Difference between revisions of "George Le Clerc Egerton"

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On 25 March, 1911 Egerton was appointed [[Second Sea Lord]].  He was superseded on 5 December.<ref>Egerton Service Record.  ADM 196/38.  p. 395.</ref>  Admiral [[George Fowler King-Hall|Sir George F. King-Hall]], then Commander-in-Chief on the Australia Station, later committed to his diary an account of Egerton's dismissal:
 
On 25 March, 1911 Egerton was appointed [[Second Sea Lord]].  He was superseded on 5 December.<ref>Egerton Service Record.  ADM 196/38.  p. 395.</ref>  Admiral [[George Fowler King-Hall|Sir George F. King-Hall]], then Commander-in-Chief on the Australia Station, later committed to his diary an account of Egerton's dismissal:
  
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:[[Francis Alban Arthur Giffard Tate|Tate]] came and had an hour’s yarn with me, he says W. Churchill is impossible, and told me the story of how he got rid of Sir Arthur Wilson and Egerton.  The latter was at dinner, having just taken an expensive house in London, when he received a letter from 1 Lord saying "he was re-organising the Ad. and that he had not included him in it."  Egerton boiled over with rage, at this summary dismissal, and next morning went to see the 1 Sea Lord, Sir A Wilson, who said that he had been treated the same way; less warning than a footman gets, he observed.<ref>Diary entry for 28 December, 1912.</ref>
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<blockquote>[[Francis Alban Arthur Giffard Tate|Tate]] came and had an hour’s yarn with me, he says W. Churchill is impossible, and told me the story of how he got rid of Sir Arthur Wilson and Egerton.  The latter was at dinner, having just taken an expensive house in London, when he received a letter from 1 Lord saying "he was re-organising the Ad. and that he had not included him in it."  Egerton boiled over with rage, at this summary dismissal, and next morning went to see the 1 Sea Lord, Sir A Wilson, who said that he had been treated the same way; less warning than a footman gets, he observed.<ref>Diary entry for 28 December, 1912.</ref></blockquote>
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This is supported by Captain (later Admiral Sir) [[Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair|Dudley R. S. de Chair]]'s diary entry for 29 November, 1911, which reads, "Admiral Wilson said he was dismissed like a butler.  Adml. Egerton will feel it very hard."<ref>Diary entry for 29 November, 1911.  De Chair Papers.  Imperial War Museum.  PP/MCR/C4.  Reel 1.</ref>
  
 
==Half Pay and the Plymouth Command==
 
==Half Pay and the Plymouth Command==

Revision as of 06:39, 21 February 2011

Admiral SIR George Le Clerc Egerton, K.C.B., Royal Navy (17 October, 1852 – 30 March, 1940) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

Second Sea Lord

On 25 March, 1911 Egerton was appointed Second Sea Lord. He was superseded on 5 December.[1] Admiral Sir George F. King-Hall, then Commander-in-Chief on the Australia Station, later committed to his diary an account of Egerton's dismissal:

Tate came and had an hour’s yarn with me, he says W. Churchill is impossible, and told me the story of how he got rid of Sir Arthur Wilson and Egerton. The latter was at dinner, having just taken an expensive house in London, when he received a letter from 1 Lord saying "he was re-organising the Ad. and that he had not included him in it." Egerton boiled over with rage, at this summary dismissal, and next morning went to see the 1 Sea Lord, Sir A Wilson, who said that he had been treated the same way; less warning than a footman gets, he observed.[2]

This is supported by Captain (later Admiral Sir) Dudley R. S. de Chair's diary entry for 29 November, 1911, which reads, "Admiral Wilson said he was dismissed like a butler. Adml. Egerton will feel it very hard."[3]

Half Pay and the Plymouth Command

In Admiral Egerton's desk diary for 1912 are some interesting lines of verse, dated 14 February, 1912. The first verse is reproduced:

Should a charming Miss Naylor
Remember a sailor
Whom she met one Friday to Monday
Would she deem it assumption
If he had the presumption
In this way to gently remind her.
I wonder.

In February Egerton travelled to London to sit on the Interview Committee. Also sitting on the committee were Captain Ellerton, Mr. R. Carter (Headmaster of Bedford Grammar School), Mr. E. Hussey Packe and Mr. Steel of the Admiralty.[4]

On Friday, 8 March Egerton had an audience with the King:

[H]e spoke most sympathetically about my removal from the Admiralty … he was going to suggest to the First Lord that Poë should be offered Portsmouth when Moore retires & that I should go to the Mediterranean. I thanked his Majesty for this mark of his approval.[5]

His entry for 27 March is quite illuminating:

