VICE-ADMIRAL SIR WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER PAKENHAM, K.C.B., K.C.V.O., was born in July, 1861, the second son of the late Rear-Admiral the Hon. Thomas Alexander Pakenham. In his early days in the Royal Navy he made a reputation as a swimmer, assisting in the rescue of a seaman who fell overboard at Larnaca, Cyprus, and some years later endeavouring to save a man who fell from the foreyard of the "Calypso" during drill at Kiel. He became a Captain on June 30th, 1903, and from April, 1904, to May, 1906, he was Naval Attaché at Tokyo.

He became a C.B. in July, 1905, and received the Order of the Rising Sun (Second Class) from H.I.M. the Emperor of Japan in 1906. In July, 1907, when in command of the "Antrim," escorting King Edward to Ireland, he was awarded the M.V.O.

From December, 1911, to December, 1913, he was a Lord Commissioner ............