Difference between revisions of "George Tryon"

From The Dreadnought Project
Jump to: navigation, search
(Created Page.)
 
(add RN/RNR/RNVR categories)
 
(76 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
−
Sir '''George Tryon''', K.C.B. ([[4 January]], [[1832]] – [[22 June]], [[1893]]) was an officer of the [[Royal Navy]], who lost his life in the infamous [[Loss of HMS Victoria|loss of H.M.S. ''Victoria'']] in 1893.
+
{{ViceRN}} {{SIR}} '''George Tryon''', K.C.B., Royal Navy (4 January, 1832 – 22 June, 1893) was an officer of the [[Royal Navy]] in the Nelsonian vein, who advocated that the service adopt a more flexible command philosophy which would de-emphasise central command in favour of independent command initiative harmonised by a strong doctrine reinforced by frequent drill.
  
−
==Early Life and Career==
+
Tryon lost his life in the infamous [[Loss of H.M.S. Victoria|loss of H.M.S. ''Victoria'']] in 1893, an accident he precipitated while using the stringent command patterns he disdained.
−
Tryon, naval officer, third son of Thomas Tryon (d. 1872) of Bulwick Park, Northamptonshire, and his wife, Anne (d. 1877), daughter of Sir John Trollope, sixth baronet, was born on 4 January 1832. The Tryons are believed to have been of Dutch origin, but had resided at Bulwick since the reign of James I. After some years at Eton College he entered the navy in the spring of 1848, as a naval cadet on board the Wellesley, then fitting for the flag of Lord Dundonald as commander-in-chief of the North American station. He was somewhat older than was usual, and bigger. When he passed for midshipman he was over eighteen, and was more than 6 feet tall. His size helped to give him authority, and his age gave him steadiness and application; zeal and force of character were natural gifts, and when the Wellesley was paid off in June 1851 he had won the very high opinion of his commanding officer. A few weeks later he was appointed to the Vengeance (Captain Lord Edward Russell) for the Mediterranean station, where he still was at the outbreak of the Crimean War. On 15 March 1854 he passed his examination in seamanship, but continuing in the Vengeance, from her maintop he watched the battle of the Alma, in which his two elder brothers fought. Shortly after the battle of Inkerman he was landed for service with the naval brigade, and a few days later was made a lieutenant in a death vacancy of 21 October; the admiral wrote to him, ‘You owe it to the conduct and character which you bear in the service’. In January 1855 Tryon was re-embarked and returned to Britain in the Vengeance; but when he had passed his examination at Portsmouth, he was again sent out to the Black Sea as a lieutenant of the Royal Albert, flagship of Sir Edmund Lyons, whose captain, William Mends, had been the commander of the Vengeance. The Royal Albert returned to Spithead in the summer of 1858, formed part of Queen Victoria's escort to Cherbourg in July, and was paid off in August. In November Tryon was appointed to the royal yacht, at the request of his father's friend Lord Derby, the prime minister. This ensured his promotion to commander on 25 October 1860.
+
  
