilla.[25] [26] Haggard assumed command of the H-class submarine in 1939, which he retained until 1940. In December 1939, he was promoted to lieutenant commander.[27]

Haggard assumed command of HMS Truant in the spring of 1940, succeeding Lieutenant Commander Christopher Haynes Hutchinson.[28] [29] In September 1940, Truant became one of the first T-class submarines to arrive in the Mediterranean. Truant, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Haggard, sank Provvidenza on 22 September 1940, during the course of her first Mediterranean patrol. In December of that year, an Admiralty communiqué indicated that: "His majesty's submarine Truant (Lieut. Com. H. A. V. Haggard) has been operating with great success against the Italian sea communications off the south of Italy." The vessel had sunk at least one of the enemy supply ships in an escorted convoy off Cape Spartivento on the night of 13–14 December 1940. Two nights later, Truant successfully torpedoed an Italian tanker, which sank off the Calabrian coast.[30] [31]

From her arrival in September 1940 to her departure from the Mediterranean in December 1941, at which time the vessel headed for the Far East, Truant completed eleven Mediterranean patrols. During that time, the submarine sank eight merchant vessels and a small destroyer, which totalled 27,553 tons. In addition, Truant was credited with a naval auxiliary weighing 1,080 tons, which was said to have "died of fright" and run aground (Truant's torpedoes never made contact with the ship.) In May 1941, Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham indicated that "the operations of HMS/M Truant have been a model of daring and enterprise, tempered with just the right degree of caution."[32] Lieutenant Commander Haggard was twice mentioned in despatches, on 14 January 1941 and 14 October 1941.[33] [34] That same year, on 12 August 1941, he was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross.[35] On 17 March 1942, he was appointed as a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order "for bravery and enterprise while serving in H.M.S. Truant during successful Submarine patrols."[36]

In December 1942, Truant, commanded by Haggard and described at that time as "the most successful British submarine," returned to Britain after an 80,000-mile, two and a half-year mission in which the vessel was credited with sinking or damaging at least 20 Axis ships. The vessel flew the Jolly Roger, with four stars and sixteen white bars, representing vessels successfully attacked with guns and torpedoes, respectively. Truant had seen action in the Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean, and Java Sea.[9] [37] [38] On 31 December 1942, Lieutenant Commander Haggard was promoted to commander.[39] He was in command of the Truant until 1943, when he transferred to the Elfin.[40]

By January 1945, Haggard served on the submarine depot ship Medway II.[41] He was a commanding officer for submarines with another submarine depot ship,, from September 1945.[42] He was executive officer of from 16 March 1947.[43] Commander Haggard retired from the Royal Navy on 19 November 1953 for medical reasons.[44]

Later life

Haggard married Lydia Constance Watson in 1957.[45] In 1973, he served as master of the Clothworkers' Company.[46] He was widowed on 11 March 1984.[47] [48] Retired Commander Hugh Haggard died in November 1991 in Northamptonshire.[3]

