Reginald Prothero

Mediterranean

Prothero was promoted to captain on 1 June 1895. His first command was the battleship HMS Revenge in December 1896, serving as part of the International Squadron in the Mediterranean.^[2] Revenge was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Robert Hastings Harris, tasked with evacuating women from Crete to protect them from the Cretan Revolt.^[2][11] Many of the women were pregnant and, lacking medical staff, Prothero had his crew assist in dealing with the babies, resulting in competitions as to who had the cleanest baby.^[12] From November 1897 Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse of Siam served on Revenge as a midshipman, with Prothero assisting in his naval education. The Thai historian Aphidet Aphakon records how in this period Prothero terrorized his underlings, and was known for "talking with his fists".^[13]

Prothero was nicknamed "Prothero the Bad" throughout the Royal Navy, contrasting his fiery nature with that of his calmer naval cousin Arthur Prothero, "Prothero the Good".^[14][15][16] As a captain Prothero was described by one admiral of the fleet as "quite the most terrifying man I ever served with. Eyes like a hawk - most piercing eyes - and a great hooked nose over a bristling black beard...terrific shoulders, he was nearly as broad as he was long." This signature look also led to another of Prothero's nicknames, "Shylock".^[15]

South Africa

Prothero was given command of the cruiser HMS Doris on 27 April 1898, serving on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station with Harris again on board as commander-in-chief.^[14][6][17] Respected by the sailors crewing the ship for his fairness and judicial behaviour, Prothero nonetheless scared the midshipmen serving in his overcrowded gunroom. He would sometimes punish them for offences, such as getting in his way or annoying him, by grabbing them by the collar and throwing them off Doris' bridge on to the deck below. One of these officers, Midshipman Andrew Cunningham, regarded waking Prothero from an afternoon nap in February 1900 as "the single bravest act of his whole life".^[18][14]

Prothero would often mumble his orders to messenger midshipmen and, in fear of asking the captain what he had said, the midshipmen would move aside and whisper for Prothero's coxswain to translate for them.^[19] The historian James Morris agrees with this portrayal, calling Prothero "one of the most alarming persons ever to command a warship".^[20]

Still with Doris on station in May 1899, Prothero refused to allow his crew to use Doris' steam pinnace, instead testing them with exercises in the stormy False Bay using cutters, resulting in several being washed up at Simon's Town.^[14][21] An opponent of the use of engines, he would time his boat's crew as they rowed him ashore, making them row far out to sea if they did not meet his expectations.^[22]

The Second Boer War began on 11 October 1899. To assist in the combat on land in South Africa, a naval brigade of 400 hundred men from Doris, the protected cruiser HMS Powerful, and the turret ship HMS Monarch, was formed at Simon's Bay. Prothero was selected to command this force; they departed on 19 November to join the army commanded by Lieutenant-General Lord Methuen.^[18][23] Participating in the advance to relieve the besieged town of Kimberley, after providing artillery support at the Battle of Belmont on 23 November,^[24] the brigade was engaged at the Battle of Graspan on 25 November.^[18]

Selected to lead the attack on the hilly Boer positions as infantry, they attacked at daylight. Advancing upward in one long line, the brigade attacked in waves, with one lying down while the next ran ahead of it.^{[22][23][25][26]} The Boers quickly caused heavy casualties amongst the British; Prothero led the force centrally, standing in front of his men leaning on a walking stick and refusing to lie down. Winton notes that "being almost as broad as he was tall, [he] made an excellent target", and in his own memoirs Prothero wrote that the Boer rifle fire was so intense that he saw men being hit three times before their bodies hit the ground.^[18][22][27]

During the advance Prothero was shot and fell with a torn main vein in his right arm; hobbling forwards again, he shouted "Men of the Naval Brigade, advance at the double; take that kopje and be hanged to it!".^[28][29] He was subsequently evacuated from the field and returned to Simon's Town for treatment.^[18][22][27] The Boer position was taken with a loss of fifteen killed and seventy-nine wounded in the brigade.^[30]

The Boer general Piet Cronjé surrendered to the British on 27 February 1900, and was imprisoned on board Doris for the duration.^[31] While at the Cape, Prothero led a court of inquiry for a seaman who had refused to complete a punishment. For this Prothero shockingly sentenced the man to be flogged, an archaic punishment long out of use but not abolished. For this he was attacked in the magazine Truth by Henry Labouchère.^[32] It was possibly the last use of this punishment within the Royal Navy.^[33] For his services in South Africa Prothero was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 6 November 1900.^[34]

Mediterranean return

Having returned from South Africa, Prothero was given command of the Medway Reserves at Chatham Dockyard from the hulk HMS Pembroke in June 1901.^[35][36] He was then given command of the battleship HMS Implacable in the Mediterranean in October 1902. According to Winton, Prothero was "old and more crotchety and eccentric than ever...attempting to impose his own draconian regime and rigid discipline".^[37][6]

On one occasion at Malta Implacable was in harbour having some work done on her engines, which had been removed and dismantled. A mistake was made and the staff ordered Implacable to be ready to sail on the next day. Specifically the command said to raise steam, and as the boilers were still in place, Prothero complied. The next morning he signalled "Submit Implacable has steam for twelve knots but engines are on shore in the dockyard". In April 1903 Edward VII visited Malta. Prothero, present for this, was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order on 27 April. He relinquished command of Implacable in May 1904.^[6][38]