Groves was born on 3 January 1880 at Stretford in Lancashire, England, the son of James Grimble Groves, a brewer and Conservative MP.[3] He was educated at Rossall School.
Naval service
Groves joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman in the 1890s, rising to sub-lieutenant by the summer of 1899 and then lieutenant on 15 February 1900.[4] In September 1902 Groves was posted to the torpedo school ship HMS Vernon, to qualify as torpedo lieutenant.[5][6]
Groves was promoted to commander on 22 June 1911 and the following year, on 26 November 1912, he was appointed Flag Commander to the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean on HMS Inflexible.[6] He served in the First World War as Assistant Director of the Air Department at the Admiralty and then as Officer Commanding No. 1 Squadron RNAS before returning to the Admiralty to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Board.[6] He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1919, the citation for which was published in a supplement to the London Gazette on 22 June, reading:
Commander Robert Marsland Groves,. R.N. (Wing Commander, R.N.A.S.). In recognition of his services in command of a Wing of the Royal Naval Air Service at Dunkirk. Commander Groves has by his personal skill as a pilot, and also by his untiring zeal, effected a marked advancement in the general standard of flying on active service. He has on several occasions carried out successful reconnaissances to Ostend under fire, and by his own example has proved the utility and great importance of night flying."[7]
Royal Air Force
After the War, Groves became Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and Director of Operations and Intelligence.[6] He went on to be Acting Air Officer Commanding RAF Middle East Area in 1919 and Air Officer Commanding Egyptian Group in 1920.[6]
Groves died aged 40 on 27 May 1920 in Egypt from injuries received in an aircraft crash when his Bristol Fighter crashed after engine failure on takeoff at Almaza. He was buried at the Cairo New British Protestant Cemetery.[8]
