Sir

Edward Fanshawe
Born27 November 1814
Stoke, Devon
Died21 October 1906 (1906-10-22) (aged 91)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
RankAdmiral
Commands heldHMS Cruizer
HMS Daphne
HMS Cossack
HMS Hastings
HMS Centurion
HMS Trafalgar
North American Station
Royal Naval College, Greenwich
Portsmouth Command
Battles/warsOriental Crisis
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Admiral Sir Edward Gennys Fanshawe, GCB (27 November 1814 – 21 October 1906) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth. He was a gifted amateur artist, with much of his work in the National Maritime Museum, London.

Naval career

Born the eldest surviving son of General Sir Edward Fanshawe,[1] and the nephew of Admiral Sir Arthur Fanshawe, Fanshawe was educated at the Royal Naval Academy, Portsmouth where he came second from the top in a very talented year and was commended for both his artistic and writing ability.[2] Fanshawe joined the Royal Navy in 1828.[3] During the Oriental Crisis of 1840 he took part in the capture of Acre.[3] He was subsequently given command of HMS Cruizer and then HMS Daphne.[3]

August 1849 Edward Gennys Fanshawe sketch of Susan Young, the only surviving Tahitian woman on Pitcairn Island
Ancient tower at Cloyne in County Cork. Painted by Fanshawe in 1856.

He took part in the Crimean War as captain of HMS Cossack.[3] Later he commanded HMS Hastings, HMS Centurion and then HMS Trafalgar.[3] He suffered some health problems from the 1850s, which curtailed his Mediterranean command of HMS Centurion.[2]

He was made Superintendent of Chatham Dockyard in 1861, Third Naval Lord in 1865 and Superintendent of Malta Dockyard in 1868.[3] He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, North American Station in 1870, Admiral President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in 1875 and Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in 1878.[3] He retired in 1879.[3]

From the early 1850s he and his family lived at Rutland Gate in London.[4] He later moved to 63 Eaton Square and finally to 75 Cromwell Road in Kensington, where he died on Trafalgar Day 1906.[2]

Family

Fanshawe's marriage to Jane Cardwell took place in early 1843; she was the sister of Edward (later Lord) Cardwell, a notable politician and, as Secretary of State for War under William Gladstone in the 1860s, instigator of the 'Cardwell Reforms' of the British Army.[2]

They had four sons and a daughter, including:

Further reading

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edward Gennys Fanshawe.
  1. ^ Laughton, John Knox (1912). "Fanshawe, Edward Gennys" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Admiral Sir Edward Gennys Fanshawe GCB, published 1904
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i J. K. Laughton, rev. Andrew Lambert. "Sir Edward Fanshawe". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33077. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ "'Rutland Gate: Twentieth-Century Redevelopments', Survey of London: volume 45: Knightsbridge (2000), pp. 152–156". Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  5. ^ "Marriages". The Times. No. 36084. London. 8 March 1900. p. 1.
Military offices Preceded byCharles Frederick Third Naval Lord 1865–1866 Succeeded byHenry Seymour Preceded byHenry Kellett Admiral Superintendent, Malta Dockyard 1868–1870 Succeeded byAstley Key Preceded bySir George Wellesley Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station 1870–1873 Succeeded bySir George Wellesley Preceded bySir Astley Key President, Royal Naval College, Greenwich 1875–1878 Succeeded bySir Charles Shadwell Preceded bySir George Elliot Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth 1878–1879 Succeeded bySir Alfred Ryder
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