John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe

Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe (5 December 1859 – 20 November 1935) was a senior Royal Navy officer. He saw action in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion, and during the First World War he led the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. His performance in that battle sparked debate. While Jellicoe avoided any serious errors and forced the German High Seas Fleet to withdraw to its home ports—a result that prevented a potentially catastrophic defeat for Britain—the public was let down that the numerically superior Royal Navy had not secured a more decisive victory. Later, as First Sea Lord, Jellicoe worked to enlarge the Admiralty's Naval Staff and implement the convoy system, but he was removed from the post at the close of 1917. In the early 1920s, he served as governor-general of New Zealand. Born in Southampton, Hampshire, Jellicoe was the son of a captain in the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and his wife. He attended Field House School in Rottingdean and began his naval training as a cadet aboard HMS *Britannia* in 1872. Made a midshipman on HMS *Newcastle* in September 1874, he later moved to the ironclad HMS *Agincourt* in the Mediterranean Fleet in July 1877. Promoted to sub-lieutenant in December 1878, he served as signal sub-lieutenant on the flagship HMS *Alexandra* in 1880. After becoming a lieutenant in September 1880, he returned to HMS *Agincourt* in February 1881 and led a rifle company of the Naval Brigade at Ismailia during the 1882 Egyptian war. Qualifying as a gunnery officer in 1883, Jellicoe joined the gunnery school HMS *Excellent* in May 1884. He became gunnery officer on the turret ship HMS *Monarch* in September 1885 and received the Board of Trade Silver Medal for rescuing a capsized steamer's crew near Gibraltar in May 1886. He served on the battleship HMS *Colossus* in April 1886, took charge of the experimental department at HMS *Excellent* in December 1886, and became an assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance in September 1889. Promoted to commander in June 1891, he joined HMS *Sans Pareil* in the Mediterranean in March 1892. In 1893 he transferred to the flagship HMS *Victoria*, under Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon, and was aboard when it collided with HMS *Camperdown* and sank off Tripoli, Lebanon, on 22 June 1893. He then moved to the new flagship, HMS *Ramillies*, in October 1893. Made captain in January 1897, he joined the Admiralty's Ordnance Committee. During the Boxer Rebellion in June 1900, he served as captain of HMS *Centurion* and chief of staff to Vice Admiral Sir Edward Seymour on the Seymour Expedition to relieve the Peking legations. Badly wounded at the Battle of Beicang, he was told he would die but survived, confounding his doctor and chaplain. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath and received the German Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd class, with Crossed Swords. *Centurion* returned to the UK in August 1901 and was paid off the next month. In February 1902 he became Naval Assistant to the Third Naval Lord and Controller of the Navy, and in August 1903 he took command of the armoured cruiser HMS *Drake* on the North America and West Indies Station. A protégé of Admiral John Fisher, Jellicoe became Director of Naval Ordnance in 1905. Appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order when HMS *Dreadnought* was launched on 10 February 1906, he was also made an Aide-de-Camp to the King the following month. Promoted to rear admiral in February 1907, he strongly advocated for naval modernisation, backing new Dreadnought battleships and Invincible-class battlecruisers. He supported F. C. Dreyer's fire-control improvements and the adoption of Dreyer's "Fire Control Table," a mechanical computer for calculating firing solutions. He also arranged for naval ordnance production to shift from the War Office to the Admiralty. In August 1907 he became second-in-command of the Atlantic Fleet, flying his flag in HMS *Albemarle*, and was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order during the King's Review of the Home Fleet in August 1907. He became Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy in October 1908, attended King Edward VII's funeral in May 1910, and then served as Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, from December 1910, flying his flag in HMS *Prince of Wales*. He was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath at the coronation of King George V in June 1911 and confirmed as vice admiral in September 1911.