Frederick Parham

Educated at the Revd Gregoire's preparatory school at Ashley Manor, Box, Wiltshire, the Royal Naval College, Osborne, and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Parham joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1913. He served in World War I as a midshipman on HMS Malaya. In 1937 he was given command of HMS Shikari.

He saw active service in the Second World War as Captain of the destroyer HMS Gurkha, which was sunk by enemy action in 1940. From 1942 he had command of the cruiser HMS Belfast which remains permanently moored as a museum ship in London.

After the War Parham commanded the battleship HMS Vanguard and then, in 1949 became Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel. He was made Flag Officer (Flotillas) and Second in Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1951 and Fourth Sea Lord and Chief of Supplies and Transport in 1954. Finally he was made Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, in 1955. He retired on 31 January 1959.

In retirement Parham chaired a Parliamentary Committee on Inland Waterways.

In 1926, he married Kathleen Dobrée; they had one son. Following the death of his first wife, he married Joan Charig Saunders in 1978.