List of Cornish soldiers, commanders and sailors explained

This is a list of Cornish people who were notable soldiers, seamen or airmen.

Army and Air Force officers and other ranks

• Major Arthur Agar-Robartes, British Army officer and cricketer
• Captain Thomas Agar-Robartes, British Army officer and MP
• Harold "Harry" Billinge (died 2022), sapper, D-Day veteran^[1]
• Colonel James Carne VC DSO, British Army officer
• John Gilbert "Jack" Cock DCM MM, soldier and footballer
• Horace Augustus Curtis VC, British soldier
• Robert Davies, Lieutenant of the Royal Engineers awarded the G.C. for bomb-disposal in 1940 saving St. Paul's Cathedral.
• John Enys, British soldier during the American Revolution.
• James Fynn VC, British soldier
• Lieutenant Colonel Sidney Godolphin, soldier and Member of Parliament
• Captain Albert Jacka VC, MC and Bar, the first Australian to win the VC at Gallipoli (his family migrated to Victoria from St Buryan)
• Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Arthur Olver, British army officer and expert on animal husbandry
• Rick Rescorla, U.S. war hero and 9/11 victim (1939–2001)
• Sergeant Steven Roberts, the first soldier to die in the invasion of Iraq
• Captain George Symons VC, DCM, artillery officer
• Sir John Trelawny, 1st Baronet, soldier in the English Civil War
• Captain Arthur Tremayne, soldier in the Crimean War; MP for Truro
• Captain Robert Walling, Royal Garrison Artillery

Airmen

• Wing Commander Guy Gibson of The Dambusters.
• Charles Reep, airman and inventor of the long ball in soccer
• Nigel Tangye, airman, author and hotelier at Newquay^{[2] [3]}
• Geoffrey Wellum, DFC, fighter pilot and author

Commanders

• Sir John Arundell, Cornish Royalist commander
• Colonel Edward Bolitho, British Army officer
• Major-General Charles Edward-Collins, British Indian Army officer.^[4]
  • Major-General Sir Wyndham Childs, British Army officer and Assistant Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis Sir Walter Gilbert, 1st Baronet, general
• Bevil Grenville, Cornish Royalist commander
• Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet (or Granville) (1600 - 1658), Cornish Royalist leader during the English Civil War
• Major General Sir Gerald Kitson, British Army officer
• Philip Melvill, Governor of Pendennis Castle, Falmouth
• William Scawen, Royalist commander in the English Civil War
• Major-General Sir William Penn Symons KCB, British Army officer
• Richard Trant (d. 2007), general in the British army
• John Trevanion, Cornish Royalist commander
• John Johns Trigg, officer in the Virginia militia, American Civil War
• Stephen Trigg, brother of John, politician and officer in the Virginia militia, American Civil War
• David Tyacke, GOC Singapore District, last Commanding Officer of the DCLI
• James Howard Williams (Elephant Bill), lieutenant-colonel in the British Indian Army and elephant expert
• Sir Charles Wills, British Army general and politician

Airmen

• Air Chief Marshal Sir Alec Coryton, Royal Air Force officer
• Air Commodore John Grigson DSO, DFC, Royal Air Force

Seamen

• John Eliot, captain in the Royal Navy and Governor of West Florida
• James Erisey, privateer
• Captain William Hennah, RN
• Robert Peverell Hichens, DSO, DSC, lieutenant commander, RNVR
• William Hicks, Lieut. RN
• Sir Edward Nicholl, commander, RNR
• William Odgers, VC, sailor in New Zealand
• Ernest Herbert Pitcher, VC, petty officer in the Royal Navy
• Spry family, of St Anthony in Roseland: several members of the family were commanders in the Royal Navy
• John St Aubyn, 4th Baron St Levan, hereditary peer and decorated Royal Navy officer
• Walter Tremenheere KH (1761-1855), colonel of marines^[5]
• James Trevenen, captain in the Russian Navy; officer in the Royal Navy
• Joseph Trewavas, VC, seaman in the Royal Navy
• Mark Versallion, lieutenant, RNR
• Samuel Wallis, commander in the Royal Navy and explorer of the Pacific
• Charles Bampfield Yule, lieutenant, RN

Admirals

• Sir John Arundell of Lanherne alias John Fitzalan, 1st Baron Arundel (died 1379), naval commander and Lord Marshal of England
• Sir John Arundell, admiral, known as 'Jack of Tilbury'
• William Bligh, captain of, botanist, governor of New South Wales, Royal Navy admiral
• Edward Boscawen, Royal Navy admiral
• Sir Frederick Edward-Collins, Admiral RN; Acting Governor and Commander in Chief of the Fortress of Gibraltar
  • Sir Frank Hopkins, Royal Navy Admiral, a former captain of the aircraft carrier Rear-Admiral Bartholomew James (1752 – 1828), naval officer and writer
• Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, Royal Navy admiral
• Admiral Barrington Reynolds, RN, notable for an anti-slavery expedition
• Rear-Admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds, RN^[6]
• Sir Bartholomew Sulivan, Royal Navy admiral and hydrographer
• Rear-Admiral Thomas Ball Sulivan, Royal Navy officer
• Richard Darton Thomas, Royal Navy admiral
• Sir John Forster "Sandy" Woodward, Royal Navy admiral

See also

• Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry officers
• Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry soldiers

Notes and References

1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-60998335 Harry Billinge: Cornwall D-Day veteran dies aged 96
2. Teach Yourself To Fly; by Squadron Leader Nigel Tangye, R.A.F.O. (1941) (Reprinted by Hodder, 2008;)
3. Tangye began his service career in the Royal Navy.
4. Who Was Who
5. The Dictionary of National Biography; the Concise Dictionary from the beginnings to 1930. London: Oxford University Press, 1939; p. 1313
6. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23436/23435?docPos=4 Reynolds, Robert Carthew