Sir Frank Larken | |
---|---|
Born | 15 November 1875 Lincoln, Lincolnshire[1] |
Died | 21 January 1953 Wandsworth, London | (aged 77)
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | Royal Navy |
Years of service | 1889–1933 |
Rank | Admiral |
Commands held | HMS Doris HMS Valiant |
Battles/wars | World War I |
Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George |
Admiral Sir Frank Larken KCB CMG (15 November 1875 – 21 January 1953) was a Royal Navy officer who became Naval Secretary.[2]
Larken was born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, the middle son of Eliza Larken and solicitor Francis Roper Larken. He was the grandson of Edmund Larken and brother of Hubert Larken, Archdeacon of Lincoln.[2]
In 1889, he entered HMS Britannia as a naval cadet. His desire to go to sea was encouraged by early experience boating with his brothers on Foss Dyke, he told a crowd in 1935: "I do not know that I showed any more aptitude for the sea then than they did, but one day, in a fishing boat at Filey, anchored off the Brig in a nasty swell with a cross tide, they were both very sick a good half-hour before I was. Encouraged by that, the prospect of brass buttons and the fact that midshipman received a salary, which afterwards turned out to mainly illusory, I welcomed the suggestion of my parents that 1 should follow a sea life."[3]
In 1909, he married Victoria Alexandrina Rawson, the daughter of Commander Wyatt Rawson. They had two sons and two daughters. Their son Francis became a Royal Navy captain and Deputy Director of Naval Ordnance at the Admiralty. Their son Nigel was killed in action in 1941 aboard HMS Dolphin.[15][2]