NEW ZEALAND OFFICER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22259, 6 November 1935, Page 14

NEW ZEALAND OFFICER

PROMOTION TO FLAG RANK CAPTAIN J. S. RITCHIE RETIRES [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] DUNEDIN, Tuesday The second New Zealander to be appointed a flag officer of the Royal Navy, Captain J. S. M. Ritchie, A.D.C., R.N., has been promoted to the rank of rearadmiral and placed on the retired list. The first New Zealand officer to reach flag rank was Vice-Admiral J. E. T. Harper. As captain of the cruisers Dunedin and Diomede, Captain Ritchie had the honour of being the first New Zealandborn naval man to command a ship of war in Dominion waters. He was gunnery commander of H.M.S. St. Vincent at the battle of Jutland, and later of H.M.S. Iron Duke, Admiral Jellicoe's flagship. High administrative posts were given him, positions he occupied being those of director of training and staff duties, executive commander of H.M.S. Malaya, which made two historical missions to Germany and India, and naval attache at the British Embassy at Washington. His has been a distinguished record of service. Rear-Admiral Ritchie is a member of a highly esteemed and prominent Dunedin family. He is the fourth son of the late Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Ritchie. His father founded, with Mr. G. G. Russell, the stock and station firm which was later absorbed to give the National Mortgage and Agency Company an interest in New Zealand. His brother, Mr. George R. Ritchie, is now general manager of the company in the Dominion. 'B Rear-Admiral Ritchie was born in Dunedin on March 12, 1884, and was educated here and nt Wnnganui Collegiate School. Before reaching the age of 15 ho left New Zealand to enter on the naval career in which ho has acquitted himself with distinction and built up a record now honoured by the Lords of the Admiralty. Rear-Admiral Ritchie, who was recently appointed an aide-de-camp to His Majesty the King, was married in 1929 to Miss Joan Karslake, the daughter of Colonel and Mrs. Karslake, of Silchester, near Reading.