# Hugo Pearson

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{{Short description|Royal Navy Admiral (1843–1912)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix = [Admiral](/source/Admiral_(Royal_Navy))
|name = Sir Hugo Pearson
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB}}
|birth_date=30 June 1843<ref>{{cite web |title =Pearson, Hugo Lewis|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8115103 |publisher=[The National Archives (UK)](/source/The_National_Archives_(UK)) |accessdate=21 May 2019 |date=1856}}</ref>
|death_date={{dda|12 June 1912|30 June 1843|df=y}}
|birth_place=[Barwell](/source/Barwell), [Leicestershire](/source/Leicestershire), [England](/source/England)
|death_place=[Goodrich, Herefordshire](/source/Goodrich%2C_Herefordshire), England
|image= Admiral Sir Hugo Lewis Pearson.jpg
|caption=Admiral Sir Hugo Lewis Pearson
|nickname=
|allegiance= {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [United Kingdom](/source/United_Kingdom)
|service_years=1855–1908
|rank= [Admiral](/source/Admiral_(Royal_Navy))
|commands=[HMS ''St Vincent''](/source/HMS_St_Vincent_(1815))<br/>''HMY Osborne''<br/>[HMS ''Colossus''](/source/HMS_Colossus_(1848))<br/>[HMS ''Excellent''](/source/HMS_Excellent_(shore_establishment))<br/>[HMS ''Collingwood''](/source/HMS_Collingwood_(1882))<br/>[HMS ''Barfleur''](/source/HMS_Barfleur_(1892))<br/>[Australia Station](/source/Australia_Station)<br/>[Nore Command](/source/Commander-in-Chief%2C_The_Nore)
|branch=23px [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy)
|unit=
|battles=
|awards= Knight Commander of the [Order of the Bath](/source/Order_of_the_Bath)
|other_work=
}}
[Admiral](/source/Admiral_(Royal_Navy)) '''Sir Hugo Lewis Pearson''', [KCB](/source/Order_of_the_Bath) (30 June 1843 – 12 June 1912) was a [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy) officer who served as both [Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station](/source/Australia_Station) and [Commander-in-Chief, The Nore](/source/Commander-in-Chief%2C_The_Nore).

==Early life and education==
Hugo Lewis Pearson was born at [Barwell](/source/Barwell),<ref name="WW">{{Who's Who|title=Pearson, Adm. Sir Hugo Lewis|id=U189780}}</ref> into a notable [Staffordshire](/source/Staffordshire) family with a long tradition of service in [India](/source/British_India) and the [British Armed Forces](/source/British_Armed_Forces). He was the grandson of [John Pearson](/source/John_Pearson_(advocate_general)) (1771–1841), a barrister and senior [East India Company](/source/East_India_Company) official who served as [Advocate-General of Bengal](/source/Advocate-General_of_Bengal) from 1824 to 1840.<ref name="visitation"/> His father General [Thomas Hooke Pearson](/source/Thomas_Hooke_Pearson) [CB](/source/Companion_of_the_Bath) (1806–1892) served as an ADC to the [Earl Amherst](/source/William_Amherst%2C_1st_Earl_Amherst), then Governor-General of India.<ref name="visitation">{{cite book|editor-first=Frederick Arthur |editor-last=Crisp |title=Visitation of England and Wales |volume=10|url=https://archive.org/details/visitationofengl10howa/page/73/mode/1up |year=1902 |pages=73–77 |publisher=Privately printed |location=London}}</ref> He married in 1837 Frances Elizabeth Ashby Mettam, eldest daughter of George Mettam, Rector of Barwell.<ref name="visitation"/><ref>{{alox2|title=Mettam, George}}</ref>

Pearson attended private schools in [Southwell, Nottinghamshire](/source/Southwell%2C_Nottinghamshire) and [Wimbledon, London](/source/Wimbledon%2C_London).<ref name="WW"/>

==Naval career==
Pearson joined the [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy) in 1855, at the age of 12 years.<ref name=bio>[http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19120615.2.56&srpos=93&e=-------10--11--on--2%22yelverton%22 Obituary: Admiral Sir H L Pearson] Evening Post, 14 June 2010</ref> In his early career, he was promoted to Lieutenant on 14 September 1863 and only 3 weeks later, on 20 October, Captain Henry Boys reported on Pearson's "active conduct in a fire breaking out out in the [Pelorus](/source/Pelorus_Sound_%2F_Te_Hoiere)."<ref name="auto">{{cite web|title=Dreadnought Project – Hugo Lewis Pearson |url=http://dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Hugo_Lewis_Pearson |access-date= 3 October 2021}}</ref> In February, 1865 Pearson destroyed piratical junks in Jungwa Bay.<ref name="auto"/>

Pearson was promoted to Commander with seniority of 6 February 1872, and was promoted to the rank of Captain with seniority of 9 December 1879.<ref>{{cite web |title=ADM 196/86/27 |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8115103 |website=Naval Officer's service record – Hugo L Pearson |publisher=National Archives |access-date=3 October 2021}}</ref>

He was Captain of the [first-rate](/source/first-rate) [HMS ''St Vincent''](/source/HMS_St_Vincent_(1815)), the [Royal yacht](/source/Royal_yacht) ''Osborne'' and the [second-rate](/source/second-rate), [HMS ''Colossus''](/source/HMS_Colossus_(1848)).<ref name=bio/> He went on to command the shore establishment [HMS ''Excellent''](/source/HMS_Excellent_(shore_establishment)) and, later, the [battleship](/source/battleship)s [HMS ''Collingwood''](/source/HMS_Collingwood_(1882)) and [HMS ''Barfleur''](/source/HMS_Barfleur_(1892)).<ref name=bio/> Between 1892 and 1895 he was Aide-de-Camp to [Queen Victoria](/source/Queen_Victoria),<ref>{{cite web|title=Obituary of Admiral Sir H L Pearson|work= Evening Post|volume=83|date= 15 June 1919|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19120615.2.56}}</ref> and was the Rear Admiral of the Reserve Fleet during the [Jubilee Review](/source/Fleet_review_(Commonwealth_realms)) in 1897.<ref name=bio/>

