John Spencer Ewart was born in Tatenhill, nr Burton-on-Trent, on 22 Mar 1861. His father was General Sir John Alexander Ewart who had been Colonel of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and had a distinguished career in the Crimea and Indian Mutiny. John was educated at Marlborough College and went to Sandhurst after which he was commissioned into the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders on 22 Oct 1881. He fought at Tel-el-Kebir in 1882 and was on the Nile Expedition in 1884, then the Sudan Field Force of 1885-86, present at the battle of Ginnis. He was adjutant of the Cameron Highlanders from May 1885 to July 1889 then appointed staff officer in the Boer War which earned him the CB.
In 1902 he was appointed Assistant Military Secretary with the rank of colonel. Two years later he was made Military Secretary and later Director of Military Operations in the War Office. Winston Churchill advised him on economic intelligence in Germany but he had a low opinion of Churchill describing him as a ‘half-bred American’ and Lloyd George as a ‘silly sentimental Celt’. Both men were too left-wing for his liking. He was promoted to lieutenant general on 19 June 1911.
The Curragh Incident brought about Ewart’s resignation as Adjutant General in 1914, but with the outbreak of war he was appointed GOC Scottish Command. He was considered for command at Gallipoli but rejected by Ian Hamilton because he had spent too long away from direct contact with troops. Lieutenant General Ewart was appointed Colonel of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders on 26 Oct 1914, an appointment that lasted until 28 May 1929.
He was married in 1891, to Susan Frances Platt and they had a daughter, Marion Frances Ewart who married an officer in the Cameron Highlanders, Captain Ian Munro. Lt-General Ewart retired from the army in 1920 and died at his home, Craigeleuch in Langholm, Dumfriesshire, on 19 September 1930. The photo shows him in the dress uniform of the Cameron Highlanders with medals for his service in Egypt and the Sudan, the large medal being the Order of the Medjidie 4th Class.
