| From the 18th to the 20th Century
Captain H.Steuart.M.Harrison-Wallace, DSO, RN, 1883-1963, was the youngest son of James Harrison, Custos of St Thomas in the East, Jamaica. He went to sea as a Midshipman in 1903, and was commissioned Sub-Lieutenant in 1910. In 1914 he registered the name of Harrison-Wallace with the Lord Lyon King-at-Arms, thereby adding his paternal grandfather's name to that of his father. In the same year, 1914, he served as Gunnery Commander in HMS Emperor of India. Subsequently in this war he commanded HMS Caledon with the Grand Fleet, and was mentioned in despatches. In 1923 he retired as Captain, rejoining the Navy in 1939. In 1940 he took part in the Norwegian Expeditionary Force, and was awarded the DSO. In 1941 he was Captain of HMS Quebec, and in 1942 was appointed to Headquarters Staff of Combined Operations and Admiralty Naval Staff. In 1944 he took part in the invasion of Normandy as Captain of Landing Barges, reverting to the retired RN list in 1945. On 24th June 1963, he died in Scotland while salmon fishing.In the four or five years before his death in 1963 I came to know Steuart well, and frequently stayed with him and his wife, my Aunt Barbara, at their house in Carlyle Square. On one occasion he mentioned this incident to me and described in graphic detail how he had recovered from the shock of the shell's entry to find his head and body covered in the unfortunate signalman's entrails. Not until lighting by chance on this passage from The Habit of Victory by Peter Hore, as a result of the book reviews by N.A.M.Rodger in The Guardian of 15th October, 2005, however, did I realise that it had happened in November, 1917. The excerpt comes from the autobiography of Admiral Sir Walter Cowan.See here for the naval careers of Commander S.T.C.Harrison & Captain H.S.M.Harrison-Wallace. |
