Edward Altham

Captain Edward Altham, C.B., R.N., (7 January, 1882 – 16 October, 1950) was an officer in the Royal Navy. A gunnery officer, in 1912 and 1913 he would provide valuable service in assisting the service in its first installations of Director Firing systems in the dreadnoughts that would soon fight in the Great War.

Life & Career

Born in London, Altham entered H.M.S. Britannia on 15 January, 1896, passing out in December, 1897 ranked seventeenth of sixty-four cadets in the examination (the rest of whom seem to have been from the July, 1896 term), with 1635 marks.

He spent his first year in the navy, 1898, in the battleship Prince George, which was part of the Channel Squadron.

Altham was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 15 July, 1902.

In 1904 he was thanked for a useful report on the defences of Lisbon. In late 1905, he was found to have committed an error in judgment which led to the injury of an able-bodied seaman in the armoured cruiser Hampshire. In December, he prepared reports on the defences of Cherbourg, for which he was also thanked.

Altham suffered a compound fracture of his right ulna on 12 March, 1912 in a coaling accident. He was admitted to Haslar with eight weeks allotted for recovery, being declared fit on 18 April. In 1912 and 1913, he was involved in evaluation and testing of the new director firing gear in Neptune and Thunderer. On 16 January, 1913, the Admiralty thanked him for his care and trouble in these trials. A further expression of appreciation came in May for his "most creditable" notes.

Altham was promoted to the rank of Commander on 30 June, 1913.

Altham was employed as Assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance when war broke out. On 20 October 1914, he was appointed in command of the sloop Wildfire, but this lasted a mere ten days. In June, 1915 he was appointed to the monitor General Craufurd, being tasked to assist in preparing her for service, and be her first captain, although this would not occur until August. Through November, he was bombarding the Belgian coast. The challenges of shore bombardment offered the opportunity to innovate, and he assisted in a study to explore how aeroplanes could be used to assist in spotting naval gunnery.

At the end of April 1918, he left General Craufurd for command of the scout cruiser Attentive, in the acting rank of Captain. In this capacity, he was involved in the operations at Zeebrugge and Ostend. Altham was promoted to the rank of Captain on 31 December, 1918.

Altham became heavily involved in the post-war Northern Russian exertions, directing the naval part of the river expedition. From June, 1919, he was commanding the up river forces out of Borodino.

He left command of H.M.S. Fox upon the closure of the naval base at Arkhangel on 27 September, 1919. She would soon depart for home under another's command, towing M.31 some of the time while making the passage.

World War II

Altham worked in postal and telegraph censorship from 1939 to 1944, having been selected to be Chief Radio Censor in time of war. He died in 1950 of lung and prostate cancer.

See Also

• Service Records
• Wikipedia
• Personal journals and papers, 1898-1919, at the National Maritime Museum

Naval Appointments
Preceded by Nicholas E. Archdale	Captain of H.M. T.B. 41 8 Aug, 1902 – 18 Nov, 1902	Succeeded by Frederick L. Coplestone
Preceded by Andrew L. Strange	Assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance 1 Nov, 1913 – 20 Oct, 1914	Succeeded by Alldin U. Moore
Preceded by Arthur Jennings	Captain of H.M.S. Wildfire 20 Oct, 1914 – 30 Oct, 1914	Succeeded by ?
Preceded by New Command	Captain of H.M.S. General Craufurd 20 Jun, 1915 – 29 Apr, 1918	Succeeded by Ralph S. Wykes-Sneyd
Preceded by Neston W. Diggle	Captain of H.M.S. Attentive 29 Apr, 1918 – 18 Nov, 1918	Succeeded by ?
Preceded by James Burns	Captain of H.M.S. Fox 1 Apr, 1919 – 27 Sep, 1919	Succeeded by ?