► Royal Navy ► Obituaries
The following obituary for John Hext appeared in the Times newspaper.
| Obituary in the Times newspaper | |
| Date | Obituary |
| 9 May 1924 | REAR-ADMIRAL SIR JOHN HEXT. The eldest son of the Rev. J.H. Hext, Vicar of Morval, Cornwall, Hext was born on October 14, 1842, and was sent to Marlborough. Entering the Royal Navy in 1857, he was appointed in 1863 to the Greyhound, sloop, in the West Indies, and in 1865, having obtained his lieutenant’s commission, went out to China in the Perseus, screw sloop. In 1872, he was given command of the Decoy, a composite gunboat which commissioned at Devonport for the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station. While in this vessel he took part in the Ashanti War, and led the boat expedition at Elmina on June 13, 1873. He also landed with boats' crews and destroyed the native town of Bootey. Being specially mentioned in dispatches for his services in landing men and in action, he was promoted commander with seniority of March 28, 1874, and also received the Ashanti medal. In 1875, he became commander of the Cruiser, sloop, in the Mediterranean, which some two years later became a training ship for ordinary seamen, and his service with the vessel in the latter capacity led to his appointment in August, 1878, to. command the old St. Vincent, training ship for boys in Portsmouth harbour. He resumed sea service in command of the Dryad, sloop, in the East Indies, from which he was promoted captain in June, 1882. In the Egyptian War of that year, he was employed in the transport service at Suez, and in addition to the medal and Khedive's bronze star, he received the third class of the Medjidieh for his services. In February, 1883, he was chosen for the important position of Director of Marine under the Government of India, and also became a member of the Bombay Port Trust. Appointed originally for five years, he had his tenure extended in 1887 for two more terms of five years. From January, 1886, he also served as an honorary A.D.C. to the Viceroy of India. Naturally he took a prominent part in the organizing arrangements during the Burma annexation war of 1885-6, and received the thanks of the Indian Government, as Director of Marine, "for the promptitude and efficiency with which the transports were taken up and filled." On relinquishing his post as Director, he received a cordial expression of appreciation from the Government of India "for the valuable services rendered by him to the State" during his term of office. He had been awarded the C.I.E. in 1889, and at the Diamond Jubilee was promoted to K.C.I.E. It was also in the Diamond Jubilee Year, May 10, 1897, that he was promoted to rear-admiral, this step in rank being on the retired list, on which he had been placed in November, 1889. After his return to England, Sir John continued to take an active interest in naval and nautical affairs, and was one of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the administration of the Port of London and its water approaches. The late Admiral was married, in 1874, to Lilian Mary, daughter of Mr. David Mitchell. She died in 1893, and nine years later Sir John married Jean, younger daughter of the Rev. W. Davidson, D.D., of Largo. He was again left a widower in 1913. The funeral will be on Monday, May 12, at Wolborough Church, Newton Abbot, at 12.30. |
Top↑
 |