William_Pillar

William Pillar

William Pillar

Add article description

Admiral Sir William Thomas Pillar, GBE, KCB, FIMechE[1](24 February 1924 – 18 March 1999) was a senior Royal Navy officer who served as Chief of Naval Support and a member of the Admiralty.

Quick Facts Admiral Sir William Pillar, Born ...

Educated at Blundell's School and latterly at the Royal Naval Engineering College, Pillar joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1942 during the Second World War.[2] He was promoted to sub-lieutenant (Engineering Branch) on 1 June 1944.[3] An acting lieutenant at the war's end, he was promoted to substantive lieutenant (E) on 3 June 1947 (seniority 1 October 1945).[4] Following service in the Korean War he was promoted to lieutenant-commander (E) on 1 October 1953,[5] to commander (E) on 31 December 1958[6] and to captain (E) on 31 December 1966.[7]

Pillar was appointed Assistant to the Director-General, Ships in 1970 and Commander of the Royal Naval Engineering College in 1973.[2] Attaining flag rank as a rear admiral on 7 January 1976,[1] he was made Port Admiral at Rosyth and then Assistant Chief of Fleet Support.[2] Promoted to vice admiral on 2 April 1979,[8] he became the first Royal Navy engineer officer to be Chief of Fleet Support. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1980 Birthday Honours,[9] and was promoted to admiral on 5 January 1982.[10] In 1982, he became Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies.[2] Appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1983 Birthday Honours,[11] he retired on 6 March 1984.[12]

On retirement from the Royal Navy Pillar became Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Jersey.[2] He was also Commodore and later Life Vice-Commodore of the Royal Navy Sailing Association,[13] a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron,[2] President of the Royal Navy Modern Pentathlon Association and a Knight of St. John.

Family

In 1946 Pillar married Ursula Ransley; they had three sons and a daughter.[2]

References

  1. [1]
    "No. 46786". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 January 1976. p. 202.
  2. [2]
    Obituary: Admiral Sir William Pillar The Independent, 13 April 1999
  3. [3]
    "No. 37480". The London Gazette. 22 February 1946. p. 1089.
  4. [4]
    "No. 37984". The London Gazette. 13 June 1947. p. 2673.
  5. [5]
    "No. 40052". The London Gazette. 29 December 1953. p. 7034.
  6. [6]
    "No. 41618". The London Gazette. 27 January 1959. p. 653.
  7. [7]
    "No. 44218". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 January 1967. p. 71.
  8. [8]
    "No. 47809". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 April 1979. p. 4433.
  9. [9]
    "No. 48212". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 1980. p. 2.
  10. [10]
    "No. 48879". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 February 1982. p. 1401.
  11. [11]
    "No. 49375". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 1983. p. 5.
  12. [12]
    "No. 49664". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 March 1984. p. 3249.
  13. [13]
    Obituary: Admiral Sir William Pillar The Times, 6 April 1999
More information Military offices, Government offices ...
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article William_Pillar, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.