Interview with Sir F. Bridgeman [First Sea Lord] who told me in a confidential way that both Mediterranean & Portsmouth had been offered to and accepted by others, that the First Lord would tell me this when I saw him at an interview which Bridgeman had kindly arranged — At the interview with the First Lord he told me that Meux and Milne had to be provided for that he would have been quite willing to have entrusted me with the Mediterranean but that Milne as a bachelor did not want Devonport and was anxious for the Mediterranean and that he should hold to what he had on [?] finally intended that I should have Devonport when vacant.[6]

Writing to the King on 28 March, Churchill noted that Egerton, "is now quite reconciled to waiting for Devonport."[7]

With the promotion of Admiral Sir William H. May to Admiral of the Fleet, Egerton was appointed to succeed him as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, on 20 March, 1913.[8]

On 14 February, 1913, Egerton attended the Memorial Service at St. Paul's Cathedral "for those perished in the Antarctic Expedition early in 1912."[9] On 6 March he had an audience with the King, "He seems much disturbed at our not having yet made a start with Airships, and at Germany raising 50 millions of money for her army."[10]

On 19 February Egerton's eyes were tested by Arnold & Sons Opticians of Southsea for reading glasses. In his right eye the measurements were Sph. +2.25 D, Cyl. +.75 D, and in the left Sph. +2.25 D, Cyl. +.75 D.[11] On 21 March he was promoted to the rank of Admiral, vice Scott.[12]

On 15 July, 1913 Clements Markham invited him to stay at his Eccleston Square address if he was "coming yo to the great show of the order of the Bath" so that they could go together.[13] He went up on the 21st and stayed with the Markhams. Lady Scott, Captain Scott's widow, was also a guest.[14]

Egerton had scheduled a game of golf with Midshipman Prince Albert on 14 March, 1914, but the night before the prince fell out of his hammock and injured his eye on his sea chest and was put on the sick list.[15]

Admiral Egerton was placed on the Retired List on 9 June, 1916.[16]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Egerton Service Record. ADM 196/38. p. 395.
  2. ↑ Diary entry for 28 December, 1912.
  3. ↑ Diary entry for 29 November, 1911. De Chair Papers. Imperial War Museum. PP/MCR/C4. Reel 1.
  4. ↑ Diary entries for 5 February to 7 February, 1912. Liddle Collection. University of Leeds. Egerton Papers. RNMN/EGERTON/1.
  5. ↑ Diary entry for 8 March, 1912. Liddle Collection. University of Leeds. Egerton Papers. RNMN/EGERTON/1.
  6. ↑ Diary entry for 27 March, 1912. Liddle Collection. University of Leeds. Egerton Papers. RNMN/EGERTON/1.
  7. ↑ Winston S. Churchill. Companion Volume II Part 3. p. 1536.
  8. ↑ "New Admiral of the Fleet" (Official Appointments and Notices). The Times. Tuesday, 4 February, 1913. Issue 40126, col B, pg. 6.
  9. ↑ "The Polar Disaster" (News). The Times. Saturday, 15 February, 1913. Issue 40136, col A, pg. 8. A copy of the service lies in the Egerton Papers at the University of Leeds.
  10. ↑ Diary entry for 6 March, 1913. Liddle Collection. University of Leeds. Egerton Papers. RNMN/EGERTON/2.
  11. ↑ Liddle Collection. University of Leeds. Egerton Papers. RNMN/EGERTON/4.
  12. ↑ London Gazette: no. 28704. p. 2235. 25 March, 1913.
  13. ↑ Letter of 13 July, 1913. Liddle Collection. University of Leeds. Egerton Papers. RNMN/EGERTON/2.
  14. ↑ Diary entry for 21 July, 1913. Liddle Collection. University of Leeds. Egerton Papers. RNMN/EGERTON/2.
  15. ↑ Liddle Collection. University of Leeds. Egerton Papers. RNMN/EGERTON/3.
  16. ↑ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 29621. p. 5828. 13 June, 1916.

Bibliography

  • "Admiral Sir George Egerton" (Obituaries). The Times. Tuesday, 2 April, 1940. Issue 48579, col C, pg. 10.

Papers

Service Records


Naval Offices
Preceded by
Ernest A. Simons 		Assistant Director of Torpedoes
1898 – 1899 		Succeeded by
Alexander W. Chisholm-Batten
Preceded by
Alexander W. Chisholm-Batten 		Assistant Director of Torpedoes
1901 – 1902 		Succeeded by
Henry B. Jackson
Preceded by
Sir Edmund S. Poë 		Commander-in-Chief on the Cape of Good Hope Station
1908 – 1910 		Succeeded by
Paul W. Bush
Preceded by
Sir Francis C. B. Bridgeman 		Second Sea Lord
1911 		Succeeded by
H.S.H. Prince Louis of Battenberg
Preceded by
Sir William H. May 		Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth
1913 – 1916 		Succeeded by
Sir George J. S. Warrender
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