Admiral

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style (ma ...

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

Early life

Curzon-Howe was the thirteenth and youngest child of

Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe Richard William Penn Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe (11 December 1796 – 12 May 1870), was a British peer and courtier. Background He was the third but eldest surviving son of The Hon. Penn Assheton Curzon (the eldest son of Assheton Curzon, 1st ...

, and Anne (d. 1877), who was Lord Howe's second wife (Assheton was the youngest of her three children), daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir John Gore. His paternal great-grandfather was Admiral

Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, (8 March 1726 – 5 August 1799) was a British naval officer. After serving throughout the War of the Austrian Succession, he gained a reputation for his role in amphibious operations a ...

Career

In 1894 Curzon-Howe flew his flag as Commodore on the corvette on the North America and West Indies Station. By January 1900 he had been promoted

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, and was appointed in command of the battleship when she was commissioned 20 February 1900 for service on the Mediterranean Station. She transferred to the

China Station The Commander-in-Chief, China was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 18 ...

in January 1901, in response to the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, b ...

. Curzon-Howe was appointed a Naval Aide de Camp (ADC) to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

in July 1899, and was re-appointed as a Naval Aide de Camp to her successor

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second chil ...

in February 1901. He was promoted to flag rank as

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

in July 1901, which ended the appointment as Naval ADC. On 5 June 1902 he was appointed second-in-command of the

Channel Squadron Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...

, and temporarily hoisted his flag on board HMS ''Cambridge'', gunnery ship at Devonport, before he transferred to the battleship later the same month. Shortly before his departure from London he was received in audience by King Edward VII. With ''Magnificent'', he took part in the

fleet review A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...

held at

Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshir ...

on 16 August 1902 for the

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of o ...

of King Edward VII, and visited the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans an ...

for combined manoeuvres with the Mediterranean Fleet the following month. Later the same year he was appointed a Commander of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, ...

(CVO) in the November

1902 Birthday Honours The 1902 Birthday Honours were announced on 10 November 1902, to celebrate the birthday of Edward VII the previous day. The list included appointments to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and the British Empire. The list was publi ...

list, and was invested with the insignia by King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

at Buckingham Palace on 18 December 1902. He was flying his flag in (Captain

Sydney Fremantle Admiral Sir Sydney Robert Fremantle, (16 November 1867 – 29 April 1958) was an officer of the Royal Navy, who served during the Victorian era and had risen to the rank of rear-admiral by the outbreak of the First World War. He played a r ...

) in 1906. In 1907, he was Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. Curzon-Howe the served as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet from 1908 to 1910.Janus: The Papers of Reginald McKenna
/ref> He was promoted to Admiral in 1909. He was

Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. The commanders-in-chief were based at premises in High Street, Portsmouth from the 1790s until the end of Sir Thomas Williams's tenure, his succes ...

from 1 May 1910 until his death, age 60, on 1 March 1911. During this time he flew his flag in .

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: * Captain Leicester Charles Assheton St. John Curzon-Howe (8 July 1894 – 21 February 1941), the father of Anne Rita Curzon-Howe, who married Captain Christopher Roper-Curzon, 19th Baron Teynham. * Victoria Alexandrina Alice Curzon-Howe (1 September 1896 – 3 February 1910) * Assheton Penn Curzon-Howe-Herrick (21 August 1898 – 23 February 1959) * Joyce Mary Curzon-Howe (16 July 1906 – 24 September 1997) * Elizabeth Anne Curzon-Howe (15 November 1909-?) His wife Alice died on 5 November 1948. Assheton's elder sister, Lady Maria Anna Curzon (1848–1929), was the great-great-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. Wikipedia: Richard William Penn Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe

Footnotes

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Curzon-Howe, Assheton Gore Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Royal Navy admirals Younger sons of earls 1850 births 1911 deaths Assheton