−
In June 1861 Tryon was selected to be the commander of the Warrior, the first British seagoing ironclad, then preparing for her first commission. This was a prestigious appointment and Tryon made the most of it; he also came into contact with John Fisher, the ship's gunnery lieutenant. Tryon remained in the Warrior, attached to the Channel Fleet, until July 1864, when he was appointed to an independent command in the Mediterranean, the gun-vessel Surprise, which he brought home and paid off in April 1866. He was then (11 April) promoted captain. During the next year he went through a course of theoretical study at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, and in August 1867 was away fishing in Norway, when he was recalled to go out as director of transports in Annesley Bay, where the troops and stores were landed for the Abyssinian expedition to rescue the hostages at Magdala. The work, neither interesting nor exciting, was extremely hard in a sweltering and unhealthy climate. Tryon's talent for organization, his foresight and clear-headedness, his care and his intimate knowledge of details impressed other officers, naval and military. He also won the esteem and regard of the masters of the transports—who were not always very amenable to discipline—and after his return to Britain they presented him with a handsome service of plate in commemoration of their gratitude. His health, however, was severely tried, and for some months after his return to Britain he was very much of an invalid. On 5 April 1869 he married Clementina Charlotte, daughter of Gilbert John Heathcote, first Lord Aveland, and then went for a tour in Italy and central Europe, before settling down in the autumn near Doncaster.
+
==Early Life & Career==
 +
George Tryon was born at Bulwick Park, Northamptonshire, on 4 January, 1832. He was the third of four sons born to Thomas Tryon and Anne, daughter of Sir John Trollope, Bart. His two elder brothers, Thomas and Henry, both served in the army; Thomas fighting at Alma, Inkerman and in the Indian Mutiny before retiring as a Lieutenant-Colonel; Henry fighting at Alma, Inkerman and Balaklava before being killed in action on 20 November, 1854. Tryon was a bright child, and after prepatory school was sent to Eton College.  It is family tradition that at the age of sixteen Tryon informed his father of his desire to join the navy.<ref>FitzGerald. pp. 11-13.</ref>  His father obtained Tryon a nomination and he passed the examination, and in the Spring of 1848 he went to sea in H.M.S ''Wellesley'', a two-decker then fitting out at Plymouth as Flagship of the North American Station.<ref>FitzGerald.  pp. 13-14.</ref>  Tryon's knowledge of mathematics was apparently deficient, for he had to receive tuition from a naval schoolmaster, as he recounted in a letter to his mother:
  
−
In April 1871 Tryon was appointed private secretary to George Joachim Goschen, then first lord of the Admiralty; and, though his want of time and service as a captain might easily have caused some jealousy or friction, his good-humoured tact and ready wit overcame all difficulties, and won for him the confidence of the navy as well as of Goschen. In January 1874 he was appointed to the large frigate Raleigh; he commanded her for more than three years in the flying squadron, in attendance on the prince of Wales during his tour in India, and in the Mediterranean. In June 1877 he was appointed one of a committee for the revision of the signal-book and the manual of fleet evolutions, and in October 1878 took command of the Monarch, in the Mediterranean, one of the fleet with Sir Geoffrey Hornby in the Sea of Marmora, and in the autumn of 1880 with Sir Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour (afterwards Lord Alcester) in the international demonstration against the Turks in the Adriatic. During the summer and autumn of 1881 Tryon was specially employed as senior officer on the coast of Tunis, and by his ‘sound judgment and discretion’ gained the approval of the foreign secretary and the lords of the Admiralty. In January 1882 the Monarch was paid off at Malta, and shortly after his return to Britain Tryon was appointed secretary of the Admiralty, an office he held until April 1884, and in the autumn of 1882 he was largely responsible for the establishment of what became the naval intelligence division.
+
<blockquote>Only fancy, I have to pay my own schoolmaster £5. per annum.  But if no one else does, I shall get my shilling's worth out of him, as he will have to teach me almost from the beginning&mdash;instead of which most cadets know.<ref name=PF12>FitzGerald. p. 15.</ref></blockquote>
  
