Assheton Curzon-Howe Explained

Honorific Prefix:Admiral The Honourable
Sir Assheton Curzon-Howe
Birth Date:10 August 1850
Allegiance: United Kingdom
Branch: Royal Navy
Serviceyears:c. 1865 – 1911
Rank:Admiral
Commands:Atlantic Fleet
Mediterranean Fleet
Portsmouth Command
Awards:Order of the Bath
Royal Victorian Order
Order of St Michael and St George
Relations:Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe (father)

Admiral Sir Assheton Gore Curzon-Howe (10 August 1850 – 1 March 1911) was a British naval officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet from 1908 to 1910.

Early life

Curzon-Howe was the thirteenth and youngest child of Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe, and his second wife Anne Gore (died 1877),[1] daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir John Gore.[2] His paternal great-grandfather was Admiral Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe.

Career

In 1894 Curzon-Howe flew his flag as Commodore on the corvette on the North America and West Indies Station.[3] [4] By January 1900 he had been promoted captain, and was appointed in command of the battleship when she was commissioned 20 February 1900 for service on the Mediterranean Station.[5] She transferred to the China Station in January 1901, in response to the Boxer Rebellion.

Curzon-Howe was appointed a Naval Aide de Camp (ADC) to Queen Victoria in July 1899, and was re-appointed as a Naval Aide de Camp to her successor King Edward VII in February 1901. He was promoted to flag rank as rear admiral in July 1901, which ended the appointment as Naval ADC.

On 5 June 1902 he was appointed second-in-command of the Channel Squadron,[6] and temporarily hoisted his flag on board HMS Cambridge, gunnery ship at Devonport,[7] before he transferred to the battleship later the same month.[8] Shortly before his departure from London he was received in audience by King Edward VII.[9] With Magnificent, he took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII,[10] and visited the Aegean Sea for combined manoeuvres with the Mediterranean Fleet the following month.[11] Later the same year he was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in the November 1902 Birthday Honours list, and was invested with the insignia by King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 18 December 1902.[12]

He was flying his flag in (Captain Sydney Fremantle) in 1906.[13] In 1907, he was Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet.[14] Curzon-Howe the served as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet from 1908 to 1910.[15] He was promoted to Admiral in 1909. He was Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, from 1 May 1910 until his death, age 60, on 1 March 1911. During this time he flew his flag in .[16]

Family

On 25 February 1892, at the age of 41, Assheton married Alice Anne Cowell, daughter of General Rt. Hon. Sir John Cowell. They had five children:

His wife Alice died on 5 November 1948.[18]

Assheton's elder sister, Lady Mary Curzon (1848–1929), was the great-great-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales.[19]

Footnotes

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Lundy . Darryl . The Peerage.Com . The Peerage.
  2. Web site: Lundy . Darryl . The Peerage.com . The Peerage.
  3. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~mwi/ship1894.txt Royal Navy - Ships in Service in 1894
  4. http://www.library.mun.ca/qeii/cns/archives/arch1.php?print=1 A Guide to the Archival Holdings of The Centre for Newfoundland Studies Memorial University Library.
  5. Naval & Military intelligence. 21 February 1900 . 10 . 36071.
  6. Naval & Military intelligence . 3 June 1902 . 10 . 36784.
  7. Naval & Military intelligence . 6 June 1902 . 11 . 36787.
  8. Naval & Military intelligence. 20 June 1902 . 10 . 36799.
  9. Court Circular . 3 June 1902 . 9 . 36784.
  10. The Coronation - Naval Review . 13 August 1902 . 4 . 36845.
  11. Naval & Military intelligence . 23 September 1902 . 8 . 36880.
  12. Court Circular . 19 December 1902 . 4 . 36955.
  13. https://web.archive.org/web/20091022063515/http://geocities.com/scs028a/rn1906channelfleet.html The Royal Navy June 1906 Channel Fleet
  14. http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/RN/Appointments_-_SNOs.html Extracts from Late 19th Century and Early 20th Century Newspapers - Appointments of Senior Naval Officers - Taken from "The Queenslander " 10 November 1906 as transcribed by Bev Edmonds
  15. http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FMCKN%203 Janus: The Papers of Reginald McKenna
  16. http://www.hms-victory.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54&Itemid=80 HMS Victory
  17. Charles Mosley, ed., Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, volume 3 (Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), pp. 3880–3881
  18. Web site: Lundy . Darryl . The Peerage.Com . The Peerage.
  19. [Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe|Wikipedia: Richard William Penn Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe]