Quick Facts
Biography
Admiral the Honourable Sir Assheton Gore Curzon-Howe, KCB, CVO, CMG (10 August 1850 – 1 March 1911) was a British naval officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet from 1908 to 1910.
Early life
Curzon-Howe was the thirteenth and youngest child of Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe, and Anne (d. 1877), who was Lord Howe's second wife (Assheton was the youngest of her three children), daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir John Gore. His paternal great-grandfather was Admiral Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe.
Career
In 1894 Curzon-Howe flew his flag as Commodore on the corvette HMS Cleopatra on the North America and West Indies Station. By January 1900 he had been promoted captain, and was appointed in command of the battleship HMS Ocean when she was commissioned 20 February 1900 for service on the Mediterranean Station. She transferred to the China Station in January 1901, in response to the Boxer Rebellion.
Curzon-Howe was appointed a Naval Aide de Camp to Queen Victoria in July 1899, and was re-appointed as a Naval Aide de Camp to her successor King Edward VII in February 1901. He was promoted to flag rank as Rear-Admiral in July 1901, which ended the appointment as Naval ADC.
On 5 June 1902 he was appointed second-in-command of the Channel Squadron, and temporarily hoisted his flag on board the HMS Cambridge, gunnery ship at Devonport, before he transferred to the battleship HMS Magnificent later the same month. Shortly before his departure from London he was received in audience by King Edward VII, who appointed him a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO). He was flying his flag in HMS Caesar (Captain Sydney R. Fremantle) in 1906. In 1907, he was Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. Curzon-Howe the served as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet from 1908 to 1910. He was promoted to Admiral in late 1909 or early 1910. He was Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth from 1 May 1910 until his death, age 60, on 1 March 1911. During this time he flew his flag in HMS Victory.
Family
On 25 February 1892, at the age of 41, Assheton married Alice Anne Cowell, daughter of General Rt. Hon. Sir John Cowell. They had five children:
- Captain Leicester Charles Assheton St. John Curzon-Howe (8 July 1894 – 21 February 1941)
- Victoria Alexandrina Alice Curzon-Howe (1 September 1896 – 3 February 1910)
- Assheton Penn Curzon-Howe-Herrick (21 August 1898 – 23 February 1959)
- Joyce Mary Curzon-Howe (16 July 1906 – 24 September 1997)
- Elizabeth Anne Curzon-Howe (15 November 1909-?)
His wife Alice died on 5 November 1948.
Assheton's elder sister, Lady Maria Anna Curzon (1848–1929), was the great-great-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales.