David Murray Anderson - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Anderson was born on 11 April 1874, the second son of General David Anderson, Colonel-in-Chief of the Cheshire Regiment, and his wife Charlotte Christina, née Anderson in Newton-by-Chester in Cheshire, England. He was educated at Stubbington House School and in 1887, as a 13 year old, he became a cadet at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. Seeing action against King Koko slave traders on the Niger River, he became a Lieutenant on 23 February 1895 at age 20. Anderson saw further action against West-African rebels and in the Ashanti Campaign. In 1905 he was promoted to Commander and was posted to command the Royal Yacht HMY Victoria and Albert in 1908. Also in 1908, he married a New Zealander, Edith Teschemaker. On 29 July 1910 Anderson was appointed a Member (Fourth Class) of the Royal Victorian Order, Military Division. In 11 August 1911, he was promoted to Captain and posted as Flag Captain on HMS Hyacinth from 1913 to 1917.

When the First World War broke out he took part in the operations that resulted in the destruction of the SMS Königsberg in German East Africa, and was Mentioned in Despatches in 1915. For his actions leading to the capture of Dar es Salaam he was appointed a Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) on 1 January 1918. He was also invested by the Sultan of Zanzibar with the Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar, Second Class. From 1918 to 1919 Anderson was posted to command the battleship HMS Ajax in the Grand Fleet. In May 1921 he was appointed as an aide-de-camp (ADC) to King George V, which he held till April 1922. After a posting in England, he was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1922. On 2 June 1923 he was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the Bath (CB), Military Division. He was later posted from 1923 to 1925 as a senior naval officer to the China Station and briefly served as Temporary Commander-in-Chief in 1925. While in China, he was called upon on three separate occasions to command a multi-national force of Japanese, British, American, Portuguese and Italian sailors to help protect the Shanghai International Settlement. For his efforts in China, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Third Class, by the Emperor Hirohito of Japan.

Further promoted to Vice Admiral in 1927, he was appointed to command the Africa Station. From June to September 1928 he served as High Commissioner to the Union of South Africa. Being fluent in French, he was further appointed to Geneva as the Admiralty representative to the League of Nations permanent advisory commission from 1929 to 1931. On 3 June 1930 he was appointed as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB), Military division, and was promoted to Admiral in 1931. He retired at his own request on 5 July 1932.