Arthur Mostyn Field
Hydrographer of the British Royal Navy
About Arthur Mostyn Field
Lived 1855 – 1950 (aged 95). Arthur Mostyn Field was a naval officer, hydrographer and admiral.
Admiral Sir Arthur Mostyn Field, (27 June 1855 – 3 July 1950) was a senior officer in the Royal Navy who served as Hydrographer of the Navy from 1904 to 1909.
Biography Field was born in Braybrooke, Northamptonshire, the youngest son of Captain John Bousquet Field of the Royal Navy and his wife Cecilia Mostyn. He was educated at Lymington and enlisted in 1868 as a cadet in the Royal Navy, where he joined the training ship .
After two years basic training Field was appointed in succession to HMS Trafalgar and HMS Narcissus as a midshipman. After further courses of instruction. he was promoted lieutenant in 1875. The following year he was posted to the newly converted survey ship, , spending the next four years in the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and the east coast of Africa, followed by a survey mission to the Oil Rivers of West Africa. In 1882 he went in to survey the Straits of Magellan. and served from 1890 to 1894 on around Borneo. Made captain in 1895, he was given command of and commissioned to survey islands in the south west Pacific (1896–99). The Penguin made further voyages to Funafuti to deliver the expeditions of the Royal Society in 1897 and 1898. The surveys carried out by the Penguin resulted in the Admiralty Nautical Chart 2983 for the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu).
For the next few years, he worked taking depth soundings in home waters, based on the survey vessel , to which command he was appointed on 21 April 1900. He was appointed Hydrographer of the Navy in August 1904.
Field was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1905 as a "distinguished hydrographic surveyor".
Field was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1906, vice admiral in 1910, and placed on the retired list later that year. He was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1911 Coronation Honours, and advanced to the rank of admiral on the Retired List on 4 June 1913.
Field wrote on surveying, expanding the textbook "Hydrographical Surveying" written by Admiral Sir William Wharton.
Field had a daughter, Cecilia, who went on to study at Somerville College, Oxford. He died in Christchurch, Hampshire in 1950. His son, Midshipman T. M. Field, was killed in the battlecruiser at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.
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Important facts
People in Arthur Mostyn Field's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
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Frequently asked questions
Who was Arthur Mostyn Field?
Hydrographer of the British Royal Navy (1855–1950)
When was Arthur Mostyn Field born?
Arthur Mostyn Field was born on 27 June 1855 in Braybrooke.
When did Arthur Mostyn Field die?
Arthur Mostyn Field died on 3 July 1950.
What was Arthur Mostyn Field's occupation?
Arthur Mostyn Field was a naval officer, hydrographer and admiral.
Sources & further reading
· Wikipedia: Arthur Mostyn Field
· DBpedia: Mostyn Field (Royal Navy officer)
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Arthur Mostyn Field. https://biography.guide/arthur-mostyn-field/
MLA: "Arthur Mostyn Field." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/arthur-mostyn-field/.
Chicago: "Arthur Mostyn Field." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/arthur-mostyn-field/.
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