Born in Portsmouth in April 1912, Geoffrey Prowse, son of Captain Cecil Prowse and Mrs Bertha M Prowse, arrived in Liverpool from Sydney on 3 May 23 in the Blue Funnel Line SS Nestor as an eleven-year-old.  Joining the Royal Navy as a Cadet at Dartmouth in September 1925, he was promoted to Midshipman on 1 Jan 30 and served in the cruiser HMS DAUNTLESS through 1931.  On 18 April 1932, he arrived in Plymouth from Bermuda in the Pacific Steam Navigation Co. SS ORCOMA.

He was promoted to Sub Lieutenant on 1 May 1932 at which time he was undergoing Courses for the rank of Lieutenant at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He qualified as a Submariner in 1934 and, on 16 May that year, was appointed to HMS PIGMY ‘for Submarines’ and thence to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS DOUGLAS (1st Submarine Flotilla) on Malta ‘for HMS ROVER as Third Hand’ on 11 Aug 34.  Promoted to Lieutenant on 1 November 1934 he was subsequently appointed to HMS DOLPHIN for ‘HMS SEAWOLF as First Lieutenant’ to date 24 May 37.

June 1938 saw him back on Malta as the First Lieutenant of HMS THAMES, followed, on 2 Aug 39, by an appointment to the Submarine Tender HMS DWARF (5th Submarine Flotilla) ‘for HMS OSWALD as First Lieutenant’.  Noted as ready for Command, Geoffrey was back in the United Kingdom at HMS DOLPHIN for his Commanding Officers Qualifying Course in March 1940, and an appointment to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS AMBROSE (9th Submarine Flotilla) at Dundee ‘for Submarines’ followed on 5 July 1940. 

In December 1940, he next joined the Submarine Depot Ship HMS TITANIA (3rd Submarine Flotilla) at Rosyth ‘for HMS SNAPPER in Command’ when the previous Commanding Officer – Lieutenant Commander William (Bill) King – was hospitalised.  HMS SNAPPER was then transferred to the 5th Submarine Flotilla based at HMS DOLPHIN.

HMS SNAPPER was presumed to have been sunk near Ushant on 11 February 1941.  Geoffrey Prowse was the only son of Captain Cecil Prowse, Royal Navy.  He had been married in Alexandria in Egypt in May 1939 to Diana Gwladys Layton – second daughter of Admiral Geoffrey Layton and Lady Layton.

PRESS ANNOUNCEMENTS –

Hampshire Telegraph Friday 2 June 1939

MISS D LAYTON Bride of Naval Officer

RECEPTION IN H.M.S. BARHAM

(From Our Correspondent) EGYPT, May 28.

At St. Mark’s Church, Alexandria, on Saturday, the wedding was solemnised of Lieutenant Geoffrey Vernon Prowse, of H.M.S. Thames, son of the late Captain C. Prowse, R.N., and Miss Diana Layton, daughter of Vice Admiral and Mrs. G. Layton. The service was choral, the hymns sung being “Love Divine All Loves Excelling”;  and “O Perfect Love.” Officers from the submarine depot ship, Maidstone, formed a guard of honour. The bride’s sister, Miss Susanne Layton, and Miss Felicity Watt, the bridegroom’s stepsister, were the bridesmaids, whilst the duties of best man were carried out by Lieutenant Derbyshire of HMS Thames. The bride was given away by Capt. Walker, of H.M.S. Barham, who took the place of Admiral Layton, who was ill with influenza. Vice Admiral Bedford the bridegroom’s guardian, travelled from Port Said to attend. A reception was afterwards held on board H.M.S. Barham, and the bride and bridegroom left for a short honeymoon in Cairo. Among those present were Admiral Sir Dudley and Lady Pound, Rear Admiral and Mrs. Moore, Admiral Sir Gerard and Lady Wells, accompanied by their two daughters, and Judge and Mrs. Holmes.

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PROWSE. – In February 1941 reported missing, now officially presumed killed while in command of HM Submarine Snapper, LIEUTENANT “JIMMY” PROWSE, Royal Navy, beloved husband of Diana and only son of Mrs. Watt, 67 Melton Court, S.W.7.

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Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail Monday 18 January 1943

ENGAGEMENT: ARMSTRONG-PROWSE. The engagement is announced between the Rev. John Armstrong 0BE RN.  youngest son of the late J. G. Armstrong and of Mrs. Armstrong, Clifton Avenue, West Hartlepool, and Diana, widow of Lieut. Geoffrey Vernon Prowse, Royal Navy, and second daughter of Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton. KCB, DSO and Lady Layton. (Present address: Edgmond. Newport. Shropshire.)