When the actor Jack Gwillim died in 2001 a couple of obituaries mentioned his service in the Royal Navy prior to his career on stage and screen. The Telegraph wrote that ‘In 1946 he was invalided out of the Navy as a commander, having been the youngest of that rank at the time of his promotion.’ The Guardian declaimed ‘In 1946, he was invalided out of the service with arthritis while a commander, the youngest of that rank at the time of his promotion.’
There are two grave errors in this, one more serious than the other. Gwillim was never a Commander per se, he was a Commander (S), which matters in the days before the General List of the 1950s. He had joined the Navy as a Paymaster Cadet and served in the Accountant Branch. Until 1944 all its ranks were prefixed ‘Paymaster’, at which point they were suffixed (S), to distinguish them from their Executive Branch counterparts.
The other error is fascinating. Gwillim was promoted to the rank of Commander (S) on 30 June 1945 at the age of 35 years 6 months 15 days. Seven other Lieutenant-Commanders (S) were promoted in the same batch. I have been able to find the dates of birth of five of those officers. Four of them were born in 1910, and therefore younger than Gwillim! Where do these fake facts come from? The similarity of the Telegraph and Guardian‘s claims shows that no one thought once to check it.
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