Edward Phillpotts

Admiral Edward Montgomery Phillpotts, CB (1 August 1871 – 9 April 1952) was a Royal Navy officer.

Biography

Background and early life and career The son of William Phillpotts, Archdeacon of Cornwall, Phillpotts entered HMS Britannia as a cadet in July 1884.

Promoted to commander on 1 January 1902, he joined HMS Bulwark, serving as its acting flag captain from 1905 to 1906. Promoted to captain in 1906, he took command of the protected cruiser HMS Grafton the same year. He was appointed to command the armoured cruiser HMS Euryalus in 1907 and the battleship HMS Prince of Wales in 1909, as flag captain to Prince Louis of Battenberg, Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet. From 1911 to 1912 he was Captain of Signal School, Portsmouth and Superintendent of Signal Schools. In 1912, he was appointed Naval Assistant to the Second Sea Lord, Prince Louis of Battenberg.

Scouting In 1928, he succeeded Earl Jellicoe as the Commissioner for London Boy Scouts, until 1936 when he retired due to ill-health. In early 1932, Phillpotts attended a revue staged by Rover Scouts from Holborn District; he suggested to the producer, Ralph Reader, that he might arrange a larger-scale production to raise funds for Scouting in London and the result was the first London Gang Show, which opened at the Scala Theatre in October of that year.