William Munro Kerr

Vice Admiral Sir William Munro Kerr KBE, CB (4 March 1876 – 26 October 1959) was a Royal Navy officer who served as First Naval Member and Chief of the Australian Naval Staff from 1929 to 1931.

Naval service

Born the son of George Munro Kerr and his wife, Jessie Elizabeth Martin,^[1] Kerr joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman in 1892.^[2] In November 1901, Kerr—by then a lieutenant—was lent to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich for the compass course.^[3] In May the following year he was appointed lieutenant in charge of navigation at HMS Hermione, serving at the Mediterranean station.^[4] After serving in the First World War, he was appointed Captain of the Dockyard and King's Harbour Master at Rosyth in 1921 and Rear Admiral of the 1st Battle Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1928.^[5] He went on to be First Naval Member and Chief of the Australian Naval Staff in 1929^[6] and, having been promoted to vice admiral in 1931,^[2] he became Commander-in-Chief of the Reserve Fleet later that year.^[7] He retired in 1936.^[8]

He died at Lymington in Hampshire in October 1959.^[1]

References

Chiefs of the Royal Australian Navy
Director, Commonwealth Naval Forces	Sir William Rooke Creswell
First Naval Members, Australian Commonwealth Naval Board	Sir William Rooke Creswell Sir Percy Grant Sir Allan Everett Percival Hall-Thompson William Napier Sir William Munro Kerr Sir George Hyde Sir Ragnar Colvin Sir Guy Royle Sir Louis Keppel Hamilton Sir John Augustine Collins Sir Roy Dowling Sir Henry Burrell Sir Hastings Harrington Sir Alan McNicoll Sir Victor Smith Sir Richard Peek Sir David Stevenson
Chiefs of the Naval Staff	Sir Anthony Synnot Sir James Willis David Leach Michael Hudson Ian MacDougall Rodney Taylor
Chiefs of Navy	Rodney Taylor Donald Chalmers David Shackleton Chris Ritchie Russ Shalders Russell Crane Raymond Griggs Timothy Barrett