−
On 1 April 1884 Tryon was promoted rear-admiral, and in December he left Britain to take the command-in-chief of the Australian station, where, during the Russian war ‘scare’ of 1885 and afterwards, he formulated the scheme of colonial defence which was subsequently implemented. In June 1887 he returned to Britain; on the 21st he was nominated a KCB (a jubilee promotion). That September he stood as a Conservative candidate for the constituency of Spalding, without success. After a few months' holiday, including a season's shooting, he was appointed in April 1888 superintendent of reserves, which carried with it also the duty of commanding one of the opposing fleets in the summer manoeuvres. This Tryon performed for three years, bringing into the contest a degree of vigour which, especially in 1889, went far to solve some of the strategic questions then discussed in naval circles. He also at this time wrote an article on ‘National insurance’ (United Service Magazine, May 1890), in which he put forward a scheme for the protection of commerce, and especially of the supply of food in time of war. This scheme was not favourably received by shipowners and merchants, and, indeed, Tryon's principal object was probably rather to lift the discussion out of the academic or abstract groove into which it had fallen, and to force people to consider the question as one of the gravest practical importance. The subsequent introduction of such a scheme in time for the First World War indicated his concept.
+
After a year and a half in ''Wellesley'', he headed the list of eight men who took an examination in algebra, trigonometry, navigation and nautical astronomy, taking 814 marks. The lowest number was 47.<ref>FitzGerald. pp. 12-13.</ref>  On 25 March, 1848 ''Wellesley'' departed for Bermuda, arriving there on 3 May by way of Fayal. Tryon suffered from sea-sickness, and wrote to his mother, "the best thing you can do when you are sea-sick is to eat plenty and walk about."<ref>FitzGerald.  p. 13.</ref>  He was a supernumerary {{MidRN}} in ''Wellesley'', and there was a possibility that he might have been transferred to the hulk ''Imaum'', then lying at Port Royal.<ref>FitzGerald.  p. 14.</ref>  He took action to avoid this, as he explained to his mother in a letter of 30 May, 1848:
  
−
On 15 August 1889 Tryon became a vice-admiral, and in August 1891 he was appointed to command the Mediterranean Fleet, where, as often as circumstances permitted, he collected his force to practise the naval drill in shiphandling and squadron cohesion, commonly termed evolutions, on a grand scale. There was subsequently much discussion about his methods, and especially about one—manoeuvring without signals—which was widely denounced as most dangerous, and, in fact, suicidal. But Tryon conceived it to be the best and most fitting training for the manoeuvres of battle. It was repeatedly practised by the fleet without any untoward incident, and it had nothing to do with the dreadful accident which closed Tryon's career. The manoeuvre which resulted in that calamity was ordered deliberately, by signal.
+
<blockquote>I am sure of remaining in the ''Wellesley''.  I asked  Lieutenant Cochrane to speak to the Admiral [Lord Dundonald, Cochrane's father] about it, which he did; but there was some difficulty, as I knew there would be, owing to there being no vacancy in this ship, but it has been overcome, and I&mdash;still having the ''Imaum'' for my ship&mdash;am permanently lent to the ''Wellesley''. Lieutenant Cochrane was very good-natured about it.<ref>Quoted in FitzGerald.  p. 15.</ref></blockquote>
  
−
==Death==
+
The ''Wellesley'' spent three years as Flagship on the North America Station and visited most places of interest within the West Indian and Canadian areas.<ref>FitzGerald. p. 23.</ref>  In 1850  Tryon visited the United States with a party of shipmates, travelling to Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Niagara and Washington, D.C. and other places.<ref>FitzGerald.  p. 20.</ref>  While in Washington, he and his associates visited the United States House of Representatives and were invited onto the floor of the House, meeting a number of Congressmen. The visit coincided with the controversy surrounding the admission of California into the Union, as a "free" state and not a "slave" state. On slavery Tryon commented, "It is a very difficult question to settle, as especially as the Southern States say they will separate themselves from the Union if slavery is abolished, and there is little doubt that they will."<ref>Quoted in FitzGerald.  p. 21.</ref>  He also noted, "One thing remarkable is that there are no beggars; we have not seen one, and only heard two organs. There are no lean horses, and no starving dogs, and the Irishmen seem well contented."<ref>Quoted in FitzGerald.  p. 22.</ref>
−
On the morning of 22 June 1893 the fleet weighed from Beirut, and a little after 2 p.m. was off Tripoli, where it was intended to anchor. Battleships then had pointed ram bows, designed to slice open and sink an opponent's hull. The ships were formed in two columns 1200 yards apart; and about half-past three the signal was made to invert the course in succession, turning inwards, the leading ships first. The two leading ships were the battleship Victoria, Tryon's flagship, and the battleship Camperdown, with his second in command, Rear-Admiral Albert Hastings Markham. It was clear to everyone, except Tryon, that the distance between the columns was too small to permit the ships to turn together in the manner prescribed, and by some, at least, of the captains, it was supposed that Tryon's intention was for the Victoria and the ships astern of her to turn on a large circle, so as to pass outside the Camperdown and the ships of the 2nd division. That this was not so was only realized when it was seen that the two ships, turning at the same time, both inwards, must necessarily come in collision. They did so. It was a question of but two or three seconds as to which should give, which should receive the blow. The Victoria happened to be by this time ahead of the Camperdown; she received the blow from the ram bow on her starboard bow, which was cut open. She rapidly flooded, as her watertight doors had not been secured, and then turned over and plunged head first to the bottom. The boats of the other ships were immediately sent to render assistance but the loss of life was very great. Tryon went down with the ship, and was never seen again. The most probable explanation of the disaster seems to be a simple miscalculation by Tryon, a momentary forgetfulness that two ships turning inwards needed twice the space that one did. As the two ships were approaching each other and the collision was seen to be inevitable, Tryon was heard to say ‘It is entirely my fault’. His wife survived him.
+
  
