The Upholders Company a long history working in support of our armed forces, with military affiliations spanning more than three centuries.
At the end of the 19th Century, the Company contributed to the financing of the City of London Imperial Volunteers Brigade, set up to assist the South Africa campaign, following an appeal by the government. As a result of this action, the Company was awarded the Queens South Africa medal.
In the last century, the Company developed a strong relationship with the Royal Navy, today expressed as an active and formal affiliation with the submarine service and in particular HMS Vigilant.
HMS Upholder in World War II
The naval link was established with the first HMS Upholder. She was ordered from the Vickers Armstrong shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness the day after Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939. She was launched on the 8th July 1940 and was completed in October of that year. After a short sea trial in the Clyde area, she sailed for the Mediterranean under the command of Lieutenant Commander Wanklyn. HMS Upholder was part of the 10th Submarine Flotilla based in Malta with a short and illustrious career. During this time the Company sent the ship’s company books, food parcels and many other comforts to help relieve the austerity of life on board a wartime submarine.
As a result of his actions on a patrol, Lieutenant Commander Wanklyn was awarded the Victoria Cross to add to his Distinguished Service Order and Bar. This took place in May 1941 when a troopship was sunk from HMS Upholder torpedoes whilst being counter-attacked by an accompanying destroyer and he successfully brought the submarine back to safety.
In all, HMS Upholder completed 24 patrols during her 16 months of service with the 10th Submarine Flotilla. She sank or damaged 22 enemy ships, including 3 U-boats (sunk), two destroyers (one sunk, one damaged) and one cruiser (damaged). She also damaged or sunk 119,000 tons of enemy supply ships.
Sadly, on her 25th patrol in April 1942, her last outing before returning home to the UK for a well-earned rest, she was sunk with all hands, somewhere off Libya possibly by the Italian Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) – Pegaso. HMS Upholder was the most successful British submarine in World War II.
HMS Upholder (1990 to 1994)
It would come as no surprise when the Royal Navy introduced a new Upholder class of diesel-electric submarine that the Company would be very keen seek an affiliation with a new HMS Upholder, the first of four submarines produced in this class. The second submarine named ‘Upholder’ she was built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited (VSEL), Barrow-in-Furness and launched by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent on 2nd December 1986. The Duchess became a regular visitor to the submarine in the ship’s early days and was affectionately known as ‘Auntie Kate’ by the crew.
Her first Commanding Officer (CO) was Lieutenant Commander G.A.R. McCready, M.B.E., R.N., who was appointed in Command of HMS Upholder in November 1987. The Worshipful Company immediately adopted the new HMS Upholder as soon as she was commissioned and presented her Commanding Officer and the Ship’s Company with a silver model of the first HMS Upholder which was displayed in the submarine’s Trophy Cabinet throughout her Commission. Members of the Court and Liverymen of the Worshipful Company enjoyed some memorable visits to the ship when she was in London. A few Company members were privileged to go to sea in her, including a period submerged.
This new HMS Upholder was a ‘First-of-Class’ and the first new diesel electric submarine to enter service with the Royal Navy for some twenty years. The new ‘Upholder Class’ was, unfortunately, not to stay active for many years and HMS Upholder was decommissioned at the end of April 1994. The rest of the Upholder Class fleet were all de-commissioned over the next few months in favour of nuclear-powered submarines.
A few years later after HMS Upholder was decommissioned, she was sold to the Canadian Navy and re-named HMCS Chicoutimi. In October 2004, during her transit to Canada the boat suffered a serious fire and was subsequently laid up in Halifax, Nova Scocia for some years. In 2010 the Canadian Navy transported her to the west coast to be refitted and returned to service. In 2014 she started sea trials and was officially accepted back into the Canadian Navy on the 3rd of September 2015.
HMS Newcastle (1999 to 2005)
In was not until 1999, when all Livery Companies were encouraged by the Lord Mayor’s Office to have military links, that the Company celebrated a new chapter with the Royal Navy. This time it would be with a with a destroyer – HMS Newcastle affectionally nicknamed the ‘The Geordie Gunboat’.
The oldest of the 11 Type 42 Destroyers, the vessel was launched on the Tyne by Swan Hunter in 1975 and commissioned in 1978. The captain at the time, Commander Steve Pearson MA RN wrote to then Master Bob Olney that; “Over the years the Ship has seen active service around the world which has included peacekeeping duties, crisis/war operations, disaster relief duties and the obvious defence diplomacy”.
In 2002 HMS Newcastle deployed from the South Atlantic to the Caribbean for some anti-drug operations before returning to the UK. In a letter to Hon Court Asst Aubrey Cox, Cdr Blunden described the operations; “This has been an interesting and challenging deployment involving patrols and operations off West Africa, among the Falkland Islands and the Caribbean where we enjoyed a good deal of success in the war against drugs. Along the way we have enjoyed some very good visits to ports in South America and to islands in the Caribbean.”
A few very appreciative Upholders enjoyed one of two visits offered to the ship. During one, Master and Clerk, Clive Roffe and the James Cody spent 5-9 December 1999 on board, experiencing a passage down to the South West Approaches to carry out trials on a new piece of equipment. The other visit was shorter but involved 15 Upholders and Consorts.
