John Lancaster (Royal Navy officer)

Born on 26 June 1903, John Strike Lancaster was the son of George Henry Lancaster, a marine architect. He attended King Edward VI School in Southampton before entering the Royal Navy in 1921.[1][2]

Lancaster joined the Navy as a special entry Paymaster Cadet. He spent large stretches of his early career in the Far East, and had one of his arms dragon tattooed.[2]

Lancaster was promoted to the rank of Commander in 1940,[1] and in 1941 took up the post of drafting commander of HMS Victory in Portsmouth, where he was responsible for sending supply officers to other posts; he had previously served aboard the cruiser HMS Gloucester, which was shortly afterwards lost in the Battle of Crete along with many of its crew.[2] He went on to serve in the Persian Gulf before the end of the Second World War.[1] In 1946, he was supply officer aboard HMS Ocean which assisted in rescuing survivors of the Corfu Channel incident.[2]

Lancaster was promoted to Captain in 1951, and Rear-Admiral five years later, coinciding with this appointment as Rear-Admiral Personnel, Home Air Command; he was promoted to Vice-Admiral and appointed Director-General of Manpower and Chief Naval Supply and Secretariat Officer in 1959, serving in both posts until 1962, when he retired.[1]

Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1958, Lancaster was also appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1961. He died on 7 January 1992; his wife, Edith Laurie née Jacobs, had died in 1980, but he was survived by their two daughters.[1]