Sidney Robert Bailey

Admiral Sir Sidney Robert Bailey, (27 August 1882 – 27 March 1942) was a Royal Navy officer who served as President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich from 1937 to 1938.

Naval career Bailey joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship HMS Britannia in September 1896. As a midshipman in , he took part in the Seymour Expedition for the relief of Peking legations in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, In November 1902 he was posted to the protected cruiser , but was first lent for a couple of weeks to for sea-trials. He was promoted to lieutenant on 27 February 1903. In November 1916 he was appointed Flag Commander to Beatty when the latter was appointed to the command of the Grand Fleet, first in and then the new fleet flagship . Bailey was promoted to captain in December 1918 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1919. In February 1933 he became Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, It was the first court-martial of an admiral since the First World War. He was promoted to admiral on retirement in 1939.

Bailey was recalled to active service after the outbreak of the Second World War. In June 1940, the Admiralty created a secret committee, named the Bailey Committee for its chair, which examined the level of naval assistance to be sought from the United States. The American admiral Robert L. Ghormley was given a copy of the report in August 1940, and Bailey, the committee and Ghormley met regularly through the autumn, and developed important processes for the exchange of information about intelligence, technical and operational matters. and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, London.