Kenneth Duff-Dunbar was born on 16 October 1886, the son of Gordon Duff-Dunbar of Hempriggs, Caithness.  He joined the Royal Navy as a Cadet in 1901. He gained five First Class and one Second Class Passes in his Sub Lieutenants Examinations.

As a Lieutenant in 1907, Kenneth Duff-Dunbar was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS MERCURY ‘for Submarine Training’ then in 1908 as First Lieutenant of HMS C7.  His first Command came in November 1909 when he was appointed in command of HMS A4 and the following year in command of HMS C31.

His next appointment, in 1912, was to the battlecruiser HMS PRINCESS ROYAL, in 1912. He was still serving in PRINCESS ROYAL when he was present at the ‘Battle of the Dogger Bank’ on 24 February 1915.

Kenneth Duff-Dunbar was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and returned to submarines in 1915 with an appointment to command HMS D4. This was a short appointment as in November 1915 he took command of HMS E16. He was awarded the DSO – see London Gazette dated 10 January 1916 ‘for torpedoing an enemy vessel’ on 22 December 1915.

On 22 August 1916 HMS E16 was sighted on the surface some thirty-five miles East of Yarmouth by the sister submarine E38. A group of warships was also sighted by E38 a short while later. Splashes were seen on the surface in the distance which may have been depth charges exploding. There were also reports of German warships attacking a periscope on the same day. HMS E16 did not return from patrol and was presumed to have been lost. There were no survivors.  

Kenneth Duff-Dunbar was the husband of Katherine Isabella B Duff-Dunbar of Ackergill Tower, Wick, Caithness and he is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval War Memorial on Panel No. 11.

Note.   Kenneth Duff-Dunbar had a son, also Kenneth James Duff-Dunbar, who was born three weeks after HMS E16 went missing. His son was killed in action in the Second World War (aged 27) on 6 August 1944. He was a Captain in the 7th Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders and is commemorated on the Bayeux Memorial, Calvados, France on Panel 17, Column 2.