Nigel Cecil

Rear-Admiral Sir Oswald Nigel Amherst Cecil, KBE, CB (11 November 1925 – 10 March 2017) was a British naval officer.

Early life

Oswald Nigel Amherst Cecil was born 11 November 1925, to Commander Hon. Henry Mitford Amherst Cecil (1893–1963) and Hon. Yvonne Cornwallis (1896–1983). Cecil is a paternal grandson of Lord William Cecil (1854–1943) and the 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney (1857–1919) and a maternal grandson of the 1st Baron Cornwallis (1864–1935). He was educated at Ludgrove School and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.

Naval career

In 1959, he reached the rank of Commander. From 1961–63, Cecil commanded HMS Corunna in the Mediterranean and then HMS Royal Arthur from 1963–65. In 1966, he was promoted to the rank of Captain.

Cecil returned to Dartmouth to command a training squadron from 1969–71. In 1968 he was made an Esquire (Esq.St.J. the lowest grade) in the Venerable Order of Saint John.

Cecil received the acting rank of Commodore in 1971 and was sent to South Africa as a Naval attaché to Cape Town until 1973. He was then a director of the Naval Operational Requirements from 1973–75. On 7 January 1975, he was appointed a Naval aide-de-camp to The Queen. He left this position on being promoted to Rear Admiral on 7 July 1975. He then became the NATO Commander of the South East Mediterranean and Flag Officer, Malta. In the 1978 New Year Honours, he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB).

Cecil left the island with the last of the British Forces in 1979 on 31st March on what is called Freedom day aboard the HMS London was the last ship to leave Malta when the Maltese government closed the base and on, 16 June 1979, was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). He retired from the navy on 15 September 1979.

On 9 September 1980, Cecil became Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, a post he held for five years. Also in 1980, he was promoted to Knight of the Order of Saint John (K.St.J.).

Personal life

On 6 April 1961, he married Annette Barclay (born 1934), daughter of Major Robert Edward Barclay of Mathers and Urie (1906–1959) and Nesta Anne Bury-Barry (1909–2004). Together they had:

• Robert Barclay Amherst Cecil (born 1965), who married Laurie A. Kohan

Cecil, who lived with his wife of over fifty-five years, on the Isle of Wight, died on 10 March 2017, at the age of 91.