George Digby Morant

There is a record of his baptism in the Parish of Farnborough, Hampshire on 20 January 1838, with parents George and Lydia Morant [1] His father was the elder son of George Morant, of Shirley House, Carrickmacross, and Lydia Hemphill, daughter of John Hemphill, of Rathkeany, Co.

[3][4] The senior line of the Morant family (the elder George Morant being grandson of the former head of the family) lived at Brockenhurst, Hampshire, and claimed Norman descent tracing back from William de Moraunt, of Moraunt's Court, in Kent, who was high sheriff of that county in 1337 and 1338, during the reign of King Edward III.

He was a Signal Midshipman on board the steam sloop Tenasserin during the Second Anglo-Burmese War 1852, and took part in the action and capture of the city of Bassein (mentioned in Despatches 20 May 1852[11]).

As a Mate, he served in the Crimean War (1853-1856), for which he received the Crimea Medal (two clasps)[3] and in April 1858 the Imperial Order of Medjidie, 5th Class, from the Sultan of Turkey[12]

[3] In March 1901 he was promoted to Admiral,[16] but he retired on his own request in May the same year,[17] and was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the King's Birthday Honours List the following November[18] During his career he commanded the following ships: Grasshopper, Enterprise, Cockatrice, Valorous, Achilles, Victor Emmanuel (as Commodore), and received war medals for operations in Burma, the Baltic, Crimea, and China.