Charles Brisbane Ewart was born on 15 May 1827 at Coventry in Warwickshire, the fourth and youngest son of Lt. General John Frederick Ewart C.B. and his wife Lavinia Isabella née Brisbane.

On 2 February 1860 at St. James’s in Paddington he married his second cousin, Emily Jane Ewart. Born at Kirklington in Yorkshire on 6 November 1840, she was the youngest daughter of Rev. Peter Ewart, Rector of Kirklington, and Maria Margaret Lister née Salisbury.

The couple appear on the 1861 census living at 17, Norfolk Square, Paddington. He described himself as ‘Major, Royal Engineers.’ Also present on the night of the census were their two-month-old daughter, Florence Emily, and five servants. They later had four more children, including two sons.

Between 1887 and 1892, Ewart was Lieutenant-General of Jersey. He appears on the 1891 census living at La Villette in Gorey, Grouville [one of the twelve parishes of Jersey]. His wife is now one Harriet E. E. Ewart, so his first wife almost certainly predeceased him. The second Mrs Ewart was born at St. Heliers, so the two probably met and married when Ewart came to the island.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘After passing with credit through the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich Ewart was commissioned second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 18 June 1845. Promoted lieutenant on 1 April 1846, he served in England, Ireland, and Gibraltar. In January 1854 he accompanied General Sir John Fox Burgoyne on a mission to examine the defences of the Dardanelles. After surveying the ground at Gallipoli, Ewart went to Varna, and acted as brigade major while assisting in the preparations for the arrival of the allied army. He served in the Crimea, including at the battles of the Alma, Balaklava, and Inkerman, was promoted captain on 13 December 1854, and was acting adjutant throughout the siege of Sevastopol. Mentioned in dispatches, he was promoted brevet major on 2 November 1855, and acted as major of brigade to the Royal Engineers until the troops left the Crimea in June 1856.

‘From 1856 to 1884 Ewart held various posts in England and overseas, including deputy director of works for barracks, 1872–7. He was steadily promoted, being made CB and, in April 1884, a member of the ordnance committee … Promoted major-general on 27 January 1885, Ewart was sent with the Sudan expedition under Sir Gerald Graham as a brigadier-general in command of the base and line of communications, including the general supervision of the railway construction from Suakin to Berber, and was mentioned in dispatches. He was lieutenant-governor of Jersey from November 1887 until November 1892. He was promoted lieutenant-general on 20 July 1888, retired on 15 February 1894, and was made a colonel-commandant of his corps on 30 March 1902.’

Major Ewart died at the Norfolk Hotel in Folkestone on 8 August 1903 and was buried at Folkestone.