Colvin was the son of Clement Sneyd Colvin and his wife Alice Jane, née Lethbridge.[1] This connected him with a long and illustrious line of British Empire soldiers and administrators, the Colvin family; his grandfather was John Russell Colvin, lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces of British India during the mutiny of 1857.[2] His uncles included Walter Mytton and Auckland, also lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces and Oudh. A first cousin, Brenda Colvin (1897–1981),[3] was an important landscape architect, author of standard works in the field and a force behind its professionalization. A more distant cousin was Sidney Colvin, who grew up to be a critic, curator, and great friend of Robert Louis Stevenson.
Naval career
Colvin joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in HMS Britannia in 1896.[1] He was promoted to acting sub-lieutenant on 15 July 1901 and subsequently confirmed in that rank from the same date.[4] The following year, he was in November 1902 posted to serve on HMS Foam, serving in the Mediterranean Fleet.[5] He was commissioned lieutenant six years later and, after qualifying as a gunnery specialist in 1904, was promoted commander in 1913.[1] In the First World War he served as executive officer in the cruiser HMS Hibernia, and in the battleship HMS Revenge in which he served in the Battle of Jutland in 1916.[1] Promoted captain on 31 December 1917, he served in the Admiralty as assistant director of plans and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.[1]
Colvin was appointed Chief of Naval Staff to the Royal Australian Navy in 1937.[1] Under his leadership, the Royal Australian Navy expanded its naval fleet and maintained a high profile in Australia's military affairs.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Colvin was an active participant in international planning; however, by 1940 his health was failing and he resigned the following year.[1] Colvin returned to London where he served as Naval Advisor to the Australian High Commission from 1942 to 1944.[1]
Family
In 1918 he married Sibyl Kays.[1] They had two children:
Mrs. Prudence (Prue) Balfour (married in 1949 to Colin James Balfour,[6]Commander, Royal Navy (1924 – 13 August 2009 aged 85),[7] children Major General James Balfour CBE, b 1951, and Belinda.)