In 1898 he became [Commander in Chief, Australia Station](/source/Australia_Station) and served as such for two years until late 1900, when he returned to the United Kingdom and bought [Rocklands House in Goodrich](/source/Rocklands_House%2C_Goodrich), [Herefordshire](/source/Herefordshire). On 19 March 1901, he was promoted to [vice-admiral](/source/vice-admiral)<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27297 |date=22 March 1901 |page=2021}}</ref> and in 1903 he became [Commander-in-Chief, The Nore](/source/Commander-in-Chief%2C_The_Nore), a post he held until 1907.<ref>Whitaker's Almanack 1904</ref> He retired on 30 June 1908.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28156|date=7 July 1908|page=4940}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1874 Pearson married Emily Frances Mary Key (1848–1930), second daughter of General George William Key (1812–1883) of the [15th Hussars](/source/15th_Hussars).<ref name="WW"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Boase |first1=Frederic |title=Modern English Biography |date=1897 |publisher=Netherton and Worth, For the author |page=213|volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_IVmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA213 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes|date= 1912 |page =1330 |url=https://archive.org/details/1912kellyshandbo00londuoft/page/1330/mode/2up}}</ref> The couple had two sons and a daughter who survived into adulthood: two other children died in infancy.<ref name="visitation"/> Their eldest son, Lieutenant Reginald William Pearson, was killed in 1900 in the [Siege of Ladysmith](/source/Siege_of_Ladysmith) during the [Boer War](/source/Boer_War)<ref>{{cite web|title=Officers Died: South Africa 1899 – 1902 |url=https://glosters.tripod.com/BoerP.htm |access-date= 3 October 2021}}</ref> and his parents erected a memorial window in [Goodrich Church](/source/Goodrich%2C_Herefordshire) in his honour.<ref>{{cite web|title=Memorials in St Giles Church Goodrich – South East window 22 |url=https://d3hgrlq6yacptf.cloudfront.net/5f15c9476eee0/content/pages/documents/1503333306.pdf |access-date= 3 October 2021}}</ref> His younger son was [Vice-Admiral](/source/Vice-Admiral) [John Lewis Pearson](/source/John_Lewis_Pearson) [CMG](/source/Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George) (1879–1965).<ref>{{cite web|title=Dreadnought Project – John Lewis Pearson |url=http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/John_Lewis_Pearson}}</ref>

Hugo Pearson died on 12 June 1912, aged 69. He left estate of the gross value of £51,971, with net [personalty](/source/personalty) of £43,888.<ref name="auto"/> His son John married in 1912 Phoebe Charlotte Beadon, daughter of Col. Cecil Beadon of Copthorne, and granddaughter of [Cecil Beadon](/source/Cecil_Beadon). He inherited [Rocklands House](/source/Rocklands_House%2C_Goodrich).<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Frederick Arthur |editor-last=Crisp |title=Visitation of England and Wales |volume=18 |url=https://archive.org/details/visitationofengl18howa/page/n315/mode/1up|year=1914|page=liv|publisher=Privately printed |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Will of Admiral Sir H. L. Pearson, K.C.B. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002068/19120711/063/0002 |work=Ross Gazette |date=11 July 1912|page=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Colonel Beadon |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001246/19130122/080/0008 |work=Torquay Directory and South Devon Journal |date=22 January 1913|page=8}}</ref> Their son [Thomas Cecil Hook Pearson](/source/Thomas_Pearson_(British_Army_officer%2C_born_1914)) (1914–2019) was a senior officer of the [British Army](/source/British_Army) who served as [Commander-in-Chief](/source/Commander-in-Chief) of [Allied Forces Northern Europe](/source/Allied_Forces_Northern_Europe).<ref>{{cite web|title=Obituary of General Sir Thomas Pearson |work= [The Times](/source/The_Times)|date= 17 December 2019 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/general-sir-thomas-pearson-obituary-ps0lk38x9}}</ref>

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = 
|image size =
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|notes =
|year_adopted = 
|coronet = 
|escutcheon =Per fesse nebuly, azure and sable, in chief, two suns in splendour, and in base, issuant from a mount, a sun-flower, stalked and leaved, all proper<ref name="visitation"/>
|crest = In front of a demi-sun in splendour proper, a parrot's head erased argent, gorged with a collar nebuly azure<ref name="visitation"/>
|supporters = 
|compartment = 
|motto = 
|orders = Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB)
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==References==
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{succession box| title=[Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station](/source/Australia_Station)| before= [Cyprian Bridge](/source/Cyprian_Bridge)| after= [Lewis Beaumont](/source/Lewis_Beaumont)|years=1898&ndash;1900|}}
|-
{{succession box | title=[Commander-in-Chief, The Nore](/source/Commander-in-Chief%2C_The_Nore) | years=1903&ndash;1907 | before=[Sir Albert Markham](/source/Albert_Hastings_Markham) | after=[Sir Gerard Noel](/source/Gerard_Noel_(Royal_Navy_officer))}}
{{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, Hugo}}
Category:1843 births
Category:1912 deaths
Category:Royal Navy admirals
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Category:People from Barwell

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hugo Pearson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Pearson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Pearson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.