The Papers of Captain Godfrey Alexander French

Biographical history of French:

1 July 1900, Born

1913-16, Cadet at R.N. College Osborne, Dartmouth and Keyham.

1916, Midshipman in HMS Emperor of India in Grand Fleet

1917, Sub-Lieutenant and First Lieutenant of HMS Nith

1919-20, Undergraduate at Selwyn College, Cambridge

1920, Technical courses in navigation, gunnery etc.

1920-22, HMS Orion and HMS Valiant

1922, Specialised in Long Navigation Course

1923-29, Navigating Officer of various HM Ships on Home and Africa Station, including Cadet -Training Ship

1926, Advanced Navigation Specialist Course

1926-28, Teaching and Directing Staff of HM Navigation School

1929, Navigating Officer of cruiser HMS Lowestoft, Africa Station

1930-31, R.N. Staff College, Greenwich Tactical and Ship Handling Course

1931-34, Navigating Officer aircraft carrier HMS Glorious, Mediterranean Station

1934-36, Commander, Fleet Navigating Officer and Staff Officer Operations, American and West Indies Station

1937-39, Member of the Directing and Teaching Staff, R.N. Staff College, Greenwich

1939-40, Executive Officer and 2nd in Command HMS Furious, Norwegian Campaign and Atlantic Operations

1940-42, Captain, Senior Naval Member of Executive Planning Section of Joint Planning Staff under Chief of Staff's Committee.

1942-43, Commanding cruiser HMS Hawkins, Eastern Fleet in Indian Ocean

1943-44, Commodore, director of Training Royal Indian Navy

1944-46, Deputy Director of Plans, Admiralty

1946, Imperial Defence Course

1944-47, Chief of Staff to Naval Commander in Field Marshal Lord Montgomery's major staff exercise "Spearhead"

1947-48, Commanding HMS Norfolk, Flagship of East Indies Station

1949, Tactical School

1950, Retired from active service. Working for Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty

1951, C.B.E.

1951-54, created Commodore and re-employed as Chief of Staff and Commander- in-Chief, Indian Navy

1954-62, Admiralty Regional Officer for S. W. Region, Bristol

1962-78, In Hydrographic Department revising Sailing Directive (16 volumes)

1 July 1978, Retired from the employment of the Royal Navy on his 78th birthday

The papers cover Captain French's career from 1930, when he attended the R.N. Staff College at Greenwich, until his retirement in 1978.

Captain French deposIted the first part of his collection at Churchill College in 1976, following this in 1978 with a second and larger consignment

The papers are owned by Churchill College, Cambridge.

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holder and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Captain Godfrey Alexander French, GDFR

Captain French has deposited the papers relating to his work for the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty (1962-1978) with the National Maritime Museum, London.

Copies of this catalogue are available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, at the National Register of Archives, London, and on the JANUS website http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.

This collection (fonds) level description and catalogue was prepared by Andrew Riley of Churchill Archives Centre in March 2005. Additional information was taken from the original catalogue compiled at Churchill Archives Centre.