Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Sir John Hext (14 October 1842 – 8 May 1924) was a British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer and director of the

Royal Indian Marine Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, ...

for 15 years.

Early career

Hext was born on 14 October 1842 the eldest son of the Reverend J.H. Hext, who was vicar of

Morval, Cornwall Morval () is a rural civil parishes in England, civil parish, hamlet and historic Manorialism, manor in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The hamlet is approximately two miles (3 km) north of Looe and five miles (8 km) s ...

. He joined the

in 1857 and his first appointment was to the frigate in the West Indies. Gaining his commission as a Lieutenant on 16 June 1865 he was appointed to . In 1872 he gained his first command, , a composite gunboat which was based at the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station.

Ashanti War, Mediterranean and Portsmouth

While in command of the Decoy he was involved in the

Ashanti war The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900 between the Ashanti Empire—in the Akan people, Akan interior of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast—and the British Empire and its African ...

, on 13 June 1873 he led the boat expedition at Eliman and also landed at Bootey where the boat-crews destroyed the native village. He received the

Ashanti Medal The Ashanti Medal was sanctioned in October 1901 and was the first campaign medal authorised by Edward VII. This medal was created for those troops engaged in the Third Ashanti Expedition, also known as the War of the Golden Stool. This expedition ...

and was mentioned in dispatches for his actions and also promoted to Commander on 31 March 1874. In 1875, he became commander of the sloop HMS Cruiser in the Mediterranean which became a training ship, With his new experience of training he was appointed to command the training ship HMS St. Vincent located at Portsmouth harbour.

East Indies, Egyptian War, Anglo-Burmese War and Director of the Indian Marine

He returned to sea duty in the East Indies on the sloop and was promoted to captain on 30 June 1882. He was involved in the Egyptian War of 1882 in the transport service at Suez, and was awarded the Order of the Medjidie, Third Class. In February 1883 he was selected to be Director of Marine working for the Government of India; he originally was appointed for five years; he held the post for 15 years. In January 1886 he was also appointed an honorary aide-de-camp to the viceroy of India. He was received thanks from the Indian government for his work during the Burma annexation war of 1885–1886. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1897 for his work, during the

Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...

he was knighted when he was promoted to a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander ( GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) Appoint ...

,Great Britain. India Office and also promoted to rear-admiral on the retired list on 10 May,London Gazette, 21 May 1897
/ref> although he had been on the retired list since 1889. Hext returned to England as continued in his interest in Naval affairs and was one of the commissioners appointed to look at the administration of the Port of London. He died at home at Newton Abbot on 8 May 1924 aged 81.

Family life

Hext had married Lilian Mary Mitchell in 1874; she died in 1893. He married again in 1893 to Jean Davidson; she died in 1913.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hext, John 1842 births 1924 deaths Royal Navy rear admirals Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Ashanti War Royal Navy personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War Royal Indian Navy admirals