Charles John Wintour

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Captain Charles John Wintour (10 December, 1871 – 31 May, 1916) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

On 24 March 1893, Wintour was appointed to Seaflower for navigating duties. For seven years, his naval command would be squarely built on appointments as a navigating officer.[1]

Wintour was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 30 June, 1894.[2]

On 17 September 1897, Wintour passed in Pilotage for First Class Ships, with a second class certificate. He was lent, temporarily to Sirius for navigation on 9 November, arriving with her new Captain, George Morris Henderson.[3]

On 1 December, 1900 Herbert Lyon, captain of corvette Cleopatra, sent a telegram reporting that Wintour was suffering from enteric fever. On the 14th he was sent back to Devonport on a P & O steamer, due to arrive around the 21st. On Christmas, he was discharged to his home from Plymouth Hospital. He was found fit again on 22 February, 1901.[4]

On 5 July, 1902, Wintour was appointed in command of Seaflower. On 15 August, he was appointed from there to command of Liberty. Upon paying off Liberty on 4 December, 1903, he was appointed to the battleship Swiftsure to serve as her navigating officer.[5]

He was promoted to the rank of Acting Commander on 14 October, 1905 and then to Commander on 31 December, 1905. On 10 July, 1906, he was appointed in command of the River Class destroyer Jed.[6]

Wintour was faulted for an error in judgment in damage inflicted to Flirt by his Mermaid in 1908. He was in trouble again in 1909 when he was scolded for permitting a dinghy to be sent for libertymen at night in a strong tideway. Even so, he was praised for obtaining good results in torpedo firings while in Mermaid.[7]

Wintour was appointed in command of the destroyer Test on 17 March, 1910.

He was appointed in command of the scout cruiser Forward on 26 January, 1911.

Wintour was promoted to the rank of Captain on 30 June, 1913. On 20 August, he was appointed to Hecla, additional, to serve as Captain (D) of the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla. He was to remain in command of this formation, from a number of flagships, to the end of his life.[8]

Great War

Wintour was appointed in command of the flotilla leader Swift on 25 December 1913, remaining as Captain (D) of Fourth Destroyer Flotilla. The vicissitudes of fleet operations changed the flagship (which he also commanded) to Caroline briefly in early 1915, back to Swift for five months and then to Carysfort in August, 1915.[9]

On 26 April, 1916, Wintour was appointed in command of his final flagship for 4 D.F., the Faulknor Class flotilla leader Tipperary.[10]

It was in this capacity that Wintour died just over a month later at the Battle of Jutland, struck down in a blizzard of shells fired at close range into Tipperary just before midnight.[11][12]

See Also

Naval Appointments
Preceded by
Cecil H. Fox
Captain of H.M.S. Jed
10 Jul, 1906[13][14] – 14 Jan, 1908[15]
Succeeded by
Denis G. Thynne
Preceded by
Loftus W. Jones
Captain of H.M.S. Mermaid
14 Jan, 1908[16][17] – 4 Jan, 1910[18]
Succeeded by
Herbert E. W. C. Whyte
Preceded by
James U. Farie
Captain of H.M.S. Exe
4 Jan, 1910[19] – 17 Mar, 1910[20]
Succeeded by
Oliver M. F. Stokes
Preceded by
New Command
Captain of H.M.S. Test
17 Mar, 1910[21][22] – 13 Jun, 1910[23]
Succeeded by
Oliver M. F.-G. Stokes
Preceded by
Oliver M. F. Stokes
Captain of H.M.S. Exe
13 Jun, 1910[24] – 26 Jan, 1911[25]
Succeeded by
Edgar R. Morant
Preceded by
Alan C. Bruce
Captain of H.M.S. Forward
26 Jan, 1911[26][27] – 1 Apr, 1913[28]
Succeeded by
Charles J. Wintour
Preceded by
Mortimer L'E. Silver
Captain of H.M.S. Topaze
1 Apr, 1913[29] – 11 Apr, 1913[30]
Succeeded by
George P. Leith
Preceded by
Charles J. Wintour
Captain of H.M.S. Forward
10 Jul, 1913[31] – 20 Aug, 1913[32]
Succeeded by
Cecil H. Fox
Preceded by
Robert G. Corbett
Captain (D), Fourth Destroyer Flotilla
20 Aug, 1913[33] – 31 May, 1916[34]
Succeeded by
Charles D. Roper
Preceded by
George B. W. Young
Captain of H.M.S. Swift
5 Dec, 1913[35][36] – Jan, 1915[37]
Succeeded by
Anselan J. B. Stirling
Preceded by
H. Ralph Crooke
Captain of H.M.S. Caroline
Jan, 1915[38] – Feb, 1915[39]
Succeeded by
H. Ralph Crooke
Preceded by
H. Ralph Crooke
Captain of H.M.S. Swift
Feb, 1915[40][41]c. 5 Aug, 1915[42][43]
Succeeded by
Gerald C. Harrison
Preceded by
Albert P. Addison
Captain of H.M.S. Carysfort
Aug, 1915[44][45] – 26 Apr, 1916[46]
Succeeded by
Barry E. Domvile
Preceded by
Apsley D. M. Cherry
Captain of H.M.S. Tipperary
26 Apr, 1916[47] – 1 Jun, 1916[48]
Succeeded by
Vessel Lost
 

Footnotes

  1. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  2. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  3. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  4. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  5. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  6. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  7. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  8. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  9. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  10. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  11. Battle of Jutland Official Despatches. p. 44.
  12. Naval Operations. Volume III. p. 397.
  13. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  14. The Navy List. (March, 1907). p. 334.
  15. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  16. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  17. The Navy List. (January, 1910). p. 345.
  18. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  19. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  20. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  21. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  22. The Navy List. (April, 1910). p. 385.
  23. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  24. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  25. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  26. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  27. The Navy List. (April, 1914). p. 317.
  28. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  29. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  30. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  31. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  32. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  33. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  34. Battle of Jutland Official Despatches. p. 44.
  35. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  36. The Navy List. (January, 1915). p. 383.
  37. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  38. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  39. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  40. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  41. The Navy List. (April, 1915). p. 398m.
  42. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  43. Harrison Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/48/164. f. 568.
  44. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  45. The Navy List. (October, 1915). p. 392r.
  46. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  47. Wintour Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/224. f. 245.
  48. Naval Operations. Volume III. p. 397.