Lionel Preston

Lionel Preston was educated at Stubbington House School and joined the Royal Navy as a cadet aboard in 1888. He was posted to the sloop in March 1900, and took part in the response to the Boxer Rebellion after the ship was posted to the China Station in June that year. He was appointed 1st lieutenant on the surveying ship on 30 May 1902. During the First World War he commanded the Grand Fleet Minesweeping Flotilla from 1914 until 1917, when he became Director of the Minesweeping Division at the Admiralty. he retired in 1935. He retired again in 1945. ==Later life==

In retirement Preston became Chairman of Titanine Limited, a business specialising in aircraft finishes. He lived in Chiltern Road in Dunstable. Preston also wrote the book Sea And River Painters of the Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century. ==Family==

Preston married twice. His first wife was Emily Elizabeth Bryant, daughter of Edgar Bryant. They had a son born in 1902. ==References==