COMMANDER S. W. F. BENNETTS, D.S.O.

D.S.C., R.N., has been appointed Chief Inspector of Life-boats to succeed Commander T. G. Michelmore, O.B.E., R.D., R.N.R.

Commander Bennetts was in command of submarines and destroyers from 1933 to 1944. In addition to being awarded the D.S.O. and D.S.C. during the last war he was also mentioned in despatches. On leaving the Royal Navy he was appointed District Inspector (General) of the Institution in 1949 and in 1951 became Deputy Chief Inspector of Life-boats.

Lieut.-Commander W. L. G. Dutton, R.D., R.N.R., has been appointed Deputy Chief Inspector of Life-boats.

Lieutenant-Commander Dutton was for four years in command of minesweepers in the last war and was mentioned in despatches five times. Before that he served for ten years in the Merchant Navy. He was appointed Irish District Inspector of the Institution in 1946 and Western District Inspector in 1954.

Commander E. W. Middleton, V.R.D., R.N.V.R., has been appointed Superintendent of Depot to succeed Commander H. L. Wheeler, R.N., who has retired. Commander Middleton served his apprenticeship in the Union Castle Line and later with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. He was an officer of the R.N.R., and later of the R.N.V.R.

before the last war. During the war he saw service in destroyers and held appointments in the Suez Canal area and on the staff of the Chief of Combined Operations. He was Chief Staff Officer to the Head of the British Military Mission to Moscow from 1944 to 1945.

His first appointment to the Institution was that of Western District Inspector, which he took up at the beginning of 1946. In 1951 he was appointed District Inspector (General) and in 1954 Assistant Chief Inspector.

Details of Commander Wheeler's career were given in the December 1955 number of The Life-boat, when he was appointed Superintendent of Depot.

Lieut-Commander D. G. Wicksteed, R.N.R., has been appointed Northern District Inspector. After being educated at King Edward VI School at Stratford-on-Avon, Commander Wicksteed served for twenty years in the Merchant Navy, first with the Elder Dempster Steamship Company and later with the Cunard Steamship Company.

Shortly before joining the Lifeboat Institution he was serving as Junior First Officer of the R.M.S.

Queen Mary. In 1949 he obtained a commission in the Royal Naval Reserve.

Lieut.-Commander Wicksteed was R.N.R. Aide-de-Camp to the Lord High Commissioner at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

As a consequence of the new appointments Lieut. E. D. Stogdon, R.N.V.R., has been appointed Eastern District Inspector ; Lieut.-Commander H. H.

Harvey, V.R.D., R.N.V.R., has been appointed Western District Inspector ; and Commander H. B. Acworth, O.B.E., R.N., has been appointed Irish District Inspector. Commander L. F. L. Hill, R.D., R.N.R., continues as Inspector of the Central District..