John Dowding (Royal Navy officer)

His father was an Anglican clergyman, who served there before returning to England and residing at St John's in the Vale, Cumberland.

[1] Dowding was educated at St Bees School, in what is now Cumbria, and on the Royal Navy training ship HMS Conway.

[2] He became a probationary midshipman in the RNR, with seniority from August 1910, and joined the Merchant Navy, earning his Second Mate's certificate in December 1913.

[3] With the outbreak of the Second World War Dowding was recalled to active service with the rank of commander and was appointed to HMS Mona's Isle, a Manx packet steamer requisitioned to serve as an armed boarding vessel.

In June 1940 she took part in Operation Dynamo, the Dunkirk evacuation, making two trips under fire and bringing back over 2,600 troops.