 In 1929 he was promoted to admiral and served as president of the International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea.Following his forced retirement from the Royal Navy in 1931, the University of Cambridge appointed him Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History, an academic chair he held from 1934 to 1936.In 1934 he was also elected master of Downing College, Cambridge, a post he held until his death in 1946.