Geoffrey Barnard


Sir Geoffrey Barnard & Bar was a Royal Navy officer who became Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff.

Naval career

Barnard joined the Royal Navy in 1916 during the First World War, and subsequently specialised in Gunnery. He was given command of the destroyer in 1935.
He served in the Second World War as Fleet Gunnery Officer and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, earning the Distinguished Service Order at the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941, and seeing action at the landings in North Africa in 1942. He took command of the cruiser in 1944, and was awarded a Bar to his DSO during Operation Dragoon in 1945.
After the War he became Chief Staff Officer to the Flag Officer in 1946 and Director of the Royal Navy Tactical School in 1948. He was attached to the Indian Navy and commanded the Indian Navy Squadron from 1950 before being appointed Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff in 1952. He became Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty in 1953 and Naval Attaché at the Joint Services Mission in Washington D. C. in 1954. His last role was as President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in 1956 before retiring in 1959.

Family

In 1926 he married Julyan Frances Crawley; they had one son and two daughters.