Rudolph Bentinck
Sir Rudolph Walter Bentinck was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.Background
Rudolph was the second son of Walter Theodore Edward Bentinck, 13th Baron Bentinck, of a distinguished Dutch family, by his wife Henrietta Jane Christina, daughter of William Hinton, of The Til, Madeira, Portugal.Naval career
Educated at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Bentinck joined the Royal Navy in 1882. He took part in the Mahdist War in 1891, and was promoted to Commander on 31 December 1901. He was appointed Commander of the Royal Naval College, Osborne, in 1913.
Bentinck served in World War I taking part in the Battle of Jutland in 1916, as Chief of Staff to Admiral Sir David Beatty, and being mentioned in despatches. After the War he became Naval Secretary. He became Commander of the 1st Battle Squadron in the Atlantic Fleet in 1921 and went on to be Commander-in-Chief of the Africa Station in 1922. In that capacity he was briefly Acting Governor-General of South Africa from December 1923 to January 1924.
He became Admiral Commanding the Reserve Fleet in March 1926 and then Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth later that year: he retired in 1929.Family
In 1898 he married Mabel Fetherstonhaugh; they had one son and one daughter. A descendant is the entrepreneur Alice Bentinck.
