Jellicoe:Background and Early Life
John Rushworth Jellicoe was born at 1 Cranbury Place,[1] Southampton, England on 5 December, 1859. He was the second son and child of a family of four boys and two girls born to John Henry Jellicoe (b. 1825—d. 1914) and Lucy Henrietta Keele (d. 1916) and at an early age was known as "Jack." John Henry was a captain in the Royal Mail Line shipping company and would later become Commodore of the fleet and a director of the line. Otherwise the male Jellicoe ancestry was undistinguished, except on Jack's paternal grandmother's side with the Gardiner baronets. On his mother's side however was a long tradition of service in the Royal Navy. His great-great-grandfather Captain Philip Patton fought at La Hogue in 1692. Jellicoe's great-grandfather, who was also named Philip Patton, fought in nine actions under Admirals Boscawen, Hawke, Pocock, Rodney, Digby and Parker during the latter half of the 18th century. Patton was Second Sea Lord at the time of the Battle of Trafalgar and rose to become an Admiral of the Red. Two of Jellicoe's maternal grandfather's brothers joined the navy; Charles Keele rose to be an admiral and Edward Keele was a midshipman aboard H.M.S. Java during the War of 1812. He was killed during his ship's fight with the United States Navy frigate Constitution on 29 December, 1812.[2] Henry Lambert, the captain of H.M.S. Java, was also killed in the battle with Constitution. One of Lambert's descendants, Admiral Sir Cecil Foley Lambert, served on the Board of Admiralty as Fourth Sea Lord during Jellicoe's tenure as Second Sea Lord.[3]
Jellicoe was educated first from the age of six at a "dame-school" run by the Misses Shapcott in Southampton, at which he remained until he was ten years old. After a year at a larger school he then attended Field House school at Rottingdean, where he was given a grounding in classics and mathematics. From an early age Jellicoe, influenced by the surroundings of maritime Southampton and his family heritage, wanted to join the Royal Navy. His father had doubts as to whether they could afford it, as parents had to pay fees to the amount of £40 per annum while their children were naval cadets.[4] However, Jellicoe's mother insisted that he should attend if he wanted to,[5] and in 1872 a nomination to join the navy was given to him by Captain Robert Hall, a friend of the family. At the age of twelve and a half he came second in the entrance examination and passed into the training ship Britannia as a naval cadet on 15 July, 1872.[6]
Training to be a British naval officer was an extremely long process. When Jellicoe joined only boys between the ages of twelve and thirteen and a half were allowed to take the entrance examination, which at the time was described to be "easy" (in 1873 it became much more competitive)[7] His time in Britannia was divided into two years split into four terms.[8] While in Britannia he was given only one punishment, four days No. 7 consisting of an hour's drill with a Brown Bess rifle and an hour standing facing the ship's after the rest of the cadets had gone to bed. His crime was to join in a "raid" on a local apple orchard.[8]
While at Dartmouth the Captain of Britannia, Captain the Honourable Fitzgerald Algernon Charles Foley, happened to meet Jellicoe's mother in Ryde. After she left he remarked to another lady whose company he was in, "I wonder if Mrs. Jellicoe realises that her son John is one of the cleverest cadets we have ever had?"[9] On 16 July, 1874 Jellicoe passed out first of his term of thirty-nine boys[8] with first-class certificates in each subject for which he gained nine months' time of service, and gained another three months' time for "very good conduct" and was promoted to Midshipman.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many He was awarded prizes for being first in theoretical study, seamanship and two other subjects. He was immediately appointed to the Duke of Wellington, flagship at Portsmouth for service in H.M.S. Newcastle, a sailing frigate with an auxiliary steam engine[10] which was part of the Flying Squadron.[11]
On 22 September, 1874 Jellicoe joined Newcastle, which left Sheerness on 18 October, and after calling at Plymouth and Portsmouth went cruising in foreign waters. During its three year commission the Newcastle and Jellicoe visited China, Port Stanley, Rio de Janeiro, South Africa and St. Helena, where Jellicoe visited Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb. While in Newcastle Jellicoe undertook sail training and was put in charge of one of the ship's port-side boats. His studies also continued under the tutelage of a Naval Instructor. He and the other midshipmen were divided into four watches, of which one watch was supposed to be on deck at all times, be it at sea or in harbour.[12] During the course of the cruise twenty-four men went overboard, of whom not more than half were saved.[13]
On 10 July, 1877 Jellicoe joined the ironclad Agincourt in the Channel Squadron at Devonport. Shortly afterwards the squadron was despatched to reinforce the Mediterranean Squadron as a result of the Russo-Turkish War.[14] The fleet was based at Besika Bay, and remained there for the rest of the year. While there his cousin Charles E. Rushworth, a fellow midshipman in Agincourt, jumped into the sea to help a man overboard, but unfortunately both men drowned.[15] In January 1878 the Government ordered the fleet up the Dardanelles to Constantinople but were recalled at the last minute. The following morning the order was given again and the fleet anchored in the Sea of Marmora. The Disraeli ministry had ordered the Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Commerell to prevent the Russians from taking the Turkish positions at Bulair. At this time Jellicoe was one of only two midshipmen in the Agincourt (the other was Cecil Burney), and was in charge of two steamboats and four cutters. He was then made Aide de Camp (A.d.C.) to Commerell and was tasked with carrying letters from the Admiral across the Dardanelles peninsula to the Turkish commander at Bulair and to the British ships anchored in the Gulf of Xeros. He also acted as A.D.C. to one of Agincourt's signal officers for a period. Eventually he was relieved of some of his duties when the ship received four more midshipmen. Amongst all this activity he was able to pass his seamanship examination. For four months Jellicoe served in the sailing instruction sloop Cruiser, where for the first time he became a watch officer (responsible for the running of a ship during a pre-designated period of time, called a "watch"), and gained the positive attention of Admiral Sir Geoffrey Phipps Hornby.[16]
In the mathematical examination for 1878 Jellicoe did well. "The results have come out and I am third in the Channel and Mediterranean fleets out of 106 midshipmen," he related in a letter to his mother on 29 September.[17] On his birthday, 5 December, 1878, Jellicoe took the seamanship examination at Malta and obtained a first-class certificate. He left the Agincourt on 27 December and returned to Britain in the P. & O. passenger ship Simoom.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many
Footnotes
- ↑ Winton. Jellicoe. p. 8.
- ↑ Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. p. 1.
- ↑ "Admiral Sir C. F. Lambert" (Obituaries). The Times. Thursday, 1 March, 1928. Issue 44830, col C, pg. 16.
- ↑ Soley. Report. p. 37.
- ↑ Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. p. 5.
- ↑ Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. p. 241.
- ↑ Soley. Report. pp. 26-27.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. p. 14.
- ↑ Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. p. 13.
- ↑ Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. p. 15.
- ↑ Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. p. 17.
- ↑ Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. pp. 17–34.
- ↑ Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. p. 24.
- ↑ Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. p. 34.
- ↑ Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. p. 35.
- ↑ Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. pp. 37-38.
- ↑ Quoted in Bacon. Earl Jellicoe. p. 39.
Bibliography
- Template:BibBaconJellicoe
- Soley, Professor James Russell (1880). Report on Foreign Systems of Naval Education. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
- Template:BibTemplePattersonJellicoe
- Template:BibWintonJellicoe