−
Tryon's powerful political connections quickly compensated for his late entry into the service, although his merit was always obvious. Tryon was a man of immense stature. Physically imposing, unusually tall and very stout, he was equally impressive in debate, his intellect being quick and incisive. Throughout his career he had taken on the most difficult tasks, and excelled in them. Had he avoided the disastrous error that ended his life, he would surely have taken up the post of first sea lord and contributed much more to the revitalization of the Royal Navy, ensuring that it adopted a modern tactical system.
+
At the end of the ''Wellesley's'' commission in June, 1851, Tryon was appointed to the ''Vengeance'', fitting out for service in the Mediterranean.<ref>FitzGerald.  p. 25.</ref>  The commander was William R. Mends, later an admiral. He later wrote:
  
−
'''Wealth at death;''' £34,794 17''s''. 2''d''.: Probate; 14 Sept 1893.
+
<blockquote>He [Tryon] served with me, when I was commander of the Vengeance, for two years as a midshipman, and a better young officer never existed; ever full of energy and zeal.  As a boat midshipman and signal midshipman he was unrivalled.  On my becoming flag-captain to the late Admiral Lord Lyons, I applied, with his permission, for Tryon as one of the lieutenants of the Royal Albert, and as such he more than fulfilled the opinions I had formed of him in the former ranks.<ref>Quoted in FitzGerald. p. 27.</ref></blockquote>
  
−
[[Category:Personalities|Tryon]]
+
==Lieutenant==
−
[[Category:Commanders-in-Chief, Mediterranean|Tryon]]
+
After seven months promising service as a {{MateRN}} during which he was slightly wounded on shore in the Crimea, Tryon was promoted to the rank of {{LieutRN}} with seniority of 21 October, 1854.
−
[[Category:Royal Navy Admirals|Tryon]]
+
 
−
[[Category:Royal Navy Flag Officers|Tryon]]
+
==Commander==
 +
Tryon was promoted to the rank of {{CommRN}} with seniority of 25 October, 1860.  In mid 1861, he was appointed to the {{UK-1Warrior|f=t}} as executive officer.  He spent three years in this role before being appointed in command of the {{UK-2Surprise|f=t}}, vice Whyte, on 5 August, 1864.{{NMI|Monday, August 8, 1864, Issue 24945, p.9}}  In May of 1865, ''Surprise'' was ordered to Gibraltar to replace the ''Racoon''.{{NMI|Friday, May 12, 1865, Issue 25183, p.12}}
 +
 
