Gerard Muirhead-Gould

Who was Gerard Muirhead-Gould?

Rear Admiral Gerard Charles Muirhead-Gould DSC was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Muirhead-Gould was born in London. He was the son of Arthur Lewis Gould and Emily Gertrude Lilias Muirhead. He joined the Royal Naval Cadets in January 1904. During World War I, he earned a Distinguished Service Cross, and was recognised as a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur and a Chevalier of the Order of the Redeemer. Between 1933 and 1936 Muirhead-Gould was a member of the Naval Intelligence Division, assigned to the British Embassy in Berlin. During this time he kept Winston Churchill informed of the German military buildup, particularly in relation to the Treaty of Versailles and the later Anglo-German Naval Agreement.

During the war, a heart condition prevented Muirhead-Gould from going to sea. The sinking of British battleship HMS Royal Oak on 14 October 1939, while at anchor in Scapa Flow by German submarine U-47 resulted in an Admiralty Board of Inquiry into how a submarine could have penetrated the harbour's defences, and what could be done to prevent a recurrence. Muirhead-Gould, then a Commander, was one of the three senior officers on the Board.