Ragnar Colvin

Admiral Sir Ragnar Musgrave Colvin, (7 May 1882 – 22 February 1954) was a long-serving Royal Navy officer who commanded the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) at the outbreak of the Second World War.

Early life and background Colvin was the son of Clement Sneyd Colvin and his wife Alice Jane, née Lethbridge. This connected him with a long and illustrious line of British Empire soldiers and administrators, the Colvin family; his grandfather was John Russell Colvin, lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces of British India during the mutiny of 1857. His uncles included Walter Mytton and Auckland, also lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces and Oudh. A first cousin, Brenda Colvin (1897–1981), was an important landscape architect, author of standard works in the field and a force behind its professionalization. A more distant cousin was Sidney Colvin, who grew up to be a critic, curator, and great friend of Robert Louis Stevenson.

Naval career Colvin joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in HMS Britannia in 1896. The following year, he was in November 1902 posted to serve on HMS Foam, serving in the Mediterranean Fleet. He was commissioned lieutenant six years later and, after qualifying as a gunnery specialist in 1904, was promoted commander in 1913. Commander, Royal Navy (1924 – 13 August 2009 aged 85), children Major General James Balfour CBE, b 1951, and Belinda.)