 +
==Captain==
 +
On 4 April, 1866 ''Surprise'' sailed from the Mediterranean for Plymouth, where she arrived on the 12th.  Tryon then discovered that he had been promoted to the rank of {{CaptRN}} on the 11th, at the comparatively early age of thirty-four, after only five and a half years in the rank of Commander.{{Gaz|23101|2393|13 April, 1866}}<ref>FitzGerald.  p. 97-98.</ref> having paid off ''Surprise'', which had been in commission for five years, Tryon then went on half pay.  He went to the [[Royal Naval College, Portsmouth]] to study steam engineering, was certified in it and the following year travelled to Norway for a fishing holiday, from where he was recalled for service as "additional captain" borne on the books of the {{UK-1Octavia}}, Flagship of the East Indies Station.  He was detailed to act as transport officer at Annesley Bay for duty with Sir Robert Napier's expedition to Magdala to secure the release of Britons taken hostage by Theodore, King of Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia).<ref>FitzGerald.  pp. 99-100.</ref>
 +
 
 +
In June, 1877, Tryon was relieved in command of the {{UK-1Raleigh|f=t}} by Captain [[Charles Trelawny Jago|Jago]], after three and a half years' service.  The officers of the ship gave Tryon a farewell dinner the night before his departure, at Athens.  "A big affair on the upper deck, under awnings, &c.  All very nice in tone and feeling," he recalled in a letter to his wife.<ref>FitzGerald.  pp. 151-152.</ref>  He felt unable to personally address his men upon leaving, and wrote a note which was posted on the mess deck:
 +
 
 +
<blockquote>I wish to write what it would have been difficult for me to say: it is 'good-bye' to a ship's company with whom I have been associated for three and a half years, and to wish all and every individual long life and happiness; and that in years to come, when they look back and recall the time we served together in the ''Raleigh'', it may be with as kindly a reminiscence of their captain as I shall through my life retain for them.<br><br>"G. Tryon"<ref>FitzGerald.  p. 152.</ref></blockquote>
 +
 
 +
He took a Greek steamer to Corfu, in the company of his friend Captain (later Admiral Sir) [[Frederick William Richards|Frederick Richards]] (latterly in command of {{UK-Devastation}}), and then an Italian steamer to Venice.  On the overland journey between Venice and Paris Richards fell ill.  Despite having been away from his family for so long, Tryon elected to remain in Paris while Richards recovered.<ref>FitzGerald.  p. 130.</ref>
 +
 
 +
==Flag Rank==
 +
Tryon was promoted to the rank of {{RearRN}} on 1 April, 1884, vice [[Charles Ludovic Darley Waddilove|Waddilove]].{{Gaz|25338|1562|4 April, 1884}}  He left Britain in a P. & O. steamship on 4 December to become Commander-in-Chief on the Australian Station, hoisting his flag in the ''Nelson'' at Sydney on 22 January, 1885, in succession to {{Com2RN}} [[James Elphinstone Erskine|James Erskine]].<ref>FitzGerald.  ''Life of Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon''.  p. 165.</ref>
 +
 
 +
In September, 1885, Captain (later Admiral) [[Francis Starkie Clayton|Francis S. Clayton]] wrote of Tryon:
 +
 
 +
<blockquote>I hardly know whether I like the admiral or not, he is an odd fellow, very brusque in his manner but I think good at heart.  He is the most tiresome man to talk to on service matters.  You go up to his office, he is always smoking a very big cigar which fills his mouth well up.  He talks first of one matter, then of another, so that it is all but impossible to follow him, everything so jumbled up and then when you ask some question to clear matters up a little, he said 'I have just told you that'.  Fortunately he puts things into writing.<ref>Clayton letter to his wife (September, 1885).  Quoted in Gordon.  p. 194.</ref></blockquote>
 +
 
 +
On the occasion of Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, Tryon was appointed an Additional Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, in the Military Division of the Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) on 21 June, 1887.{{Gaz|25712|3362|21 June, 1887}}  In July, having returned from Australia, he was invited to contest the Spalding Division of Lincolnshire.
 +
 
 +
He was promoted to the rank of {{ViceRN}} on 13 August, 1889, vice [[William Samuel Greive|Greive]].{{Gaz|25965|4460|16 August, 1889}}
 +
 
 +
==Post-Mortem==
 +
Prince Louis of Battenberg, then a Commander, wrote to Queen Victoria:
 +
 
