Aubrey Clare Hugh Smith

Admiral Sir Aubrey Clare Hugh Smith KCVO KBE CB (22 September 1872 – 6 October 1957) was a Royal Navy officer who saw active service in the First World War and the Greco-Turkish War. In the mid-1920s he was Naval Representative to the League of Nations.

Early life and career The son of Hugh Colin Smith (1836–1910), who later became Governor of the Bank of England, by his marriage to Constance Maria Josepha Adeane, and the grandson of John Abel Smith (1802–1871), a banker and member of parliament, the young Smith joined the Royal Navy in 1885 as a midshipman, at the age of thirteen.

In 1893 Smith was promoted lieutenant. From 1908 to 1911 he was Naval Attaché at Saint Petersburg. While there, in 1909 he was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order and in 1910 was promoted captain. and from July 1914 commanded the armoured cruiser . In October 1914, his ship was sent to bring Russian gold worth eight million pounds to Britain; on arrival, Drake lay thirty miles off Archangel, and the gold was brought to her at night. However, the operation was known to the Germans. In October 1915, the ship was refitted and transferred to the North America and West Indies Station for convoy duties.

In November 1916 Smith was transferred to command the light cruiser . In 1917 his new ship was posted to the East Indies Station, and in 1918 she was moved to duties off South America.

After the end of the Great War, on 9 April 1920 Smith took command of the dreadnought and was also appointed as a naval aide-de-camp to King George V. She then assisted with convoying Greek transports.

Smith was promoted Rear Admiral in 1921 and Vice-Admiral in 1926. He headed a British naval mission to Greece from 1921 to 1923, during the continuation of the Greek and Turkish War, and then served as Admiralty Representative to the League of Nations from 1923 to 1927. Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 1928

When Smith died on 6 October 1957 he was still living at Iden Cottage and left an estate valued at £29,998.