Sir Anthony Buzzard, 2nd Baronet
Encyclopedia
Sir Anthony Wass Buzzard, 2nd Baronet CB
, DSO
, OBE
(28 April 1902 – 10 March 1972), was an officer in the Royal Navy
, and a Director of Naval Intelligence
.
, son of prominent physician and Regius Professor of Medicine
at the University of Oxford
Sir Edward Farquhar Buzzard
. Anthony later moved to Surrey
where his father’s large estate was located. Anthony’s father was a doctor and physician to King George VI
. In 1929, his father was created a baronet
, with the title of Sir Farquhar of Munstead Grange. Anthony was the second eldest of five siblings: Margaret, Anthony, Sylvia, and Isabel. He attended a public prep school from age eight to thirteen, and studied at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth
and Royal Naval College Osborne
. In 1915, at the age of thirteen, he joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman
, and served during the First World War. By 1919 he was aboard the battleship .
In 1932, Buzzard married Margaret Alfreda Knapp, the daughter of a civil servant. Her father was the deputy governor of Madras and had his own train. The couple enjoyed an extensive social life, and together had three children: Anthony, Timothy, and Gillian. Buzzard was a family man and a devout Christian. His sailors remembered seeing him kneeling on his ship in prayer. During the war, he would sing in hospitals to try to cheer up the patients. He attended Anglican
services every Sunday with his family, and gave large sums of money to charity.
. Gurkha was part of a force of cruisers and destroyers sent by the British in the immediate aftermath of the German invasion of Norway
on 7 April 1940. Gurkha was also the first British destroyer to be sunk by an air attack. On 19 April the British ships were attacked by Junkers Ju 88
and Heinkel He 111
bombers. Gurkha was hit by one bomb on the aft end, which blew a forty-foot hole in the starboard side. The stern caught fire and the magazine had to be flooded to prevent it exploding. She then sank, leaving a number of her crew stranded in the water. Buzzard held up a man with a broken leg for an hour and a half in the freezing waters of the North Sea
.
Buzzard was then one of the captains assigned to visit the parents of those lost in the sinking of to offer his condolences. By 1941 Buzzard was serving as gunnery officer aboard the battleship during the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck
, with the Rodney being the first ship to open fire with her own guns. He was made an Officer of the British Empire for his service. Buzzard then served as Assistant Director, in the Admiralty Plans Division, and as a member of Joint Planning Committee, with the War Cabinet
between 1942 and 1943.
Buzzard became captain of the aircraft carrier
. He spent three months overseeing the final fitting out before Glory was commissioned on 21 February 1945. On 14 May the ship became operational and departed her harbour, bound for the Mediterranean. From there she went on to Fremantle
, where she arrived in time for Victory over Japan Day
. Once V.J. Day was over, the ship went to Rabaul
for the signing of the surrender of the Japanese forces there. The Japanese commander surrendered his sword to the British and American soldiers. This sword remained in Buzzard's possession until his death; it was then taken to the Churchill Archives Centre
, along with other important artefacts. Buzzard inherited the baronetcy upon his father's death in 1945.
after the end of the war, and commanded the cruiser between 1946 and 1950. In 1951, at the age of forty- nine, Buzzard became the youngest man to be appointed Director of Naval Intelligence. He was also a rear-admiral. His independence, however, prevented him from going further in the bureaucratic system. He was in the post until his retirement in 1954.
After his retirement from the service he joined the defence contractor Vickers-Armstrong, during the Cold War
. Buzzard was a founder member of both the Institute of Strategic Studies, and the Council of Christian Approaches to Defence and Disarmament. He frequently corresponded with Henry Kissinger
, and developed the idea of “Graduated Deterrence.” Graduated Deterrence posited that one must issue a reasonable threat to one’s enemy that is also realizable and not so massive that no one believes that it will ever happen. During the 1960s he sat on the Minister of State for Disarmament, Lord Chalfont's Disarmament Panel. In 1967 he became Chairman of the British Council of Churches Committee on the Middle East.
in 1922. He suffered a heart attack at the age of sixty-five, but refused to slow down the pace of his life, to the consternation of his wife. He travelled to Australia in 1968, and played a tennis match upon arrival after a thirty-eight hour flight. He suffered a second heart attack. His wife joined him in Australia, and four years later, in 1972, he suffered a third and fatal heart attack and died on 10 March at the age of sixty-nine. His memorial service at St. Martins was attended by a large number of people.
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
, OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(28 April 1902 – 10 March 1972), was an officer in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, and a Director of Naval Intelligence
Naval Intelligence Division
The Naval Intelligence Division was the intelligence arm of the British Admiralty before the establishment of a unified Defence Staff in 1965. It dealt with matters concerning British naval plans, with the collection of naval intelligence...
.
Early life
Anthony Wass Buzzard was born on 28 April 1902 in DerbyshireDerbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, son of prominent physician and Regius Professor of Medicine
Regius Professor of Medicine (Oxford)
The Regius Professor of Medicine is an appointment held at the University of Oxford. The chair was founded by Henry VIII of England by 1546, and until the 20th century the title was Regius Professor of Physic...
at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
Sir Edward Farquhar Buzzard
Farquhar Buzzard
Sir Edward Farquhar Buzzard, 1st Baronet KCVO, FRCP , was a prominent British physician and Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford ....