 +
<blockquote>He was extremely masterful, marvellously quick of perception, and proportionately impatient with others less quick and above all that he would never put up with any contradiction.  On all executive matters he was an absolute autocrat, taking no man's advice, feeling himself head and shoulders above his subordinates in all matters … We all had blind confidence in him … He may have argued: "It is risky but we can just do it."<ref>Prince Louis to Queen Victoria.  R.A., E56/111.  Quoted in Hough.  ''Louis and Victoria''.  p. 170.</ref></blockquote>
 +
 
 +
Sir James Thursfield later claimed that, upon the loss of the {{UK-Serpent|f=t}} in 1890, Tryon had opined, "An error of judgement I fear; but we are all liable to it, and those poor fellows have paid for it with their lives."<ref>''The Naval Annual, 1894''.  p. 177.</ref>
 +
 
 +
==Bibliography==
 +
{{refbegin}}
 +
*{{AllenBritishNavalTactics}}
 +
*[[Charles Cooper Penrose FitzGerald|FitzGerald, Rear-Admiral C. C. Penrose]] (1897).  ''Life of Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, K.C.B.''.  London: William Blackwood and Sons.
 +
*{{GordonRules2005}}
 +
*[[Richard Hough (Naval Historian)|Hough, Richard]] (1959).  ''Admirals in Collision''.  New York: The Viking Press.
 +
{{refend}}
 +
 
 +
==Service Records==
 +
{{refbegin}}
 +
*{{TNA|ADM 196/37.|D7578733}}
 +
*{{TNA|ADM 196/13.|D7587031}}
 +
{{refend}}
 +
 
 +
<div name=fredbot:appts>{{TabApptsBegin}}
 +
{{TabNaval}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''[[Chandos Scudamore Scudamore Stanhope|Chandos S. S. Stanhope]]'''|'''[[Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty|Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty]]'''<br>24 Apr, 1871<ref>Tryon Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/37/1308.}}</ref> &ndash; 8 Oct, 1873<ref>Tryon Service Record. {{TNA|ADM 196/13/401.}}</ref>|Succeeded by<br>'''[[Michael Culme-Seymour, Third Baronet|Michael Culme-Seymour]]'''}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''[[Robert Hall|Robert Hall]]'''|'''[[Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty|Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty]]'''<br>13 Jun, 1882<ref>''A List of the Lords High Admiral and Commissioners for executing that Office, which have been from time to time appointed, since the year 1660''.  p. 41.  Tudor Papers.  Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives.  King's College London.  Tudor 1.</ref> &ndash; 31 Mar, 1884<ref>Tryon Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/13.}}  f. 394.</ref>|Succeeded by<br>'''[[Evan MacGregor|Sir Evan MacGregor]]'''}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''[[James Elphinstone Erskine|James E. Erskine]]'''|'''[[Australian Station|Commander-in-Chief, Australian Station]]'''<br>12 Nov, 1884{{ClowesVII|p. 89}}<ref>Tryon Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/13.}}  f. 394.</ref> &ndash; 4 Jun, 1887<ref>Tryon Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/13.}}  f. 394.</ref>|Succeeded by<br>'''[[Henry Fairfax|Henry Fairfax]]'''}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''[[John Kennedy Erskine Baird|John K. E. Baird]]'''|'''[[Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves|Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves]]'''<br>17 Apr, 1888<ref>Tryon Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/37.}}  f. 1322.</ref> &ndash; 21 Apr, 1891<ref>Tryon Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/13.}}  f. 394.</ref>|Succeeded by<br>'''[[Robert O'Brien FitzRoy|Robert O'B. FitzRoy]]'''}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''[[Anthony Hiley Hoskins|Sir Anthony H. Hoskins]]'''|'''[[Mediterranean Station|Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Station]]'''<br>20 Aug, 1891{{ClowesVII|p. 87}}<ref>Tryon Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/37.}}  f. 1322.</ref> &ndash; 22 Jun, 1893|Succeeded by<br>'''[[Michael Culme-Seymour, Third Baronet|Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, Bart.]]'''}}
 +
{{TabEnd}}
 +
</div name=fredbot:appts>
 +
 
