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Arthur Ewart

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Arthur Ewart
Born23 December 1862
Died18 November 1922(1922-11-18) (aged 59)
Dumfries
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchRoyal Navy
Years of service1875–1911
RankAdmiral
CommandsHMS Doris
HMS Duncan
HMS Ramillies
AwardsOrder of the Dannebrog (Denmark)
Legion of Honour (France)
Cross of Naval Merit (Spain)
Spouse(s)
Violet Haworth-Booth
​
​
(m. 1903)​
RelationsSir John Ewart (father)
Sir Spencer Ewart (brother)

Admiral Arthur Wartensleben Ewart (23 December 1862 – 18 November 1922) was a Royal Navy officer. A gunnery expert, from 1900 to 1903 Ewart served as the first British naval attaché in Berlin. After this he undertook a number of ship commands in the Channel Fleet and Atlantic Fleet. Promoted to rear-admiral in 1911, he retired because of ill-health in the same year.

Early life

[edit]

Arthur Wartensleben Ewart was the second son of General Sir John Ewart and Frances née Stone. He was born on 23 December 1862 in Sandgate, Kent.[1] His elder brother followed his father into the British Army, becoming Lieutenant-General Sir Spencer Ewart.

Military career

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Ewart joined the Royal Navy on 15 January 1875, initially as a naval cadet, becoming a midshipman on 22 March 1877.[1][2] He was promoted to sub-lieutenant on 23 December 1881, studying at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.[3][1][4] On 1 April 1883 he was appointed to serve on the training brig HMS Seaflower.[4] He was advanced to lieutenant on 23 June, serving as a gunnery officer in the training ship HMS Excellent where he won the Goodenough Medal for the best performance in the gunnery course.[1][5] Ewart was assigned to the troopship HMS Euphrates based at Portsmouth on 4 July the same year, but returned to Excellent on 30 September 1884.[6][7] On 8 June 1886 he was appointed a gunnery staff officer in the training ships HMS Foudroyant and HMS Perseus.[8]

Ewart's tenure at the training establishment was brief, joining the battleship HMS Colossus as gunnery officer on 6 December the same year.[9] He then became the gunnery officer of the cruiser HMS Severn on 19 February 1889, serving on the China Station.[10] Ewart returned to Excellent on 16 February 1892 as a senior staff officer there.[11] Promoted to commander on 31 December 1895, he joined the cruiser HMS Grafton on 20 April the following year, serving on the China Station.[1][12] Ewart subsequently joined the Naval Intelligence Department on 27 September 1899.[1][13]

Ewart was appointed as the British naval attaché in Berlin on 6 October 1900. Described in reports as "very zealous and keen", he was the first person to hold the post, the Royal Navy having received permission to create it in July.[14][15] While the reason for Ewart's selection is not recorded, he had German connections through his great-grandfather Joseph Ewart, a diplomat in Germany, who had married a daughter of the Graf von Wartensleben. For this he was looked upon favourably by Wilhelm II, who described him as "partially German".[16] He was also a competent speaker of the German language.[17] Ewart arrived in Berlin in November, tasked with assisting in the gathering of military intelligence.[18]

Ewart was promoted to captain on 30 June 1901.[1] In April 1902 he argued that the Imperial German Navy was being developed to match and defeat the Royal Navy, a point that had previously been disregarded by the Ambassador to Germany, Sir Frank Lascelles.[19] On 12 June 1903 he wrote the first recorded attaché report on submarines, describing Germany's launch of Forelle.[20] Four days later he provided a report summarising the superiority of German torpedo boats over British ones, but this was disregarded by naval authorities.[21] Ewart was subsequently replaced by Captain Reginald Allenby who arrived in August.[17][20][22]

