John Saumarez Dumaresq

Rear Admiral John Saumarez Dumaresq, ( ; 26 October 1873 – 22 July 1922) was an officer in the Royal Navy. He served during the First World War but is most remembered as an inventor, for development of the device named after him, the Dumaresq, which helped users calculate the rate at which the range to an enemy ship was changing over time. He was the first Australian born officer to command the Australian Fleet. Early life Dumaresq was the grandson of a British colonial settler, William Dumaresq, who had migrated to Australia, in 1825, accompanying the Governor of New South Wales, Ralph Darling, who was married to his sister, Eliza. He was born at Rose Bay, New South Wales, but left Australia as an infant. In 1907, he married Christian Elizabeth Louisa Dalrymple. Naval career Dumaresq lived in England from age two and became a naval cadet at HMS Britannia in 1886. He became interested in torpedoes and gunnery and introduced a number of innovations. In 1904 he was promoted to commander. In 1908 he commanded a flotilla escorting King Edward VII on a tour of Russia and was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order from the King and awarded the Order of Saint Catherine from the Tsar. On 30 June 1910 he was promoted to captain, then underwent courses at Portsmouth.