Admiral Sir Richard Henry Peirse, KCB, KBE, MVO, DL (4 September 1860 – 10 July 1940)[2] was a senior Royal Navy officer during the First World War.

Peirse joined the Royal Navy in 1873 and,[2] in 1885, developed a new naval director[3] which was to become the fire-control system used in all ships with large guns.

[8] Then promoted to vice admiral in October 1914,[7][9] he served in the First World War taking part in the attack on Smyrna in 1915,[10] where he outgunned the Turkish Fleet.

[16] Peirse lived in Upper Norwood in London[17] and there is a memorial to him in Bedale Parish Church in North Yorkshire.

[18] He and his wife lived for many years at Fiesole on Bathwick Hill in Bath, Somerset before moving to Belmont in Combe Down, where he died in 1940.