Richard Aubrey Garmondsway Haggie

RICHARD Aubrey Garmondsway Haggie who was a Royal Naval officer on HMS London during the Yangtze incident, in 1949, has died aged 82.
By The Newsroom
Published 2nd Jul 2010, 21:26 BST
Updated 2nd Jul 2010, 21:27 BST

In civilian life he was sales director for British Ropes, running the non-European side of the business, a post which covered the rest of the world and allowed him to continue the travelling he so much enjoyed and had begun when in the Royal Navy.

He was born in Darlington the son of David Aubrey Haggie of Red Hall, Houghton-le-Skerne, and educated at Sandroyd Preparatory School, Cobham, Surrey, which during the Second World War moved to Dorset while he was still a pupil. Then having passed the entrance examination to Eton he chose instead to go to Dartmouth, so at 13 he joined the Royal Navy.

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In 1949 he was on the bridge of HMS London when it was hit as it went to the rescue of HMS Amethyst which, while on her way up the Yangtze River to replace HMS Consort as guard ship for the British Embassy during the Chinese Civil War, was shelled by the People's Liberation Army with the loss of 22 men.

When he decided to leave the Royal Navy in 1958, by then having reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and settle down the only way he could be released was to go into a family business, one of which was British Ropes, and the other was Hood, Haggie and Sons, Newcastle rope manufacturers who gave him a job. They were later taken over by British Ropes and he worked for them until the mid-1980s, but continued with consultancy work.

Away from business he was heavily involved with Ripon City Golf Club and with the Royal British Legion at Boroughbridge, as well as with St Andrews Church, Aldborough where he was a churchwarden for many years and did a lot of fundraising for its rebuilding.

At the thanksgiving service for his life the Vicar of Aldborough with Boroughbridge, the Rev Philip Smith, said all the restoration over the last 20 years, which cost 250,000, was down to Lt Cmdr Haggie's hard work.

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In 1954 he married Priscilla Ramsden, known as Tish, the sister of

James Ramsden, Conservative MP for Harrogate from 1954 to 1974.

Lt Cmdr Haggie is survived by his wife, his sons David and James,

daughter Willa, two grandsons and five granddaughters. His elder

daughter, Amanda, died in 2002.