Lionel Preston

Admiral Sir Lionel George Preston KCB (27 September 1875 – 21 September 1971) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Fourth Sea Lord.

Naval career
Lionel Preston was educated at Stubbington House School and joined the Royal Navy as a cadet aboard HMS Britannia in 1888. He took part in the response to the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 and served in World War I commanded the Grand Fleet Minesweeping Flotilla from 1914 until 1917 when he became Director of the Minesweeping Division at the Admiralty.

After the War he was in charge of the clearance of mines in British waters and then, from 1919, commanded patrol, minesweeping training and fishing protection flotilla. He was appointed Commanding Officer of the Royal Navy Signal School at Portsmouth in 1920 and then given command of the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle in 1923. He was given command of the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron in 1926 and became Fourth Sea Lord and Chief of Supplies and Transport in 1930. He was made Commandant of the Imperial Defence College in 1933 and retired in 1935.

He also served in World War II as Advisor on minesweeping and then, as the Director of Small Vessels Pool, he took charge of the provision of small craft for Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. In a "War Commentary" broadcast by the BBC he made reference to "the futile years" when the United Kingdom supported the League of Nations as a basis for its foreign policy. He retired again in 1945.

In retirement he became Chairman of Titanine Limited, a business specialising in aircraft finishes. He lived in Chiltern Road in Dunstable.

He also wrote the book "Sea And River Painters Of The Netherlands In The Seventeenth Century".

Family
He married Emily Elizabeth Bryant.