Admiral Sir Montague Edward Browning, G.C.B., G.C.M.G, G.C.V.O., R.N. (18 January, 1863 – 4 November, 1947)
Early Life and Career
Browning was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 30 June 1885.
He was lent to the Inflexible as Gunnery Officer for the annual manœuvres on 18 July 1889. In an accident on 15 August on board Inflexible he lost his left hand. He was surveyed and, probably unsurprisingly under the circumstances, found medically unfit on 7 November. It was recommended that he not be re-surveyed for two months or more. On 20 November it was decided that he be kept on the books of Excellent until he recovered. Surveyed on 21 January 1890, he was reported to be fit, "having been fitted with an efficient mechanical substitute for the hand."
Browning was promoted to the rank of Commander on 1 January 1897.
Captain
Browning was promoted to the rank of Captain on 1 January 1902. On 5 June, he assumed command of the first class protected cruiser Ariadne.
Browning was captain of Commonwealth from 1907 until February 1908.
He commanded the battleship Britannia from July 1909 until the end of 1910.
Flag Rank
On 5 January 1911 Browning was appointed as the Navy's fourth and final Inspector of Target Practice, in succession to Richard H. Peirse.
Browning was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 22 September 1911, vice Walker.
In a 1912 letter to Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Fisher described Browning as a "Psalm-singing fool."
After the abolition of the post of Inspector of Target Practice, Browning was appointed Rear-Admiral of the Third Battle Squadron of the First Fleet on 29 August 1913, hoisting his flag aboard the Hibernia the same day.
Great War
Browning was still Rear-Admiral, Third Battle Squadron, and still in the Hibernia, at the outbreak of the war.
On 27 July 1915 he was appointed to the command of the Third Cruiser Squadron, with his flag in the Antrim, which with the Third Battle Squadron had been stationed at Rosyth since the war began. In April 1916 both squadrons were detached from the Grand Fleet and moved to the Swin (Thames estuary), then returned north after the battle of Jutland. In the King's Birthday Honours of 3 June 1916, he was appointed an Additional Member of the Third Class, or Companion, in the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (C.B.).
In August 1916 Browning was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the North America and West Indies Station with the acting rank of Vice-Admiral, and he assumed command with his flag in the Leviathan on 13 September. In that capacity he represented his country in discussions with the United States naval authorities on joint action in the conduct of the war at sea. He was confirmed in the rank of Vice-Admiral on 26 April 1917. On the occasion of the King's birthday he was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, in the Military Division of the Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) on 4 June.
In February 1918, he returned to the Grand Fleet to take command of the Fourth Battle Squadron with his flag in the Hercules.
Post War
After the armistice of November 1918 he was appointed president of the allied naval armistice commission, and paid visits in the Hercules to the German naval ports to see that the settled terms were duly carried out. The economist J. M. Keynes alleged that Browning had "no idea in his head but the extirpation and further humiliation of a despised and defeated enemy." Browning joined the Board of Admiralty as Second Sea Lord in March 1919 and was promoted to the rank of Admiral on 1 November. He became Commander-in-Chief for three years in September 1920.
Browning was appointed an Ordinary Member of the First Class, or Knight Grand Cross, in the Military Division of the Order of the Bath (G.C.B.) on the occasion of the King's birthday on 3 June, 1924. He was appointed First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp in May 1925 and placed on the Retired List on 4 October 1926. He returned to court duty in March, 1929 as Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom, became Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom in February 1939, and finally retired in June 1945.