{{Short description|Royal Air Force Air Commodore (1880-1920)}} {{Other people|Robert Groves}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox military person |name= Robert Marsland Groves |image= Brigadier-General R M Groves.jpg |image_size = 350px |caption= Groves as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff |nickname= |birth_date= {{birth date|1880|01|03|df=yes}} |birth_place= Stretford, Lancashire, England |death_date= {{death date and age|1920|05|27|1880|01|03|df=yes}} |death_place= [[Heliopolis (Cairo suburb)|Heliopolis]], Egypt<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1920/1920%20-%200629.html?tracked=1 In memoriam] Flight International, 10 June 1920</ref> |burial_place= |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= {{unbulleted list|[[Royal Navy]] (1899–1918)|[[Royal Air Force]] (1918–20)}} |service_years= 1899–1920 |rank= [[Air Commodore]] |unit= |commands= {{unbulleted list|[[Egyptian Group RAF|Egyptian Group]] (1920)|[[No. 1 Squadron RNAS]] (1916)}} |battles= [[First World War]] |awards= {{unbulleted list|[[Companion of the Order of the Bath]]|[[Distinguished Service Order]]|[[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]]|[[Officer of the Legion of Honour]] (France)|[[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Distinguished Service Medal]] (United States)<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31691 |date=16 December 1919 |page=15614 |supp=y}}</ref>}} |relations= |other_work= }} [[Air Commodore]] '''Robert Marsland Groves''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CB|DSO|AFC}} (3 January 1880 – 27 May 1920) was a [[Royal Navy]] officer involved with naval aviation during the [[First World War]]. He was awarded his [[List of pilots awarded an Aviator's Certificate by the Royal Aero Club in 1914|Aviator's Certificate no. 969]] on 15 November 1914. After transferring to the [[Royal Air Force]] in 1918, he served as [[Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom)|Deputy Chief of the Air Staff]] and held high command in the Middle East. He was killed in a flying accident in 1920 aged 40 whilst serving in Egypt.
==Early life== Groves was born on 3 January 1880 at Stretford in Lancashire, England, the son of [[James Grimble Groves]], a brewer and Conservative MP.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1921/1921%20-%200161.html?tracked=1 Items] Flight International, 3 March 1921</ref> He was educated at [[Rossall School]].
==Naval service== Groves joined the [[Royal Navy]] as a [[midshipman]] in the 1890s, rising to [[sub-lieutenant]] by the summer of 1899 and then [[Lieutenant (Royal Navy)|lieutenant]] on 15 February 1900.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27308 |date=26 April 1901 |page=2858}}</ref> In September 1902 Groves was posted to the torpedo school ship [[HMS Vernon (shore establishment)|HMS ''Vernon'']], to qualify as torpedo lieutenant.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=9 September 1902 |page=8 |issue=36868| }}</ref><ref name=air>[http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/GrovesR.htm Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Commodore R M Groves]</ref>
Groves was promoted to [[Commander (Royal Navy)|commander]] on 22 June 1911 and the following year, on 26 November 1912, he was appointed Flag Commander to the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean on [[HMS Inflexible (1907)|HMS Inflexible]].<ref name=air/> He served in the [[First World War]] as Assistant Director of the Air Department at the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] and then as Officer Commanding [[No. 201 Squadron RAF|No. 1 Squadron RNAS]] before returning to the Admiralty to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Board.<ref name=air/> He was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Order]] in 1919, the citation for which was published in a supplement to the ''[[London Gazette]]'' on 22 June, reading: {{quote|Commander Robert Marsland Groves,. R.N. (Wing Commander, R.N.A.S.). In recognition of his services in command of a Wing of the Royal Naval Air Service at Dunkirk. Commander Groves has by his personal skill as a pilot, and also by his untiring zeal, effected a marked advancement in the general standard of flying on active service. He has on several occasions carried out successful reconnaissances to Ostend under fire, and by his own example has proved the utility and great importance of night flying."<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=29635 |date=22 June 1916 |page=6211 |supp=y}}</ref>}}
==Royal Air Force== After the War, Groves became [[Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom)|Deputy Chief of the Air Staff]] and Director of Operations and Intelligence.<ref name=air/> He went on to be Acting Air Officer Commanding RAF Middle East Area in 1919 and Air Officer Commanding Egyptian Group in 1920.<ref name=air/>
Groves died aged 40 on 27 May 1920 in Egypt from injuries received in an aircraft crash when his Bristol Fighter crashed after engine failure on takeoff at Almaza. He was buried at the Cairo New British Protestant Cemetery.<ref>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/113967/GROVES,%20ROBERT%20MARSLAND Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Robert Marsland Groves]</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/GrovesR.htm Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Commodore R M Groves]
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=[[Mark Kerr (Royal Navy officer, born 1864)|Mark Kerr]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom)|Deputy Chief of the Air Staff]]|years=1918}} {{s-aft|after=[[Oliver Swann]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Oliver Swann]]<br/><small>Only as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff</small>}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom)|Deputy Chief of the Air Staff]]<br/>and Director of Operations and Intelligence|years=February 1919 – 8 September 1919}} {{s-aft|after=[[John Miles Steel|John Steel]]}} |- {{s-new|reason=Formed by renaming Training Brigade (Middle East)}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Air Officer Commanding]] [[Egyptian Group RAF|Egyptian Group]]|years=16 March – 27 May 1920}} {{s-aft|after=Oliver Swann}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Groves, Robert Marsland}} [[Category:1880 births]] [[Category:1920 deaths]] [[Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Egypt]] [[Category:British aviation pioneers]] [[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]] [[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]] [[Category:English aviators]] [[Category:Foreign recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (United States)]] [[Category:Military personnel from Manchester]] [[Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour]] [[Category:People educated at Rossall School]] [[Category:People from Stretford]] [[Category:Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)]] [[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)]] [[Category:Royal Air Force generals of World War I]] [[Category:Royal Navy officers]] [[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1920]] [[Category:19th-century Royal Navy personnel]]