Nigel Henderson

For the artist, see Nigel Henderson (artist).

Sir Nigel Henderson
Born	1 August 1909
Died	1993
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1927–1971
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	HMS Protector HMS Kenya Plymouth Command
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Admiral Sir Nigel Stuart Henderson GBE KCB DL (1 August 1909–1993) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.

Naval career

Henderson joined the Royal Navy in 1927.^[1] He served in World War II as a gunnery officer.^[1] After the war he became Naval Attaché in Rome and then, from 1951, commanded the patrol vessel HMS Protector.^[1]

He was appointed Commanding Officer at the Royal Naval Air Station at Bramcote in 1952 and was Captain of the cruiser HMS Kenya from 1955.^[1] He became Vice Naval Deputy and then Naval Deputy to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe in 1957 and Director General of Training at the Admiralty in 1960.^[1] In 1962 he was made Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.^[1] He was made Head of the British Defence Staff in Washington D. C. and British Member of Standing Group and UK Representative on the NATO Military Committee in 1965 and then Chairman of the NATO Military Committee in 1968.^[1] He retired in 1971.^[1]

Writing in 1974 he expressed concern over a general lack of awareness about "Western Europe and indeed of all NATO countries being dependent very largely on Middle East oil".^[2]

In retirement he spearheaded the effort to restore the Scottish birthplace of John Paul Jones at Arbigland back to its original 1747 condition.^[3] He was also a Deputy Lieutenant of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright^[4] and a Patron of the Ten Tors Challenge held each year on Dartmoor.^[5]

Family

He was married to Catherine.^[6]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
2. ^ Editorial Naval Review, Vol. 67, No.3, page 169, July 1979
3. ^ History of John Paul Jones Cottage John Paul Jones Cottage Museum, Scotland
4. ^ Deputy Lieutenants in Scotland Hansard, 11 June 1992
5. ^ Ten Tors
6. ^ Galloway volunteer group celebrates 21st birthday Galloway News, 15 December 2006

Military offices
Preceded by Sir Charles Madden	Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth 1962–1965	Succeeded by Sir Fitzroy Talbot
Preceded by C.P. de Cumont	Chairman of the NATO Military Committee 1968–1971	Succeeded by Johannes Steinhoff
Honorary titles
Preceded by Sir Alexander Bingley	Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom 1973–1976	Succeeded by Sir John Bush
Preceded by Sir Deric Holland-Martin	Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom 1976–1979	Succeeded by Sir John Bush

Persondata
Name	Henderson, Nigel
Alternative names
Short description	Royal Navy officer
Date of birth	1 August 1909
Place of birth
Date of death	1993
Place of death