1930 – 1949
Lionel Halsey was born on 26th February 1872, the son of the Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas Halsey, Bt, P.C., M.R, of Gaddesden, and Mary Julia, daughter of Frederick Octavius Wells. Chapter Six records the life of Sir Thomas Halsey, Provincial Grand Master of Hertfordshire 1873-1924.
Educated at Stubbington House, Fareham, a well known preparatory school for potential naval officers, he joined H.M.S. Britannia as a Naval Cadet in 1885. On leaving there in 1888 he was appointed to H.M.S. Raleigh as a Midshipman, serving in her on the South Atlantic Station, based at Simonstown. There he met Roger Keyes (of Zeebrugge fame) and they shared ownership of a sailing cutter which gave great pleasure to both at little cost, an important factor for ill-paid midshipmen in those days. Service on this station included “showing the flag” on both East and West coasts of Africa, a most enjoyable occupation.
From H.M.S. Raleigh, Halsey was promoted to Sub-Lieutenant and in 1892 commenced a series of courses at Portsmouth which would qualify him for Lieutenant. On completion of these in 1893 he was appointed (again with Roger Keyes) to the Royal Yacht Squadron, at that time composed of the Victoria and Albert (still in commission in 1948), and the smaller vessels Alberta, Osborne, and Elfin. It was while serving in the Squadron that he met Queen Victoria, on board Alberta at Portsmouth. In 1894, while in Victoria and Albert, he visited Malta, where on 19th March he was initiated into the Lodge of St. John and St. Paul, No. 349. The same year he was promoted Lieutenant.
In 1896 Halsey became a Joining Member of the Navy Lodge No. 2612, in London. He joined H.M.S. Powerful, a modern heavy cruiser, and in 1897 sailed in her to the China Station, based in Hong Kong, where the following year he joined the Lodge of Perseverance No. 1165. Here he again met up with Roger Keyes and both raced their ponies in local events. In early Summer, Powerful left to return to England but the serious shortage of troops in South Africa resulted in her diversion to Cape Town, together with H.M.S. Terrible, which was on her way East to relieve Powerful.
The Naval Brigade was formed from volunteers off these two ships and served with distinction at the defence of Ladysmith. Halsey was among these volunteers, initially in command of a 4.7″ gun battery and later in command of all naval guns with the Brigade. For these services he was mentioned in despatches and received the South Africa Medal with Ladysmith clasp. His elder brother, later W. Bro Capt. Arthur Halsey, also served with the Naval Brigade. The Brigade was disbanded in April 1900 and Halsey returned to England. In 1901 he received accelerated promotion to Commander for exceptional service (the rank of Lieutenant-Commander did not at that time exist).
In 1902 Halsey was appointed Commander of H.M.S. Good Hope, on her acceptance into the Royal Navy. The ship was so named having been built with the assistance of £30,000 donated by the colony of the Cape of Good Hope when she was laid down in 1899. It was therefore appropriate that she should be selected to carry Joseph Chamberlain to South Africa to discuss peace terms. However, Cape residents were upset when her first port of call was Durban, rather than Cape Town. Halsey served in Good Hope, flagship of the First Cruiser Squadron, until 1905. That year he married Morwenna, daughter of Major Bevil Granville, of Wellesbourne, Warwick and was promoted Captain, at the early age of thirty-three. He commanded H.M.S. Donegal, a modern cruiser, built in 1902.
He was specially selected to command H.M.S. New Zealand, the latest battle-cruiser to join the Fleet, when she was commissioned in 1912. This ship was originally laid down for the Royal New Zealand Navy but was presented to the Royal Navy by the New Zealand Government. It was therefore appropriate that Halsey should take her on an extended cruise to Australia and New Zealand, from which she only shortly returned before the outbreak of war. For his efforts in “showing the flag” on this cruise he was made C.M.G. in 1913. Still in command of New Zealand he was present at the battles of the Heligoland Bight (1914) and Dogger Bank (1915). In 1914, as a senior Captain, he was appointed A.D.C. to King George V, a post which he held until promoted in 1917.
A side-line on his visit to New Zealand was the presentation to him by a Maori Chief of a Kiwi war skirt, with the injunction ever to wear it as a talisman when in action. Consisting of a knee-length skirt like a kilt, made of numerous strings of multi-coloured beads, it was a prized possession which he wore over his uniform during his several North Sea engagements.
