Sidney Robert Bailey

Admiral Sir Sidney Robert Bailey, (27 August 1882 – 27 March 1942) was a Royal Navy officer who served as President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich from 1937 to 1938. Naval career Bailey joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship HMS Britannia in September 1896. As a midshipman in , he took part in the Seymour Expedition for the relief of Peking legations in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, for which he was mentioned in despatches. He was promoted to acting sub-lieutenant on 27 August 1901 and subsequently confirmed in that rank from the same date. In November 1902 he was posted to the protected cruiser , but was first lent for a couple of weeks to for sea-trials. He was promoted to lieutenant on 27 February 1903. He qualified as a gunnery lieutenant from 1905 to 1907, and served in the battleship from 1908 to 1910 and in the cruiser from 1911 to 1912. Following two periods on the staff of the Whale Island gunnery school at Whale Island, he was promoted to commander in June 1914. Bailey served as gunnery officer in during the first years of the First World War. In 1916 he was appointed to the staff of Vice Admiral David Beatty and served as a fleet gunnery officer on , having been recommended by Flag-Captain Ernle Chatfield as "one of the best gunnery officers in the Navy". In November 1916 he was appointed Flag Commander to Beatty when the latter was appointed to the command of the Grand Fleet, first in and then the new fleet flagship . Bailey was promoted to captain in December 1918 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1919. He then worked as deputy director of the Operations Division of the Naval Staff. Bailey appointed naval attaché in Washington, D.C. in March 1921. In January 1923, he took command of the 9th Destroyer Flotilla of the Atlantic Fleet. In 1925 he was appointed Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord, who was then Lord Beatty. He then returned to sea when he was given command of .