Lieutenant-General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
Sir John Spencer Ewart (22 March 1861 – 19 September 1930) was a
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...
officer who became
Adjutant-General to the Forces
The Adjutant-General to the Forces, commonly just referred to as the Adjutant-General (AG), was for just over 250 years one of the most senior officers in the British Army. The AG was latterly responsible for developing the Army's personnel polic ...
, but was forced to resign over the
Curragh Incident
The Curragh incident of 20 March 1914, sometimes known as the Curragh mutiny, occurred in the Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. The Curragh Camp was then the main base for the British Army in Ireland, which at the time still formed part of the ...
.
Early life and education
Ewart was born in
Tatenhill near
Burton-on-Trent
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. Th ...
into a distinguished Scottish family of military officers, the second son of General Sir
John Alexander Ewart
General Sir John Alexander Ewart GCB (1 June 1821 – 18 June 1904) was a 19th-century British military leader who commanded the Gordon Highlanders and several other important British regiments. A hero of the Siege of Lucknow he spent the secon ...
and Frances Stone. His father was aide-de-camp 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 ...
and a veteran of the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included t ...
and
Siege of Lucknow
The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British The Residency, Lucknow, Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel Sepoy, sepoys (Indian soldiers in the East India Company, British East India Company's Army) during the Indian ...
who lost his left arm at
Cawnpore
Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation ( help· info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations ...
. His father was the son of Lieutenant-General John Frederick Ewart and grandson of diplomat
Joseph Ewart and Sir
Charles Brisbane
Sir Charles Brisbane KCB (1770 – December 1829) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence, and with distinction under Lords Hood and Nelson.
He took part in 1796 in the capitulation of Saldanh ...
. His uncles included Lieutenant-General
Charles Brisbane Ewart
Lieutenant General Charles Brisbane Ewart (15 May 1827 – 8 August 1903) was a British Army officer who became Lieutenant Governor of Jersey.
Life
He was the son of Lt General John Frederick Ewart and his wife, Lavinia Brisbane, daughter of th ...
and Vice-Admiral Charles Joseph Frederic Ewart, and his younger brother was Admiral
Arthur Wartensleben Ewart.
He was educated at
Marlborough College
Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...
and the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry ...
.
Military career
Spencer Ewart was
commissioned into the
Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders or 79th (The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1793. It amalgamated with the Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of ...
in 1881.
[Sir John Spencer Ewart]
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
He served with his regiment in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...
and fought at the
Battle of Tel el-Kebir
The Battle of Tel El Kebir (often spelled Tel-El-Kebir) was fought on 13 September 1882 at Tell El Kebir in Egypt, 110 km north-north-east of Cairo. An entrenched Egyptian force under the command of Ahmed ʻUrabi was defeated by a British ...
in 1882.
[Scots at War]
/ref> He was also involved in the Nile Expedition in 1884 and served with the Sudan Frontier Field Force from 1885 to 1886.[ He served as a staff officer in the ]Second Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
in South Africa,[ and returned to the United Kingdom after the end of that war in July 1902. The Commander-in-Chief in South Africa, ]Lord Kitchener Lord Kitchener may refer to:
* Earl Kitchener, for the title
* Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, (; 24 June 1850 – 5 June 1916) was a senior British Army officer and colonial administrator. ...
, wrote in a despatch in June 1902 how Ewart was ''"a Staff officer of considerable ability. He has rendered good service in connection with the distribution and movements of troops."'' For his service he was created a Companion of the Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as ...
(CB) in the October 1902 South Africa Honours list.
After his return from South Africa, he was appointed Assistant Military Secretary and received the substantive rank of colonel on 15 October 1902. In 1904 he was appointed as Military Secretary Military Secretary is a post found in the military of several countries:
* Military Secretary (India)
*Military Secretary of Israel, called Military Secretary to the Prime Minister
*Military Secretary (Pakistan)
*Military Secretary (Sri Lanka)
* Mil ...
and in 1906 moved on to be Director of Military Operations at the War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD ...
