Robert Raikes

Admiral Sir Robert Henry Taunton Raikes KCB CVO DSO (23 August 1885 – 24 May 1953) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station.

Early life and education Raikes was born in Chislehurst, Kent, the fifth son of Robert Taunton Raikes, and his wife, Rosa Margaret Cripps. He was educated at Radley College and aboard HMS Britannia in September 1900.

Naval career Raikes joined the Royal Navy in 1900, and as a midshipman was in February 1903 posted to the battleship HMS Caesar, serving in the Mediterranean Fleet. He served in World War I, earning the DSO in 1916, and went on to be Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth before becoming Director of the Royal Navy Staff College at Greenwich in 1932.

Family He married Ida Guinevere Evans. His nephew, Lieutenant-Commander Dick Raikes DSO, also served in the Royal Navy and launched Operation Frankton, the first SBS personnel of the Royal Marines Commandos on their raid using the klepper canoe against German shipping in the Gironde estuary in 1942.