OBITUARY: C.F. HERON-WATSON (57-61)

Charles Heron-Watson (57-61), a retired Commander RN, died peacefully after a short illness on 12th June 2023 aged 79. He left a widow Elizabeth, two daughters and four grandchildren.

At the NCP, Charles was in Macquarie Division but left the College a year early to “coach for the RN” according to a hand-written note scrawled in The Log of Summer Term 1961. That term he had played in the 1st XI as a middle-order batsman and scored 63 in the match against The Admirals XI. The Log stated: “He showed on occasion what an elegant bat he could be. But he was a bad starter and never overcame his uppish forward defensive shot. This cost him his wicket again and again, and yet he seemed to lack the necessary power of determination to overcome it. As a fielder, vastly improved.”

Entering BRNC Dartmouth in 1962, he became a Sub Lt RN in September 1964. His naval career was then spent almost entirely in hydrography, serving in a succession of RN survey ships including HMS Hecla, Fawn, Fox, Egeria, Hecate, Dryad and Hydra. Promoted Lieutenant in 1967, Lt Commander in 1975 and Commander in June 1981, he retired from the RN in the early 1990s after 30 years’ service.

The majority of Charles’s post-RN life was spent working in the charity sector, eventually becoming Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Merchant Navy Education Foundation (RMNEF) in 2006. Originally established in 1827 as the Merchant Seamen’s Orphan Asylum (later the Royal Merchant Navy School at Bearwood, near Reading), this niche charity provides educational help to children of people who served, or are serving, in the Merchant Navy, Fishing Fleet or RNLI.

In 1999 Charles hit the headlines when, according to the Daily Mail, “he took a stand for decency” after remonstrating with a man relieving himself against a Scout hut in the village of Ramsbury, near Marlborough, where he lived for many years. For his trouble, he got a vicious punch in the face which fractured his cheekbone, cut his eyebrow and blacked his right eye. The incident reached the national press when the assailant appeared in court and was ordered to pay Charles £500 in compensation.

A Younger Brother of Trinity House, Heron-Watson was awarded the MN Medal in 2008 for “meritorious service” to British seafarers. It was given to him by Lord West of Spithead, the former First Lord of the Admiralty, who at the time was a Home Office minister in the Labour government led by Gordon Brown. Three years later a long-running dispute over a lease between the RMNEF and Bearwood College, which had gone to the High Court, was resolved with the school agreeing to pay the charity £4 million for a disputed building – to the delight of the foundation’s trustees.

In 2015 Heron-Watson wrote an article in The Guardian appealing, unusually for a charity, for beneficiaries to come forward to receive help from the RMNEF. Two years later, he was the guiding hand behind a special exhibition mounted at the Berkshire Records Office by the RMNEF titled Orphans of the Sea. This made use of unseen documents and photographs to mark the 190th anniversary of the foundation of the Orphan Asylum. Finally, in April 2023 Heron-Watson’s retirement at the end of 2023 as Chief Executive Officer of the RMNEF was announced.  

Simon Cooper on behalf of the trustees of RMNEF paid this tribute to Charles.

My name is Simon Cooper and I have been invited to say a few words about the time I was fortunate to spend with Charles at sea. I am able to tell you from Charles’s typically detailed record of his Royal Naval career that I first met him in August 1978. I was serving at sea in HMS HECATE, an Ocean going Hydrographic Survey ship based in Plymouth. HECATE had returned via the Mediterranean earlier that year, from 18 months surveying the waters of the Persian Gulf. I was a junior officer onboard.

The ship’s task, beginning in late summer early autumn, was to undertake surveys in the Irish Sea, initially off the Pembrokeshire coast. In contrast to our sunny time in the Gulf it was a tough and challenging period - and the seas were not kind. The demands of our task were uncompromising and life onboard was gloomy.

In August that year, during a short visit the ship made to Bristol from our base in Pembroke Dock, Charles arrived onboard to replace the Executive Officer. It was as though a breath of fresh air had cut through the atmosphere onboard. We were treated to that cheery laugh, which preceded Charles everywhere, never more so than during an event at the end of the day at sea, known as Evening Rounds of the ship that Charles as XO conducted. Whilst looking at safety, security and cleanliness, Evening Rounds were, importantly, a chance for the XO to enquire after the welfare and spirit of the ship’s company. It was an opportunity, hitherto rarely used onboard, to encourage, enthuse, reward, and check on the life and humour of everyone. I went with him several times and saw the changes that began to take place onboard as his influence took hold.

As a watchkeeper with charge of the ship’s Bridge, I also witnessed at first-hand Charles’s keen eye for surveying detail and indeed his ability to handle the ship with consummate ease.

Written reports are made on Naval Officers throughout their career, such as on leaving a ship, when the officer is given a summary of his performance on a small form called a “Flimsy”. I have seen some extracts from Charles’s Flimsies! I know, as his family have made clear to me, that Charles would want to be remembered as a person who simply got on with the job in hand, with no fuss. But my memory of him aligns uncannily with many of the remarks in those reports, such as “an excellent and natural leader” “professional” “well- read” “dynamic, effective” “possessing drive and authority”. Few of these really do complete justice to Charles as he was a man of many varied talents. Well that was the Charles I knew at sea.

After HECATE, Charles went on to command HMS FOX during which time the then Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) spent some time onboard. Clearly it was a jolly time for the Prince who wrote to Charles: “Life will never be the same again in the Navy after FOX. I loved my time onboard, mainly due to the fact you were all so kind and jolly in the Wardroom. Thank you very much for making it such fun.”

Many years later, after we had met up again, Charles recruited me to be one of the Trustees of his beloved Royal Merchant Navy Education Foundation. The charity helps dependents of those who have sailed with the UK merchant or fishing fleets, and in tugs and harbour vessels, when they are in need of key educational support, from books and laptops, to university education. Charles was a great ambassador for the charity, having placed it on an excellent financial footing, and becoming a property developer and a finance man, as well as a “mover and shaker” in the field of maritime charities. He increased the charity’s influence to ensure its future, whilst always showing great empathy for those in need of assistance. In this way the sea remained central to his professional endeavours throughout his life.

Charles, thank you, we will miss you.