Richard Washbourn

Rear-Admiral Richard Everley Washbourn (14 February 1910 – 8 August 1988) was a senior officer of the Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) from the 1940s to the 1960s. He served as the New Zealand Chief of Naval Staff between 1963 and 1965.

Early life Born in Sumner, New Zealand, on 14 February 1910, Washbourn was the son of Henry Everley Arthur Washbourn and Sydney Laing Washbourn (née Sinclair). His oldest sister was the artist Enga Washbourn. As a 13-year-old, he rescued a man from drowning in the Maitai River.

Washbourn joined the Royal Navy as a special entry cadet in January 1928 after leaving school, serving for the next eight years in HMS Erebus, HMS London, HMS Warspite and HMS Diomede. In 1933, he won the Goodenough Medal for gunnery, and he also received the Robert Megaw Memorial Prize for 1932–1933, awarded to the sub-lieutenant achieving the highest marks in the examinations for lieutenant. He was posted to HMS Excellent in 1938 and HMS Achilles the following year.

Washbourn remained with Achilles until 1942, when he returned to HMS Excellent. He transferred to HMS Anson in 1943. and the couple went on to have two children. Washbourn spent the last two years of World War II at the Admiralty Gunnery Establishment. He was commander superintendent of Devonport Naval Base in Auckland in 1950, deputy director of Naval Ordnance from 1951 to 1952, and commanded HMS Manxman in 1953. He served as chief staff officer to Flag Officer (Flotillas) in the Mediterranean during 1954 and 1955, and then was Director of Naval Ordnance from 1956 to 1958. He commanded HMS Tiger in 1959, and served as Director-General of Weapons for the Admiralty between 1960 and 1962.

After retiring from the Royal Navy in 1962, Washbourn returned to New Zealand and joined the RNZN, serving as Chief of Naval Staff from 1963 to 1965.

Later life In 1964, Washbourn purchased the bell of HMS Chevron from the Rosyth Dockyard for £8, and donated it to Collingwood District High School the following year. In his retirement, he developed Alzheimer’s disease. His wife, June Washbourn, died in 1993.