John Edelsten

Admiral Sir John Hereward Edelsten GCB GCVO CBE (12 May 1891 – 10 February 1966) was a senior Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.[2]

Sir John Edelsten
John Edelsten (1953)
Born12 May 1891[1]
Enfield, Middlesex, England
Died10 February 1966[1]
Liphook, Hampshire
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
RankAdmiral
Commands held1st Battle Squadron
4th Cruiser Squadron
Mediterranean Fleet
Portsmouth Command
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Early life

Edelsten was born 12 May 1891 in Enfield, Middlesex, England the third son to John Jackson Edelsten and Jessica Gooding.[3] John Jackson Edelsten owned a tea broker business.[4]

Edelsten joined the Royal Navy in 1908.[5] He served in World War I and then became Deputy Director of Plans in 1938.[5]

He also served in World War II initially as Senior Naval Officer during operations against Italian Somaliland before becoming Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Station in 1941.[5] He was made Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (U-boat Warfare and Trade) in 1942 and Rear Admiral (Destroyers) for the British Pacific Fleet in 1945.[5]

After the War he commanded 1st Battle Squadron and then 4th Cruiser Squadron before becoming Vice Chief of the Naval Staff in 1947.[5] He was made Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet in 1950; this post was dual hatted from 1952 as NATO Commander Allied Forces Mediterranean.[5]

In this capacity he conducted a two-day visit to Israel. His last post was as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth and NATO Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief, Channel Command in 1952; he retired in 1954.[5]

He was also First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Queen from 1953 to 1954.[6]

Edelsten was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1953 Coronation Honours.[6]

Family

On 14 December 1926, Edelsten married Frances Anne Hoile Masefield at the Holy Trinity Church in London.[7] Frances was born 14 October 1900 in Broughty Ferry, Forfarshire, Scotland to Henry Valentine Masefield and Caroline Gordon.[7]

References
  1. "The Papers of Vice-Admiral Sir John Edelsten". Archivesearch. Churchill Archives Centre.
  2. "Obituary: Admiral Sir John Edelsten". The Times. 11 February 1966. p. 18.
  3. Amarna, Cheri. "Edelsten/Taylor Family Tree". Ancestry.com.
  4. "Edelsten, Sir John Hereward (1891–1966), naval officer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/65600. Retrieved 10 June 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. Sir John Hereward Edelsten Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, kcl.ac.uk; accessed 8 April 2016.
  6. "No. 39853". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 May 1953. p. 2704.
  7. Ancestry.com. London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
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