The Papers of Rear-Admiral Edmund Nicholas Poland

Edmund Nicholas Poland was born on 19 February 1917, the son of Raymond Poland and Frances Olive Poland (née Weston, later Bayly-Jones). He was educated at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He married Pauline Ruth Margaret Pechell in 1941, with whom he had three sons and two daughters.

He joined the Royal Navy and served during the Abyssinian and Palestine crises and the Spanish Civil War. During the Second World War, he undertook convoy duties in Norwegian waters and served with motor torpedo boats in the Channel and the Mediterranean. He was Staff Officer (Operations) to the Naval Force Commander, Burma. He served in HMS Royalist and HMS Hornet, 1946, and was Flotilla Torpedo and Anti-Submarine Officer of Third Submarine Flotilla in HMS Montclare.

He was promoted Commander and joined the Air Warfare Division of the Admiralty, 1950, and the British Naval Staff in Washington, 1953. He attended the Joint Services Staff College, Latimer, 1955. He worked in the Directorate of Tactics and Ship Requirements at the Admiralty; commanded the Royal Naval Air Station, Abbotsinch, 1956; and was a member of the NATO Standing Group in Washington. He was promoted Captain, 1956. He was Director of Under Sea Warfare (Naval) at the Ministry of Defence, 1962, and Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, 1965-8. He was promoted Rear-Admiral, 1965.

He retired from the Navy in 1968.

He was awarded the CBE, 1962, and the CB, 1967.

His publications include: "The Torpedomen" (1992) and "Majumba's Survival" (1992).

Memoirs of HMS Vernon, 1872-1986

HMS Vernon, at Portsmouth, was a torpedo training ship, 1872-6, and the Royal Navy's Torpedo Branch, 1876-1986

The papers were given to Churchill Archives Centre by Rear-Admiral Edmund Nicholas Poland, 1986, 1991 and 1992.

The papers are 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 Rear-Admiral Edmund Nicholas Poland, PLND

Copies of the collection level description and catalogue are available at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, the National Register of Archives, London, and on the Janus website http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.

This collection level description was prepared by Sophie Bridges. The papers have been catalogued. Biographical information was obtained from "Who's Who 1897-1996".