Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Chichester  


THE TIMES
Tuesday Sep 18, 1906


OBITUARY
SIR EDWARD CHICHESTER
  Reuter telegrams from Gibraltar state that Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Chichester, C.B., C.M.G., Admiral Superintendent in charge of all his Majesties naval establishments at Gibralter, died yesterday morning.   Lady Chichester, accompanied by Lieutenant Chichester, arrived at Gibraltar on Sunday in time to see the Admiral alive.   A change for the worse set in on Sunday night, and Sir Edward died at 4 0'clock in the morning.   The cause of death was bronchial pneumonia.   The telegrams add that all flags are flying at half-mast, both ashore and on the warships and private vessels in the harbour.   The Admiral was very popular amongst all classes, and the news of his death has been received with feelings of deep regret.   It is believed that the body will be conveyed to England on board a warship, leaving Gibraltar to-morrow.
  Sir Edward Chichester was the head of an ancient family which has been seated in Devonshire since the 15th century, and of which Lord Donegal and Lord O'Neill represent younger branches.   he was born on November 20, 1849, the second of the nine sons of Sir Arthur Chichester, eighth baronet, by Mary, eldest daughter of Mr. John Nicholetts, of South Petherton.   Entering the Navy in 1863, he obtained the rank of lieutenant in 1870.
 
  In the first Boer War he was transport officer in Natal, and during the war in Egypt in 1882 he was lieutenant of the Thalia, and was promoted to commander.   During the years immediately following he was again employed on transport service, and afterwards in the protection of the North Sea fisheries, for which he was officially thanked.   He became a captain in 1889, but continued for some years engaged either in the protection of the fisheries, or under the Board of Trade, on Committees relating to them.   In 1895 he commissioned the Immortalité for the China Station, and was still there in 1898 when the Spanish-American war broke out.   When, after destroying the Spanish squadron at Cavite, Commodore Dewey blockaded Manila, the Immortalité was sent there for the protection of the English.   Ships of other nations also assembled there, and among them Germans in a large number than appeared necessary or commensurate with the very limited extent of German interests.   This, together with the position actually taken up by the German ships, naturally caused some suspicion that an opportunity of interference was looked for and when Commodore Dewey, who was in no humour to stand any such thing, fired a shot one night across the bows of an intrusive German, there seemed some possibility that the war might extend further.   Fortunately, in view of the very friendly attitude of this country towards the United States, the British ships were a factor which the Germans had to reckon with, whilst Chichester's influence was exercised with a rare
combination of tact and firmness to restore good will on both sides, and Dewey accepted in a friendly spirit the apology which was handsomely tendered by the German Admiral.   The exact details were never divulged.   It is, however, not too much to say that a very ugly diplomatic incident, if nothing worse, was averted by Chichester's happy tact and pleasing personality; and this was acknowledged by his Government, who conferred on him the C.M.G.   During the war in South Africa, from 1899 to 1900, he was again employed as transport officer, this time at Cape Town, and won everywhere golden opinions - from Lord Roberts, whose mention of him in dispatches was highly eulogistic; from the Government, who conferred on him the C.B.; and, not least, from the masters of the transports, who presented him with an illuminated address and a massive piece of plate.   From 1899 to 1901 he was Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Queen, and from then to 1902 to the King.   He was then promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and since June, 1904, had been Superintendent of all the naval establishments at Gibraltar.
  For many years past the home of the late Admiral has been at the bungalow, Instow, where Lady Chichester
 
and her family reside.   He was most popular in North Devon, and when living there took an active interest in sports.   Of stag hunting he was a warm supporter, and the Old Barnstaple Staghounds, of the committee of which he was a member, often met at Youlston and were nearly always sure of a "find" in the wood.   He was keenly interested in the local agricultural shows, which he always attended if he had an opportunity.   His last leave, which he spent in North Devon, expired only a month ago, and Rear-Admiral J.E.C. Goodrich had since been appointed to succeed him at Gibraltar.   In politics Sir Edward was a staunch and active supporter of the Unionist cause.
  In July, 1898, Sir Edward succeeded his father as ninth baronet, his elder brother, Arthur, who had been a lieutenant in the 95th Foot, having died the same year.   Sir Edward Chichester married in 1880 Catharina Emma, eldest daughter of Commander R. C. Whyte, R.N., of Instow, North Devon, and leaves issue four sons and six daughters.   The eldest son, Lieutenant Edward George Chichester, R.N., who succeeds to the title, was born in 1883, and served in Natal with the Naval Brigade in 1900; he was his father's flag lieutenant at Gibraltar.


  Another son, Robert Charles Chichester, is a midshipman in the Bulwark, flagship of the Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean.   Sir Edward's eldest daughter is married to Mr. C. V. Beresford, of the Worcestershire Regiment, son of his Honour Judge Beresford.