Some info
on the author
In 1974, as a sixteen year old I
joined the Royal Navy, as a Junior Radio Operator 2nd Class. After
training and two years on a cruiser (although inaccurately termed ‘destroyer’ for
political reasons by the R.N.), I was drafted into submarines. Apart from a
short spell in Hong Kong on an ex-minesweeper involved in anti-immigration
patrols; for the most part I spent the rest of my service onboard a Polaris
submarine; or ashore involved in various aspects of naval communications.
Having attained the rate of Leading Radio Operator (Submarines) in my early
twenties, for numerous reasons I
decided to leave armed service. I was in the process of doing so in the spring
of 1982, when I was recalled for ‘Operation Corporate’: otherwise known as the
Falklands War. Working ashore on submarine related communications and
operations, I was finally released in November of that year.
Long before I had left the Royal
Navy I had decided to change the path of my life inherently and do something
‘creative’ (although I also made some serious enquiries into joining the
Merchant Navy as a Radio Officer). As a keen photographer it was only natural
to take this further. Settling in London, while initially working for a short
time in the City and then for three years at the Foreign & Commonwealth
Office as a Cypher Officer, I honed my skills and made business contacts.
Between 1986 and 1994 I traded as a
freelance special-effects still-life photographer. By the early 1990s new
electronic technology was making my hard-learned skills redundant and I had no
wish to become a glorified computer operator. I experimented with fashion
(having learned much from my ex-business partner) but detested and despised
‘fashion people’ even more than I did ‘advertising people’. It was time to do
something else.
Already having ‘temped’ in the City
previously, I earned my living for a while once again in the ‘Square Mile’. As
a specialist in communications operations this was for banks, brokers, shipping
companies, insurance groups and corporate lawyers.
Through links with an area of rural
Wales I had already begun some purely private research into the lives of some
merchant mariners (having photographed their memorials in graveyards on trips
there). In time this has taken over my life and I am part way through writing a
five-volume history on how the British Merchant Service was affected by the
First World War. My freelance genealogical business has come directly from
this, as a welcome replacement for the ‘temping’: although I still value the
knowledge gained in some of these fields, being helpful in my writing. As a
something of a marketing tool, I have gained a Master of Arts degree in ‘War
Studies’, from King’s College, University of London. I am, however, not by any
means a typical product of this course
In the past I have had a fair
number of commercial articles published, such as in Your Family Tree; The Family and Local History Handbook; The Indiaman; and the
(Society of) Genealogists’
Magazine. Relating to a spin off from my mercantile research I had an
academic paper published in the Society of Nautical Research’s The Mariner’s Mirror in 2003, on
the Germans’ first minelaying raid of the First World War. (A slightly amended
version of this is now on my website.) Also, the United States Navy’s War
College, at Newport, Rhode Island has used one of my papers in Strategic
Studies Group Conferences to my knowledge twice. Dealing with Britain’s
response to German unrestricted U-boat warfare from 1917 to 1918, this is now
on my website. (Again, this is on my website.)
Through continued frustration in
submitting papers to academic journals I have self-published more pieces on my
First World War research as booklets. Details of these can be found elsewhere
on my website.
In part deliberately, I ceased
writing for the genealogical press, in order to concentrate on other matters.
Apart from spending far more time on my major project, I spent almost three
years involved in contemporaneous defence analysis. Although very interesting
in its own way, I found that there were just as many that are pretentious and
unscrupulous in this sector as in academia. Therefore, I have returned to
concentrating on my own research and quite frankly, am more than happy to leave
behind all the mercenaries, arms-producers, spooks, shady civil servants,
amateur(ish) analysts and rest…
Go to the main Academic Papers page
Go
to the main Mercantile page
Go to the main Royal Naval page