Distinguished Royal Navy veteran renowned for his kindness and public spiritedness has died

Commander James Hall, the most recent recipient of Fareham’s distinguished Citizen of Honour award in May 2019, passed away at his home in Radclyffe Road.

He received his award almost three years ago in recognition of his enormous contribution to life in Wallington village, where he had lived with his wife, Jean since 1961. He was one of Wallington’s best known and liked characters.

James, often known as Jim, became one of the driving forces behind Wallington Village Community (WVCA) in the 1980s and was its chairman for three years from 1994-1997.

He regularly initiated fundraising events, organised the Wallington Village luncheon club and co-ordinated the Village Neighbourhood Watch programme.

His involvement in the protection of Fareham’s heritage led to him becoming chair of the Fareham Society for three years.

In a tribute, local Fareham councillor Katrina Trott said: ‘Jim was a kindly, loving man who was very public spirited, contributing to so many aspects of village life and thoroughly deserved being made of the Borough’s Citizens of Honour in 2019.

‘It has been an honour and a pleasure to have known him and Jean for 25 years. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends and the wider community.’

Born in 1931 in the small Yorkshire market town of Pocklington, Jim excelled in sciences at the local grammar school and, away from his studies, became the county’s high jump champion.

He met Jean when they were both 12 years of age, they married in 1954 and celebrated their 67th Wedding Anniversary last August. They had two sons and five grandsons.

Mr Hall served in the Royal Navy for 34 years from 1949, joining Dartmouth as an electrical officer cadet, with his ambition to become an engineer and enjoy Service life.

At Dartmouth, he was taught the way of the Royal Navy, seamanship, navigation, did plenty of mathematics and played lots of sport.

He went on to read engineering at Cambridge University and became a Midshipman, spending one term on an Arctic cruise on the training vessel HMS Devonshire, recalling ‘how cold it was scrubbing decks in bare feet in the ice pack’.

In his 33 years with the Royal Navy he served on at least six major ships including the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious, winning medals for service in the Suez Canal zone and the Malay Peninsula. He spent time in Hong Kong and Mombasa, as well as trips to Australia and New Zealand.

His final appointment was as HMS Vernon’s Establishment Engineer Officer in Portsmouth which included the preparation and dispatch of the minesweepers for the Falkland Islands war.

He was also made deputy electrical officer on the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, which saw often turbulent times in the Far East, confrontation in Malaysia and a dash to Mombasa when the Kenyan army revolted.

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He ended his Royal Navy commission in 1983 to take up a civilian appointment as Site Services Manager at Marconi Underwater Systems in Waterlooville before leaving after five years to set up his own engineering consultancy.