Legacy

On 15 December 1942, Lieutenant Commander Haggard was interviewed by the BBC[49] and in 1985 he was interviewed for the Imperial War Museums[50] where copies of both interviews are kept but are not (as of April 2013) available online.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: 25 November 1991. Commander Hugh Haggard. 16. The Times. 64186.
  2. Web site: Haggard. Hugh. 1911 England Census. Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (as reprinted on Ancestry.com).
  3. Web site: Haggard. Hugh Alfred. England & Wales, Death Index, 1916-2006. General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes (as reprinted on Ancestry.com).
  4. Book: Armorial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour (Volume 1). 214. Arthur Charles Fox-Davies. 12 Apr 2013.
  5. News: G. D. N. Haggard Named, Appointed British Consul-General at New York. 10 Apr 2013. The Montreal Gazette. 10 Jun 1938. 12.
  6. Book: A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 1. 1894. Harrison. 9780394487267. 851. Sir Bernard Burke. 8. Ashworth Peter Burke. 10 Apr 2013. Bernard Burke.
  7. Book: The Churchill War Papers: The Ever-Widening War, 1941. 2001. W. W. Norton & Company. 9780393019599. 692. Sir Winston Churchill. Martin Gilbert . 10 Apr 2013. Martin Gilbert. Sir Winston Churchill.
  8. Web site: H. Rider Haggard. Oxford Bibliographies. 10 Apr 2013. Roger Luckhurst.
  9. News: Rider Haggard's Kinsman Brings Submarine Home. 11 Apr 2013. The Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, WI. 16 Dec 1942. 3.
  10. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists, as reprinted on Ancestry.com. 265A. Jan–Mar 1926.
  11. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 26. Jan–Mar 1926.
  12. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 26. Jan 1928.
  13. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 262. Jul 1927.
  14. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 26. Feb 1929.
  15. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 310. Feb 1929.
  16. News: The London Gazette. 10 Apr 2013. 28 Mar 1930. 1962.
  17. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 26. Jul 1931.
  18. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 222. Jul 1931.
  19. Web site: The London Gazette. 11 Apr 2013. 7907. 8 Dec 1931.
  20. Web site: The London Gazette. 10 Apr 2013. 2141. 1 Apr 1932.
  21. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 26. Jan 1933.
  22. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 27. Jul 1934.
  23. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 274. Jul 1934.
  24. Web site: Our Latest Submarine. British Pathé. 11 Apr 2013. 1934.
  25. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 27. Jul 1937.
  26. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 270. Jul 1937.
  27. Web site: Haggard. Hugh Alfred Vernon. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 328. 1 Dec 1939.
  28. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 1272. Apr 1941.
  29. Web site: Supplement to the London Gazette. 11 Apr 2013. 2786. 9 May 1940.
  30. News: Thrilling Stories of Under-Sea Warfare; Britain's Submarine Ace No. 1. 10 Apr 2013. The Sunday Times. 1 Mar 1942.
  31. News: Sink Supply Ship. State-Times, Baton Rouge, LA (as reprinted on Genealogybank.com). 6. 20 Dec 1940.
  32. Book: The T-class Submarine: The Classic British Design. Naval Institute Press. 80. Paul Kemp. 10 Apr 2013. 1 Oct 1990. 9781557508263.
  33. Web site: Supplement to the London Gazette. 11 Apr 2013. 260. 14 Jan 1941.
  34. Web site: Fourth Supplement to the London Gazette. 11 Apr 2013. 5949. 14 Oct 1941.
  35. Web site: Supplement to the London Gazette. 12 Apr 2013. 4649. 12 Aug 1941.
  36. Web site: Second Supplement to the London Gazette. 11 Apr 2013. 1207. 17 Mar 1942.
  37. I Was There! - Our 80,000 Miles in the Triumphant Truant. The War Illustrated. 22 Jan 1943. 6. 146. 509.
  38. News: British Sub Ends 80,000 Mile Trip; H. M. S. Truant, Under Haggard Command, Hit 20 Ships. Trenton Evening Times, Trenton, NJ (as reprinted on Genealogybank.com). 16 Dec 1942. 6.
  39. News: The London Gazette. 10 Apr 2013. 5 Jan 1943. 179.
  40. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 2248. February 1944.
  41. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 77. Jan 1945.
  42. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 2745. Oct 1945.
  43. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 1093. Oct 1948.
  44. Web site: Haggard. H A V. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970. British Navy Lists (as reprinted on Ancestry.com). 663. 1954.
  45. Web site: Haggard. Hugh A V. England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1916-2005. General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes (as reprinted on Ancestry.com).
  46. Web site: List of Masters. The Clothworkers' Company. 12 Apr 2013.
  47. Web site: The London Gazette. 12 Apr 2013. 6862. 15 May 1984.
  48. Web site: Haggard. Lydia Constance. London, England, Death Notices from The Times, 1982-1988. The Times. London, England (as reprinted on Ancestry.com).
  49. Web site: IWM interview - Hugh Alfred Vernon Haggard. Imperial War Museums. 11 Apr 2013.
  50. Web site: IWM interview - British officer commanded submarines H44 in GB coastal waters, 1939-1940 and HMS Truant in North Sea, Mediterranean and Far East, 1940-1943. Imperial War Museums. 11 Apr 2013. 29 October 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194840/http://m.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80008783. dead.