.[
In 1910 Ewart was appointed ]Adjutant-General to the Forces
The Adjutant-General to the Forces, commonly just referred to as the Adjutant-General (AG), was for just over 250 years one of the most senior officers in the British Army. The AG was latterly responsible for developing the Army's personnel polic ...
. In March 1914, with the Ulster Protestants on the verge of armed rebellion against planned Irish Home Rule
The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for Devolution, self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1 ...
, he was one of those who drew up the proposals that officers with personal links to Ulster would be permitted to absent themselves from planned troop deployments into Ulster, but that other officers who refused to go would be dismissed. Although no direct orders had yet been issued, when told of the plans officers of Hubert Gough
General Sir Hubert de la Poer Gough ( ; 12 August 1870 – 18 March 1963) was a senior officer in the British Army in the First World War. A favourite of the British Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, he experienced a meteori ...
's cavalry brigade stationed at the Curragh Camp
The Curragh Camp ( ga, Campa an Churraigh) is an army base and military college in The Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. It is the main training centre for the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces and is home to 2,000 military personnel ...
near Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
threatened to resign their commissions or accept dismissal rather than obey (the Curragh Incident
The Curragh incident of 20 March 1914, sometimes known as the Curragh mutiny, occurred in the Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. The Curragh Camp was then the main base for the British Army in Ireland, which at the time still formed part of the ...
). Along with the Secretary of State for War
The Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The Secretary of State for War headed the War Office and ...
J.E.B. Seely and the CIGS Sir John French
Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, (28 September 1852 – 22 May 1925), known as Sir John French from 1901 to 1916, and as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a senior British Army officer. Born in Kent ...
(who had then promised Gough in writing that the Army would not be used against Ulster) Ewart was forced to resign, both for having helped to create the situation in which officers were allowed to discuss which hypothetical (but lawful) orders they would choose to obey, and for being involved with the subsequent promises made to Gough in London.[ Ewart was also an Aide-de-Camp General to ]King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Q ...
from 1910 to 1914.[
Ewart was appointed General Officer Commanding ]Scottish Command
Scottish Command or Army Headquarters Scotland (from 1972) is a command of the British Army.
History Early history
Great Britain was divided into military districts on the outbreak of war with France in 1793. The Scottish District was comma ...
in 1914, a post he held until 1918.[ During the summer of 1915 Ewart was considered for command of the planned Suvla Bay Landings, which aimed to break the deadlock at Gallipoli. The Mediterranean Expeditionary Force commander Ian Hamilton rejected him for being too “stout of girth” to negotiate the front-line trenches which Hamilton had recently inspected, and for having had no direct contact with troops for fifteen years, despite Hamilton having urged him “as a friend” to do so for the sake of his career. The only other available general of appropriate seniority was ]Frederick Stopford
Lieutenant General Sir Frederick William Stopford, (2 February 1854 – 4 May 1929) was a British Army officer, best remembered for commanding the landing at Suvla Bay in August 1915, during the Gallipoli Campaign, where he failed to orde ...
, who was to prove inadequate for the task.[Lee 2001, p.190]
Ewart retired in 1920.[
]
Personal life
In 1891, Ewart married Susan Frances Platt, the daughter of Major George William Platt, formerly of Dunallan House, Bridge of Allan. They had one daughter, Marion Frances Ewart, who in 1919 married Captain Ian Munro of the Cameron Highlanders.
He died at his seat, Craigeleuch, in Langholm
Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands.
Location and geography
Langholm sits no ...
, Dumfriesshire.
References
Books
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ewart, Spencer
1861 births
1930 deaths
People educated at Marlborough College
British Army generals of World War I
Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officers
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War
People from the Borough of East Staffordshire
British Army personnel of the Second Boer War
Military personnel from Staffordshire
British Army lieutenant generals