Family Donation to the Britannia Museum & Archive
November 10, 2023 @ 08:00 - November 10, 2024 @ 17:00
Date: 10NOV23
Author: BRNC Public Relations Office
On 30th October 2023, a collection of naval history was kindly donated to the Britannia Museum and Archive, the naval papers and journal of Commander J A J (Alec) Dennis DSC RN. The donation was delivered to Britannia Royal Naval college by Dr Anthony J. Cumming and Mr Jon Walley on behalf of Georgie Reddington and Alan Dennis of British Columbia, the children of Commander Dennis.
Commander Dennis served on the Royal Navy’s China Station during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 and later in some of the most hard-fought campaigns of the Second World War; including Norway, Operation Aerial, Battle of Matapan, the Syria-Lebanon campaign, and the Battle of Crete.
First Lieutenant on the destroyer HMS Griffin 1939-1942 and later HMS Savage, he then went on to be the Commanding Officer of the destroyer HMS Valorous.
Included in the papers and files donated is Commander Dennis midshipman’s journal. The journal includes personal typed eyewitness accounts of his experiences, including such events as the sinking of the troopship Mohamed Ali El Kebir by Heinrich Liebe’s U38, and the capture of key intelligence, the German Q ship Polares – an important milestone of the intelligence war in 1940.
Joining Mr Jon Walley & Dr Anthony J. Cummings for the presentation were historians, Dr Jane Harrold, and Dr Richard Porter. Dr Harrold commented “Such historic papers and files are an invaluable piece of naval history, giving future generations of historians vital resource and securing precious naval history for both officer cadets and visitors to appreciate.” For Mr Jon Walley, the papers had personal significance as his father had been the PMO on HMS Griffin and had been a personal friend of Commander Dennis. For Dr Tony Cummings as a former Plymouth University post graduate student, he had used the Britannia Museum archives as part of his research and was also a volunteer interviewer for the Britannia’s Voices Oral History Project back in 2018.
Shortly after presenting the papers to the Britannia Museum and Archives, Mr Alan Dennis presented a fine art painting of HMS Griffin (later HMCS Ottawa) by former distinguished Royal Navy officer and later successful maritime artist Hugh Knollys, to the Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum in Victoria Canada.
Image: Mr Anthony J. Cummings, Dr Richard Porter, Dr Jane Harrold, and Mr Jon Walley