Admiral Sir Charles Edward Madden, 2nd Baronet, GCB (15 June 1906 – 23 April 2001) followed his father in a career with the Royal Navy that culminated in his serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet from 1963 to 1965.
A recognized expert in gunnery, Madden helped in the introduction of radar into the Royal Navy. He participated in the Battle of Calabria, the Battle of Taranto, the Battle of Cape Matapan, and the Battle of Crete during the Second World War. Following the war, Madden introduced the General List for officers which abolished many of the distinctions between the executive and other branches within the Royal Navy. He also served as the Chief of Naval Staff of the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Following his retirement from the Royal Navy, Madden served as Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London from 1969 to 1981.
Early life and family
Charles Edward Madden was born on 15 June 1906, the son of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Madden, for whom the baronetcy was created in 1919. His mother Constance was a daughter of Sir Charles Cayzer, 1st Baronet, the distinguished shipowner, and his aunt Gwendoline had married Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe when he was a captain in 1902.
In May 1924 Midshipman Madden was appointed to the battleship Iron Duke, the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. He subsequently served on the heavy cruiser Kent, the flagship of the 5th Cruiser Squadron, on the China Station. Madden participated in the annual gatherings at the British-owned anchorage and island of Wei-hai-wei, visited Japan, and attended the funeral of Sun Yat-sen, the president of the Republic of China.
In 1932, Lieutenant Madden joined the battleship Queen Elizabeth as its second gunnery officer. He was subsequently appointed as the flotilla gunnery officer, on board the flagship Exmouth, while the destroyer flotilla served in the Mediterranean Sea during the Second Italo–Abyssinian War.
Newly promoted to lieutenant commander, Madden joined the cruiser Sussex as its gunnery officer in 1935. During the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, Madden was involved in running the lightly armoured train (making it vulnerable to attack by Arab terrorists) from Haifa to Samak as well as protecting army encampments with naval field guns landed from the Sussex and light cruiser Arethusa.
Influenced by Kent’s gunnery officer, the future Admiral Sir Philip Vian, Madden joined HMS Excellent Gunnery School at Portsmouth in September 1929 and qualified as an advanced gunnery officer ("dagger"). He returned to the Experimental Department at HMS Excellent Gunnery School as First Lieutenant in 1937. During this two-year stint, he was involved in the development of gunnery fire control systems and supervised the arrangement for the funeral of Admiral Sir William Fisher, the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.
Madden was promoted to commander in 1939 and was part of the pre-commissioning crew for the new battleship King George V, which was followed by staff work involving British operations in the Baltic Sea and research on the applications of shipboard radar.
Madden was cited for official praise involving his damage control, fire-fighting, and casualty-relief efforts aboard the Warspite and the cruiser Orion during the Battle of Crete.[1] An eyewitness account described Madden as being "cool, calm and collected, at least on the outside" during the battle and its aftermath.[2] Madden also sustained a neck injury during a German bombing attack against the Warspite on 23 June 1941.[3]
Madden undertook a two-year stint as the deputy director of the gunnery division within the Admiralty with the rank of acting captain. In late 1944, he took command of the escort aircraft carrier Emperor which, after convoy duty, operated against the Japanese bases in Burma, the Nicobars, and Sumatra as a unit of the Far East Fleet during the closing stages of the Burma campaign.
Madden was promoted rear admiral in 1955 and appointed deputy to Admiral Sir Charles Lambe, the Second Sea Lord. In this position, Madden introduced the General List for officers in 1956 which abolished many of the distinctions between the executive and other branches within the Royal Navy. From 1957 to 1959, Admiral Madden held the post of Flag Officer, Malta, with responsibilities for three squadrons of minesweepers, an amphibious warfare squadron, and a flotilla of submarines stationed on the island. In this capacity, he had to employ considerable diplomatic skill to maintain good relations with Dom Mintoff, the nationalistic prime minister of Malta.[1]
Madden subsequently served as Flag Officer, Flotillas, Home (FOFH), the flag officer of destroyers and frigates in the Home Fleet from 1959 to 1961. In the Autumn of 1960, under his command, British naval forces led by the aircraft carriers Ark Royal and Hermes participated in NATO exercises against units of the U.S. Second Fleet units, which included the nuclear-powered radar-picket submarine Triton.[5] Promoted to vice admiral in 1961, Madden served as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.
Madden also continued his life-long interest in painting, and he participated in numerous collective and one-man exhibitions at such venues as the Plymouth Art Club.[6] He was best known for landscape paintings and seascapes having been partially taught to paint as a child by William L. Wyllie. This occurred while accompanying his father, Sir Charles Madden, 1st Baronet, on board Royal Naval vessels near the end of the First World War, his father having brought his son to sea in 1918 as a means to protect him from the Spanish flu. Both Wyllie and Madden were on the British vessels escorting the German High Seas Fleet to internment at Scapa Flow.
He and his wife were involved in numerous charitable activities. His memoirs were privately printed in 1988.
Following his death, The Independent described Madden as being "a highly intelligent, thoughtful, caring and modest man. He was seldom ruffled and, like all successful admirals, was much admired by his men"[7] whose 40-year naval career, observed the Times of London, spanned "the big-gun battleship swagger of the imperial high noon to the steely realities of the Cold War."[8]
Personal life
Madden married Olive Robins in 1942 after a two-year engagement: she died in 1989.[1] They were survived by a daughter. Madden was succeeded in the baronetcy by his nephew, Peter John Madden, 3rd Baronet (1942–2006). Sir Peter was succeeded in turn in 2007 by his brother Charles Jonathan Madden, 4th Baronet (born 1949).[6]
Arms
Coat of arms of Sir Charles Madden, 2nd Baronet
Notes
Granted 30 October 1919 by George James Burtchaell, Deputy Ulster King of Arms.[9]
Crest
Out of a ducal coronet Gules a falcon rising Or holding in his beak a cross crosslet fitchée of the first.
Escutcheon
Quarterly 1st Sable a falcon with his wings expanded seizing on a mallard Argent beaked and membered Or on a chief of the last a cross botonnée Gules (Madden) 2nd Or a pile engrailed Sable (Waterhouse) 3rd Sable a chevron between in chief two escallops and in base a boar's head couped Argent (Travers) 4th Sable a saltire Argent (Duckett).
