Nathaniel Bowden-Smith

Admiral

Sir Nathaniel Bowden-Smith

KCB
Born21 January 1838
Brockenhurst, Hampshire, England
Died28 April 1921(1921-04-28) (aged 83)
London, England[1]
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Branch
 Royal Navy
Service years
1852–1903
Rank
Admiral
CommandsHMS Narcissus
HMS Undaunted
HMS Hercules
HMS Amethyst
HMS Britannia
Australia Station
Nore Command
Conflicts
Second Anglo-Burmese War
Crimean War
Second Opium War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Admiral Sir Nathaniel Bowden-Smith KCB (21 January 1838 – 28 April 1921) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.

Bowden-Smith joined the Royal Navy in 1852.[2] He took part in the Second Anglo-Burmese War later that year and in the Crimean War in 1855.[3]

He was present at the Battle of Fatshan Creek in 1857. He participated in the first and second attacks on the Peiho Forts in 1858 and 1959 during the Second Opium War. He was badly injured in the arm during the failed assault on the forts in the latter one.[4][5][6]

Promoted to captain in 1872 he commanded the frigates HMS Narcissus and HMS Undaunted, the battleship HMS Hercules and the corvette HMS Amethyst.[2] He went on to command the training ship HMS Britannia in 1883 and to be Commander-in-chief, Australia Station in 1892 and Commander-in-Chief, The Nore in 1899,[2] with the full rank of admiral on 16 October 1899.[7] He retired from the Navy in January 1903.[8]

In 1905 commenting on the Battle of Port Arthur he said the "siege was distinguished by the most daring and persistent attacks [by the Japanese] and the most heroic defence [by the Russians] on record."[9]

Family

Emily Cecilia Sandeman, 1861 photograph

In 1873 Bowden-Smith married Emily Cecilia Sandeman.[2] She was a sister of Albert George Sandeman, and daughter of George Glas Sandeman, of the Sandeman wine importers, a descendant of Robert Sandeman and John Glas, and his wife Elizabeth Forster.[10][11][12] The couple had three daughters.[13]

Of the daughters, Alice Georgette Bowden-Smith (1873–1945) went in 1910 to Beijing with Dorothea Soothill. She became the principal of the Peihua Girls School there.[14][15]

Honours and awards

References

  1. ↑ Marylebone Registration District
  2. 1 2 3 4 William Loney RN
  3. ↑ Dix Noonan Webb Medals
  4. ↑ Naval Commanders
  5. ↑ "Nathaniel Bowden-Smith obituary". www.pdavis.nl. Retrieved 13 April 2026.
  6. ↑ Mackay, Ruddock (1973). Fisher of Kilverstone. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 19.
  7. ↑ "No. 27131". The London Gazette. 31 October 1899. p. 6532.
  8. ↑ "No. 27518". The London Gazette. 23 January 1903. p. 466.
  9. ↑ "The fall of Port Arthur (Part 1)". Archived from the original on 17 June 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) The Age, 4 January 1905
  10. ↑ The Wine Trade Creditors Association Weekly Gazette. Wine Trade Creditors Association. 1895. p. 406.
  11. ↑ Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage. Kelly's Directories. 1899. p. 778.
  12. ↑ Wright, Laura (5 March 2020). Sunnyside: A History of British House Names. Liverpool University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-80596-257-1.
  13. ↑ Reade, Compton (1904). The Smith family: being a popular account of most branches of the name--however spelt-- from the fourteenth century downwards, with numerous pedigrees now published for the first time. London: E. Stock. p. 59.
  14. ↑ Boyd, Julia (28 February 2012). A Dance with the Dragon: The Vanished World of Peking's Foreign Colony. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-85773-184-5.
  15. ↑ Leeb, Leopold (30 October 2025). Missionaries to China: A Historical Dictionary. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-61146-460-3.
  16. ↑ "No. 26947". The London Gazette. 14 March 1898. p. 1682.
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