His crew had faith in this talisman, possibly with justification as, although straddled several times by enemy salvoes, his ship always emerged unscathed. It is on record that he displayed this garment at the Centenary meeting of Cecil Lodge at Hitchin in 1938, telling those present how it had also been considered a talisman by generations of the donor’s family.
In 1916 Halsey was promoted to Commodore as Captain of the Fleet to Admiral Jellicoe in H.M.S. Iron Duke. He was present in her at Jutland and for his services in that battle was made C.B., as well as receiving a warm commendation from Admiral Jellicoe. Following the battle, the Admiral was appointed First Sea Lord and took Halsey with him to the Admiralty as Fourth Sea Lord. In 1917 he was appointed Past Junior Grand Warden in Grand Lodge.
In May 1917 he was promoted Rear-Admiral and appointed Third Sea Lord. He remained at the Admiralty until September 1918, when he returned to sea and hoisted his flag as Rear-Admiral Commanding the Australian Fleet and also commanding the Second Battle-Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet – a curious combination. He was present at the surrender of the German Fleet on 22nd November 1918 and was shortly afterwards promoted to K.C.M.G. Sir Lionel remained in this post until 1920, acting in 1919 as Chief of Staff to the Prince of Wales for his tour of Canada, after which he was created K.C.V.O. This tour was the start of his close relationship with the Prince of Wales, which was to continue until 1936.
On 1st May 1919 Sir Lionel joined St. Andrew’s Lodge, meeting at Biggleswade, of which he was Master in 1924. In 1920 he was Chief of Staff to the Prince for his tour of Australia and New Zealand, on return from which he was created G.C.V.O. and appointed to the post of Comptroller and Treasurer to the Prince of Wales. This marked the end of his active sea-going career. He was promoted to Vice-Admiral in 1921 and again accompanied the Prince as Chief of Staff on his tour of India and Japan in 1921/2. Following this tour he was created K.C.I.E. and appointed an Extra Equerry to the King, a post he held until 1936.
Sir Lionel retired as a Vice-Admiral in 1922 and was promoted to Admiral on the retired list in 1926. He remained in post with the Prince of Wales however, until the death of King George V in 1936, when he became an Extra Equerry to King Edward VIII and subsequently to King George VI, holding the office until 1949.
Admiral Halsey lived for many years, until his death, at Old Warden in Bedfordshire, but was most active in Hertfordshire, becoming a Deputy Lieutenant and a J.P. in the county following his retirement from the Navy. He was also a member of the Council of the Duchy of Cornwall, Commodore of the Sea Cadet Corps (1942), Chairman of the Navy League (1941) and County Director for Bedfordshire of the Red Cross from 1939/45, becoming President in 1945.
Sir Lionel’s Masonic career advanced rapidly after the War. On 15th February 1921 he was exalted into United Chapter, No. 1629, London. He became Master of Navy Lodge, No. 2612 in 1922, and of St. Andrews Lodge, No. 803, Biggleswade, in 1924. He was appointed PPSGW of Bedfordshire in 1925. In 1930 he joined Watford Lodge, No. 404 and on 12th December that year was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Hertfordshire, being installed on 7th April 1931. In 1933 he was appointed Provincial Grand Superintendent of Hertfordshire. It is interesting to note that there was a delay from 1930 to 1933 in his taking over as he had not at that time been through the First Principal’s Chair.
On 12th January 1938 he joined Royal Colonial Institute Lodge No. 3556, London; H.R.H. The Duke of Connaught, Grand Master, was Master of this Lodge from 1901 to 1938, and Sir Lionel was Deputy Master in 1938.
Within his first year as Provincial Grand Master, he dedicated the new Masonic Halls at Cheshunt and Sawbridgeworth, and in 1935 he dedicated Ashwell House, St. Albans. In 1947 he presided at the Festival for the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls when £181,786 was raised, the Province contributing £67,000. During his eighteen years as Provincial Grand Master, thirty-five Lodges were consecrated; he performed the Ceremony on twenty-two occasions, all the other thirteen were performed by Canon Frederick Halsey as Deputy Provincial Grand Master, the last, North Watford Lodge No. 6918, on 9th December 1949 as Deputy Provincial Grand Master in charge.
After recurring ill health, Sir Lionel died on 26th October 1949, exactly eight months after his seventy-seventh birthday, while still in office as Provincial Grand Master. In the “Times” obituary he was described as “a born leader, a first class seaman and a master of his profession. A man of much charm, he was regarded by all who knew him with affection as well as with the loyalty which a high sense of duty and an unswerving devotion to an ideal can always command“.