To mark the affiliation between the Upholders’ Company and HMS Newcastle, which lasted from 1999 until her decommissioning on 1 February 2005, the Ship’s company presented then Master Bob Olney with an impressive base of a shell into which the silhouette of the ship has been cut
First Sea Lord Sir Mark Stanhope
In 1990 HMS London paid a visit to the Pool of London and it officers and crew were entertained in the City. The frigate (previously named Bloodhound) was renamed London at the request of the Lord Mayor and its Captain Mark Stanhope attended a function where Past Master Upholder JC Byllam-Barnes invited him to become a Liveryman.
In 2009 Liveryman Stanhope was appointed First Sea Lord. This occasion was marked by Master Julian Squire who arranged a special service to mark the Company’s long association with the Royal Navy, which took place in the Chapel at Mercers Hall, followed by a banquet in the Livery Hall. Attending the function in his full dress uniform complete with Order of the Bath Star, the First Sea Lord was obliged to send his driver back to collect a forgotten item to ensure he was correctly dressed – with his Livery badge!
In October 2013, Master Nick Meyer and Upholder colleagues attended the Type 42 ‘End of an Era’ Dinner at the Painted Hall in Greenwich Old Royal Naval College.
HMS Triumph (2009 to 2025)
After HMS Newcastle the next Royal Navy affiliation took another four years to put in place in January 2009 the Livery was delighted to link with the submarine HMS Triumph.
HMS Triumph was a Trafalgar class, hunter/killer, nuclear powered submarine, launched in February 1991 by Lady Ann Hamilton and commissioned in October the same year.
Triumph sailed to Australia in 1993, travelling 41,000 miles submerged without support – the longest solo deployment so far by a nuclear submarine. After the 9/11 attacks in the USA, Triumph, along with her sister ship Trafalgar, formed part of a task group in 2001 as part of the American led invasion of Afghanistan. The British component of this was called Operation Veritas. During Operation Veritas, Triumph launched Tomahawk missiles on targets inside Afghanistan.
After her refit in Plymouth, she was re-commissioned on 23rd April 2010 (St George’s day), the re-dedication ceremony at Davenport by Lady Hamilton was attended by Master Julian Squire and a large contingent of Upholders, who were delighted to tour the submarine and have the opportunity to stand on top of the nuclear
reactor, which was capable of producing enough energy to power the entire city of Plymouth.
In March 2011, under the command of Commander Rob Dunn, Triumph headed the UK response in Libya, Operation Ellamy, firing 15 Tomahawk missiles in total. Returning to Devonport Triumph flew the Jolly Roger in defiance to Naval Command rules. The Livery were delighted to welcome the Ship’s Company to the 2012 September Dinner at the Apothecaries Hall where Cdr Dunn recounted the more interesting and less well-known facts of the deployment. Jerry Appleyard, 2012 Master, presented the submarine with the Upholders Uckers Cup for the traditional Naval board game competitions played whilst at sea.
On 13th June 2019, Master Wendy Shorter-Blake and colleagues were guests of the Royal Navy on their Affiliates’ Day. They were unable to visit HMS Triumph as she was in deep maintenance, however, were pleased to tour HMS Courageous and to take part in two sessions in the Trainer Demonstrations for the Submarine Command Team and Submarine Ship Control.
With the onset of the Covid, interaction with HMS Triumph was restricted but the Company was regularly updated on HMS Triumph’s activity. Inevitably it came to pass that on a warm day in July 2025 HMS Triumph was decommissioned in a ceremony attended by Master Roger Wates and other Company members at HMNB Devonport. Aso present as principal guests were Lord Archie Hamilton and his wife, Lady Ann Hamilton who, as previously stated, commissioned HMS Triumph in October 1991 when her husband was the Secretary of State for Defence. Lord Hamilton spoke on behalf of his wife expressing pride in their long association with HMS Triumph.
HMS Vigilant (2025 to?)
No time was lost in seeking a new affiliation with the Company keen to maintain a link to a submarine but with some very good liaison the Company managed to secure an affiliation with HMS Vigilant. However, there is a fundamental difference between HMS Triumph which was a “hunter” submarine and HMS Vigilant which is a “bomber” i.e. it carries the Trident ballistic missiles, the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent. HMS Vigilant was commissioned in October 1995 and is expected to be in service for some time yet.
As a result, the Master Roger Wates with some colleagues were invited to attend on the 12th of October 2025 HMNB Clyde at Faslane, Scotland for HMS Vigilant’s Affiliates Day. It was also agreed that the occasion could be used to sign an Affiliates MOU to formalise the new partnership.
The day was spent with fellow affiliates – the Mayor of the Isle of Man together with his wife and driver, four soldiers of the Royal Tank Regiment, two officers from RAF 201 Squadron (Maritime Reconnaissance / Anti-submarine) (Lossiemouth) and two members of staff from Loretto School, Edinburgh (CCF link).
Whilst in the submarine’s Officer’s Mess, the CO and the Master signed the “Memorandum of Understanding” to ratify the new affiliation. In recognition of this new partnership, the CO was presented with the Companies silver model of World War II Submarine HMS Upholder. As previously stated, this was originally made and presented to the second HMS Upholder until she was decommissioned in April 1994 and was later retained by HMS Triumph until she decommissioned in July 2025.
In the current world climate, there will be long periods when HMS Vigilant will be incommunicado, but she will always be in our thoughts and prayers with a strong bond forming with the Livery Company. In pursuance of this relationship, Lt Cdr May RN formerly of HMS Vigilant attended our Mansion House Banquet in October 2025 and signed the Armed forces Covenant on behalf of the military services. Hopefully this will be the first of many occasions that we will see representatives of HMS Vigilant attend as guests at future Livery functions.
The Worshipful Company of Upholders of the City of London 