Robert Selby Armitage

Infobox Military Person
name= Robert Selby Armitage
born=28 March, 1905
died=26 May, 1982
placeofbirth= Birling, Kent, England
placeofdeath= Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, England


caption=
nickname=
allegiance= United Kingdom
branch= Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
serviceyears=
rank= Lieutenant Commander
commands=
unit= HMS "Vernon"
battles=World War II bomb disposal
awards=
laterwork= Stockbroker
portrayedby=
Lieutenant-Commander Robert Selby Armitage GC, GM, RNVR (28 March, 1905 – 26 May, 1982) won both the George Cross and George Medal for his bomb disposal work during the Second World War. [ [http://www.naval-history.net/WW2MedalsBr-GC.htm#armi "The George Cross at Sea"] Accessed 23 December 2007.] He is one of only eight people to have been awarded both the George Cross and George Medal. [Stephen Stratford, [http://www.stephen-stratford.co.uk/gc_and_gm.htm "British Military & Criminal History in the period 1900 to 1999"] . Accessed 23 December 2007. ]

The son of the Rev. Philip Armitage (1870-1960) and his wife Elizabeth Christina Armitage, née Marshall (c1875-1934), he was born in Birling in Kent on 28 March 1905 [The Times, 2 June 1982] and educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge. [George Cross database [http://www.gc-database.co.uk/recipients/ArmitageRS.htm "Robert Selby Armitage"] Accessed 23 December 2007.] On 28 September 1938 he married Frances Bland Tucker.

He defused unexploded bombs during the blitz in 1940, notably a mine that fell on Orpington in Kent. The mine had come to rest in a tree and he climbed a ladder to defuse it, offering no chance of escape if the fuse had been triggered. His George Cross was gazetted in the London Gazette on 27 December 1940, and he was invested on 24 May 1941 at the medal's first investiture ceremony. He was one of four recipients: one civilian and one each from the Navy, Army and Air Force. [George Cross database [http://www.gc-database.co.uk/facts.htm "Facts & Statistics" page.] Accessed 23 December 2007.]

Also in 1940, he commanded a small coaster at the evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk. [ [http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RNVR_officersA.html "Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) Officers"] Accessed 23 December 2007.]

His George Medal, gazetted on 15 February 1944, was for mine disposal work at Corton Sands, Suffolk on 15 June 1942 while serving in HMS "Vernon".

On 26 May 1982, at his home in Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, he shot his wife, wounding her slightly, and then killed himself. [Henley Standard, 28 May 1982.]

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