Admiral Sir Charles Kingsmill | |
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Birth name | Charles Edmund Kingsmill |
Born | Guelph, Canada West (now Ontario) | 7 July 1855
Died | 15 July 1935 Portland, Ontario, Canada | (aged 80)
Allegiance | United Kingdom (1870–1908) Canada (1909–1921) |
Service/ | Royal Navy Royal Canadian Navy |
Years of service | 1870–1921 |
Rank | Admiral |
Commands held | HMS Cormorant HMS Goldfinch HMS Blenheim HMS Archer HMS Mildura HMS Scylla HMS Majestic HMS Dominion HMS Repulse |
Battles/wars | Anglo-Sudanese War Somaliland Campaign First World War |
Awards | Knight Bachelor Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy |
Admiral Sir Charles Edmund Kingsmill, CMG (7 July 1855 – 15 July 1935) was a Canadian-born naval officer and the first director of the Department of the Naval Service of Canada. After retiring from a career in the Royal Navy, he played a prominent role in the establishment of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in 1910. Along with Rear-Admiral Walter Hose, he is considered the father of the Royal Canadian Navy.[1]
Kingsmill was born at Guelph, Canada West (now Ontario) in 1855.[2] He was the son of John Juchereau Kingsmill, Crown Attorney for Wellington County, and Ellen Diana Grange. He was educated at Upper Canada College in Toronto.[3]
Kingsmill and his wife, Constance, were prominent figures in Ottawa's social life. She was active in various causes, including as a supporter of birth control. They lived in a large stone house which they named "Ballybeg" on Crescent Road in Rockcliffe, which was designed for them during World War I by Montreal architect H. C. Stone. When the house was built, Rockcliffe was outside city limits, and raising chickens and cattle was permitted. Since 1970, the house has been occupied by Tunisia's ambassadors to Canada.[17]
Kingsmill's cousin, Colonel Walter Bernard Kingsmill, the son of Admiral Kingsmill's uncle, Nicol Kingsmill, was head of the 10th Royal Grenadiers and led the 123rd Battalion on the front lines in France during the First World War.
Kingsmill's daughter Diana was an Olympic athlete and journalist, who married historian J. F. C. Wright.
Kingsmill House is named for him. The junior officer quarters building at Venture NOTC, the Canadian Naval Officer Training Centre, is named after him.