Hugo Pearson

Admiral Sir Hugo Lewis Pearson, KCB (30 June 1843 – 12 June 1912) was a Royal Navy officer who served as both Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station and Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.

Early life and education Hugo Lewis Pearson was born at Barwell, into a notable Staffordshire family with a long tradition of service in India and the British Armed Forces. He was the grandson of John Pearson (1771–1841), a barrister and senior East India Company official who served as Advocate-General of Bengal from 1824 to 1840. He married in 1837 Frances Elizabeth Ashby Mettam, eldest daughter of George Mettam, Rector of Barwell.

Pearson attended private schools in Southwell, Nottinghamshire and Wimbledon, London. In his early career, he was promoted to Lieutenant on 14 September 1863 and only 3 weeks later, on 20 October, Captain Henry Boys reported on Pearson's "active conduct in a fire breaking out out in the Pelorus." In February, 1865 Pearson destroyed piratical junks in Jungwa Bay.

He was Captain of the first-rate HMS St Vincent, the Royal yacht Osborne and the second-rate, HMS Colossus. and was the Rear Admiral of the Reserve Fleet during the Jubilee Review in 1897. and in 1903 he became Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, a post he held until 1907. He retired on 30 June 1908.

Personal life In 1874 Pearson married Emily Frances Mary Key (1848–1930), second daughter of General George William Key (1812–1883) of the 15th Hussars. The couple had two sons and a daughter who survived into adulthood: two other children died in infancy. and his parents erected a memorial window in Goodrich Church in his honour. His younger son was Vice-Admiral John Lewis Pearson CMG (1879–1965).

Hugo Pearson died on 12 June 1912, aged 69. He left estate of the gross value of £51,971, with net personalty of £43,888. Their son Thomas Cecil Hook Pearson (1914–2019) was a senior officer of the British Army who served as Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Northern Europe.

Arms