Ewart's last command HMS Ramillies

Ewart was moved to serve as the naval attaché at Copenhagen, where on 10 December he was created a Knight Commander, 2nd Class, of the Order of the Dannebrog.[23] During his service he also received the French Legion of Honour and Spanish Cross of Naval Merit.[24] He returned to regular naval duties in the following year, being appointed to command the cruiser HMS Doris on 10 June 1904, serving in the Channel Fleet.[25] Doris was moved to join the Atlantic Fleet in 1905.[26] In late 1906 Ewart and Doris assisted in the recovery of the main battery guns from the wrecked battleship HMS Montagu off Lundy Island.[27] He was transferred to command the battleship HMS Duncan on 4 December, initially with the Channel Fleet and then again in the Atlantic.[28] Duncan was one of several ships in July 1908 that travelled to Canada to participate in the Quebec tercentenary celebrations.[29] Ewart was then given command of the battleship HMS Ramillies on 2 February 1909. Part of the Home Fleet and based at Devonport, Ewart simultaneously commanded the Special Service Division of the fleet.[30]

Ewart was promoted to rear-admiral on 15 March 1911,[31] and placed on the list of retired officers on 15 May because of ill-health.[32][33] He continued to be promoted, becoming a vice-admiral on 10 June 1916, and an admiral on 17 January 1919.[34] Ewart died at Dumfries.[33]

Personal life

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Ewart married Violet Louisa Haworth-Booth at the registry office in Beverley, Yorkshire, on 22 September 1903.[1] She outlived him.[33]

Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Crisp (1909), p. xxvi.
  2. ^ Navy List (1881), p. 98.
  3. ^ Navy List (1882), p. 97.
  4. ^ a b Navy List (1883), p. 96.
  5. ^ Navy List (1885), p. 90.
  6. ^ Navy List (1883), p. 255.
  7. ^ Navy List (1885), p. 255.
  8. ^ Navy List (1886), p. 252.
  9. ^ Navy List (1887), p. 201.
  10. ^ Navy List (1889), p. 230.
  11. ^ Navy List (1892), p. 219.
  12. ^ Navy List (1896), p. 227.
  13. ^ Seligmann (2006), p. 71.
  14. ^ Seligmann (2006), p. 16.
  15. ^ Seligmann (2006), p. 74.
  16. ^ Seligmann (2006), p. 54.
  17. ^ a b Seligmann (2006), p. 63.
  18. ^ Seligmann (2006), pp. 16–17.
  19. ^ Seligmann (2006), p. 185.
  20. ^ a b Seligmann (2006), p. 136.
  21. ^ Seligmann (2006), pp. 235–236.
  22. ^ Seligmann (2006), p. 25.
  23. ^ Ruvigny (1909), p. 270.
  24. ^ "Admiral Arthur Wartensleben Ewart". The Gloucestershire Echo. Gloucestershire. 21 November 1922. p. 6.
  25. ^ Navy List (1904), p. 302.
  26. ^ Navy List (1905), p. 303.
  27. ^ American Society of Naval Engineers (1906), p. 1257.
  28. ^ Navy List (1906), p. 305.
  29. ^ Carrel & Feiczewicz (1908), p. 115.
  30. ^ Navy List (1910), p. 365.
  31. ^ "No. 28476". The London Gazette. 17 March 1911. p. 2233.
  32. ^ "No. 28498". The London Gazette. 26 May 1911. p. 3998.
  33. ^ a b c "Admiral Arthur Wartensleben Ewart". Hull Daily Mail. Hull. 21 November 1922. p. 4.
  34. ^ "No. 31162". The London Gazette. 4 February 1919. p. 1798.

References

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  • Carrel, Frank; Feiczewicz, Louis (1908). The Quebec Tercentenary Commemorative History. Quebec: Daily Telegraph Printing House. OCLC 938772581.
  • Crisp, Frederick Arthur (1909). Visitation of England and Wales. Vol. 16. Private. OCLC 12861839.
  • "The Salving of the Guns of H.M.S. Montagu". Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers. 18 (4). November 1906.
  • Admiralty (1881). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1882). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1883). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1885). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1886). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1887). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1889). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1892). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1896). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1904). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1905). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1906). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Admiralty (1910). Navy List. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. OCLC 559196857.
  • Ruvigny, Marquis de (1909). The Nobilities of Europe. London: Melville and Company. OCLC 5715950.
  • Seligmann, Matthew S. (2006). Spies in Uniform: British Military and Naval Intelligence on the Eve of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-926150-5.
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