. Anthony later moved to Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
where his father’s large estate was located. Anthony’s father was a doctor and physician to King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
. In 1929, his father was created a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
, with the title of Sir Farquhar of Munstead Grange. Anthony was the second eldest of five siblings: Margaret, Anthony, Sylvia, and Isabel. He attended a public prep school from age eight to thirteen, and studied at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth
Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College is the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy, located on a hill overlooking Dartmouth, Devon, England. While Royal Naval officer training has taken place in the town since 1863, the buildings which are seen today were only finished in 1905, and...
and Royal Naval College Osborne
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat....
. In 1915, at the age of thirteen, he joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
, and served during the First World War. By 1919 he was aboard the battleship .
In 1932, Buzzard married Margaret Alfreda Knapp, the daughter of a civil servant. Her father was the deputy governor of Madras and had his own train. The couple enjoyed an extensive social life, and together had three children: Anthony, Timothy, and Gillian. Buzzard was a family man and a devout Christian. His sailors remembered seeing him kneeling on his ship in prayer. During the war, he would sing in hospitals to try to cheer up the patients. He attended Anglican
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
services every Sunday with his family, and gave large sums of money to charity.
Second World War
Buzzard commanded the destroyer during the early years of the war, and his actions during her sinking led to the award of the Distinguished Service OrderDistinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
. Gurkha was part of a force of cruisers and destroyers sent by the British in the immediate aftermath of the German invasion of Norway
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...
on 7 April 1940. Gurkha was also the first British destroyer to be sunk by an air attack. On 19 April the British ships were attacked by Junkers Ju 88
Junkers Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 was a World War II German Luftwaffe twin-engine, multi-role aircraft. Designed by Hugo Junkers' company through the services of two American aviation engineers in the mid-1930s, it suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early...
and Heinkel He 111
Heinkel He 111
The Heinkel He 111 was a German aircraft designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter in the early 1930s in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Often described as a "Wolf in sheep's clothing", it masqueraded as a transport aircraft, but its purpose was to provide the Luftwaffe with a fast medium...
bombers. Gurkha was hit by one bomb on the aft end, which blew a forty-foot hole in the starboard side. The stern caught fire and the magazine had to be flooded to prevent it exploding. She then sank, leaving a number of her crew stranded in the water. Buzzard held up a man with a broken leg for an hour and a half in the freezing waters of the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
.
Buzzard was then one of the captains assigned to visit the parents of those lost in the sinking of to offer his condolences. By 1941 Buzzard was serving as gunnery officer aboard the battleship during the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
, with the Rodney being the first ship to open fire with her own guns. He was made an Officer of the British Empire for his service. Buzzard then served as Assistant Director, in the Admiralty Plans Division, and as a member of Joint Planning Committee, with the War Cabinet
Churchill War Ministry
-The War Cabinet:Changes*August 1940: Lord Beaverbrook , Minister of Aircraft Production, joins the War Cabinet*October 1940: Sir John Anderson succeeds Neville Chamberlain as Lord President. Sir Kingsley Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour, enter the War...
between 1942 and 1943.
Buzzard became captain of the aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
. He spent three months overseeing the final fitting out before Glory was commissioned on 21 February 1945. On 14 May the ship became operational and departed her harbour, bound for the Mediterranean. From there she went on to Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
, where she arrived in time for Victory over Japan Day
Victory over Japan Day
Victory over Japan Day is a name chosen for the day on which the Surrender of Japan occurred, effectively ending World War II, and subsequent anniversaries of that event...
. Once V.J. Day was over, the ship went to Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
for the signing of the surrender of the Japanese forces there. The Japanese commander surrendered his sword to the British and American soldiers. This sword remained in Buzzard's possession until his death; it was then taken to the Churchill Archives Centre
Churchill Archives Centre
The Churchill Archives Centre is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the Churchill Papers, the massive archive of Sir Winston Churchill, as well as the private papers of Baroness Thatcher...
, along with other important artefacts. Buzzard inherited the baronetcy upon his father's death in 1945.
Post-war
Buzzard was assigned to the Royal Naval Air ServiceRoyal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...
after the end of the war, and commanded the cruiser between 1946 and 1950. In 1951, at the age of forty- nine, Buzzard became the youngest man to be appointed Director of Naval Intelligence. He was also a rear-admiral. His independence, however, prevented him from going further in the bureaucratic system. He was in the post until his retirement in 1954.
After his retirement from the service he joined the defence contractor Vickers-Armstrong, during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Buzzard was a founder member of both the Institute of Strategic Studies, and the Council of Christian Approaches to Defence and Disarmament. He frequently corresponded with Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
, and developed the idea of “Graduated Deterrence.” Graduated Deterrence posited that one must issue a reasonable threat to one’s enemy that is also realizable and not so massive that no one believes that it will ever happen. During the 1960s he sat on the Minister of State for Disarmament, Lord Chalfont's Disarmament Panel. In 1967 he became Chairman of the British Council of Churches Committee on the Middle East.
Death
Buzzard played tennis and rugby throughout his life, with his main passion being tennis, having been the Navy champion. He had played doubles with his brother at WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
in 1922. He suffered a heart attack at the age of sixty-five, but refused to slow down the pace of his life, to the consternation of his wife. He travelled to Australia in 1968, and played a tennis match upon arrival after a thirty-eight hour flight. He suffered a second heart attack. His wife joined him in Australia, and four years later, in 1972, he suffered a third and fatal heart attack and died on 10 March at the age of sixty-nine. His memorial service at St. Martins was attended by a large number of people.