George Le Clerc Egerton

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

In 1872, Egerton was awarded the Royal Humane Society's Bronze Medal.

Egerton was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 15 October, 1875. He was to see service in H.M.S. Alert on Captain Nare's arduous arctic expedition in 1875-6.

Appointment to the torpedo training school H.M.S. Vernon came on 28 September, 1877.

In 1882, he married Frances Emily Gladstone (c. 1888 – 5 January 1926) and they would have three children, William Markham Le Clerc Egerton (28 October 1883 – 29 May 1969), Brian Egerton (14 March 1886 – 1973), and Dorothy Egerton (18 July 1887 – ?). All three children were born in Gosport, Hampshire and all three would have naval connections - the two sons would join the Navy as officers and Egerton's only daughter Dorothy would marry Philip Wylie Dumas on 24 January 1911.

Egerton was appointed in command of the first-class torpedo boat T.B. 25 on 17 June, 1886.

Egerton was still attached to Vernon at the time of the birth of his second son, Brian, in 1886. On 1 January 1887, Egerton was promoted to the rank of Commander. On 21 July 1890, Egerton was appointed Commander of Vernon, under Captain Arthur K. Wilson.

Captain

Egerton was promoted to the rank of Captain on 1 January, 1893.

In may 1895, he assumed command of the first class protected cruiser St. George.

In recognition of his services in Benin he was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Third Class, or Companion, in the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (C.B.) on 25 May, 1897. Also in May, he assumed command of the second class protected cruiser Doris.

Egerton was appointed Captain of Vernon on 10 February, 1902.

He was appointed a Naval Aide-de-Camp to King Edward VII dated 8 December, 1903.

He was appointed in command of Duncan in September, 1904.

Flag Rank

Egerton was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 2 March, 1905, vice Fawkes.

He was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral on 2 January, 1909, vice Curzon-Howe.

Egerton was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, in the Military Division of the Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) on 24 June, 1910.

Second Sea Lord

On 25 March, 1911 Egerton was appointed Second Sea Lord. He was superseded on 5 December. 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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

On 14 February, 1913, Egerton attended the Memorial Service at St. Paul's Cathedral "for those perished in the Antarctic Expedition early in 1912." 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."

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. On 21 March he was confirmed in the rank of Admiral, vice Scott.

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

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.

Admiral Egerton was placed on the Retired List at his own request on 9 June, 1916, in accordance with the provisions of the Order in Council of 8 December, 1903.

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

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

Papers

• Papers in the possession of the Liddle Collection, University of Leeds.
• Journals and letters in the possession of the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge.

Service Records

• The National Archives. ADM 196/86.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/38.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/19.

Naval Appointments
Preceded by Morgan Singer, Sr.	Captain of H.M.S. Vesuvius 11 Jan, 1884	Succeeded by Henry B. Jackson
Preceded by John H. Robertson	Captain of H.M. T.B. 25 17 Jun, 1886 – 28 Aug, 1886	Succeeded by Cecil F. Lambert
Preceded by ?	Captain of H.M. T.B. 81 28 Apr, 1887 – 14 May, 1887	Succeeded by Aubrey W. Howe
Preceded by Sir Lambton Loraine, Bart.	Captain of H.M.S. Gorgon 5 Jul, 1887	Succeeded by Arthur D. Fanshawe
Preceded by Edward H. Gamble	Captain of H.M.S. St. George 11 May, 1895 – 28 Dec, 1897	Succeeded by Henry L. F. Royle
Preceded by Henry L. F. Royle	Captain of H.M.S. Doris 29 Dec, 1897 – 9 Jun, 1898	Succeeded by Reginald C. Prothero
Preceded by Ernest A. Simons	Assistant Director of Torpedoes 4 Aug, 1898 – Aug, 1899	Succeeded by Alexander W. Chisholm-Batten
Preceded by H.S.H. Prince Louis of Battenberg	Captain of H.M.S. Majestic 28 Jun, 1899 – 17 Apr, 1901	Succeeded by Edward E. Bradford
Preceded by Alexander W. Chisholm-Batten	Assistant Director of Torpedoes 24 Jun, 1901 – 10 Feb, 1902	Succeeded by Henry B. Jackson
Preceded by Charles G. Robinson	Captain of H.M.S. Vernon 10 Feb, 1902 – 15 Sep, 1904	Succeeded by Henry B. Jackson
Preceded by Henry B. Jackson	Captain of H.M.S. Duncan 15 Sep, 1904 – 7 Mar, 1905	Succeeded by John Casement
Preceded by Sir A. Berkeley Milne, Bart.	Second-in-Command, Atlantic Fleet 25 Aug, 1906 – 28 Aug, 1907	Succeeded by Sir John R. Jellicoe
Preceded by Sir Edmund S. Poë	Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope Station and West Africa Station 20 Aug, 1908	Succeeded by Paul W. Bush
Preceded by Sir Francis C. B. Bridgeman	Second Sea Lord 25 Mar, 1911	Succeeded by H.S.H. Prince Louis of Battenberg
Preceded by Sir William H. May	Commander in Chief, Plymouth Station 20 Mar, 1913 – 5 Dec, 1916	Succeeded by Sir George J. S. Warrender, Bart.