 +
==Footnotes==
 +
{{reflist}}
 +
 
 +
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tryon, George}}
 +
 
 +
{{CatPerson|UK|1832|1893}}
 +
{{CatVice|UK}}
 +
{{CatKilledOnActiveService|UK}}
 +
{{CatBritannia|Pre}}
 +
{{CatRN}}

Latest revision as of 12:38, 7 April 2022

Vice-Admiral SIR George Tryon, K.C.B., Royal Navy (4 January, 1832 – 22 June, 1893) was an officer of the Royal Navy in the Nelsonian vein, who advocated that the service adopt a more flexible command philosophy which would de-emphasise central command in favour of independent command initiative harmonised by a strong doctrine reinforced by frequent drill.

Tryon lost his life in the infamous loss of H.M.S. Victoria in 1893, an accident he precipitated while using the stringent command patterns he disdained.

Early Life & Career

George Tryon was born at Bulwick Park, Northamptonshire, on 4 January, 1832. He was the third of four sons born to Thomas Tryon and Anne, daughter of Sir John Trollope, Bart. His two elder brothers, Thomas and Henry, both served in the army; Thomas fighting at Alma, Inkerman and in the Indian Mutiny before retiring as a Lieutenant-Colonel; Henry fighting at Alma, Inkerman and Balaklava before being killed in action on 20 November, 1854. Tryon was a bright child, and after prepatory school was sent to Eton College. It is family tradition that at the age of sixteen Tryon informed his father of his desire to join the navy.[1] His father obtained Tryon a nomination and he passed the examination, and in the Spring of 1848 he went to sea in H.M.S Wellesley, a two-decker then fitting out at Plymouth as Flagship of the North American Station.[2] Tryon's knowledge of mathematics was apparently deficient, for he had to receive tuition from a naval schoolmaster, as he recounted in a letter to his mother:

Only fancy, I have to pay my own schoolmaster £5. per annum. But if no one else does, I shall get my shilling's worth out of him, as he will have to teach me almost from the beginning—instead of which most cadets know.[3]

After a year and a half in Wellesley, he headed the list of eight men who took an examination in algebra, trigonometry, navigation and nautical astronomy, taking 814 marks. The lowest number was 47.[4] On 25 March, 1848 Wellesley departed for Bermuda, arriving there on 3 May by way of Fayal. Tryon suffered from sea-sickness, and wrote to his mother, "the best thing you can do when you are sea-sick is to eat plenty and walk about."[5] He was a supernumerary Midshipman in Wellesley, and there was a possibility that he might have been transferred to the hulk Imaum, then lying at Port Royal.[6] He took action to avoid this, as he explained to his mother in a letter of 30 May, 1848:

I am sure of remaining in the Wellesley. I asked Lieutenant Cochrane to speak to the Admiral [Lord Dundonald, Cochrane's father] about it, which he did; but there was some difficulty, as I knew there would be, owing to there being no vacancy in this ship, but it has been overcome, and I—still having the Imaum for my ship—am permanently lent to the Wellesley. Lieutenant Cochrane was very good-natured about it.[7]

The Wellesley spent three years as Flagship on the North America Station and visited most places of interest within the West Indian and Canadian areas.[8] In 1850 Tryon visited the United States with a party of shipmates, travelling to Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Niagara and Washington, D.C. and other places.[9] While in Washington, he and his associates visited the United States House of Representatives and were invited onto the floor of the House, meeting a number of Congressmen. The visit coincided with the controversy surrounding the admission of California into the Union, as a "free" state and not a "slave" state. On slavery Tryon commented, "It is a very difficult question to settle, as especially as the Southern States say they will separate themselves from the Union if slavery is abolished, and there is little doubt that they will."[10] He also noted, "One thing remarkable is that there are no beggars; we have not seen one, and only heard two organs. There are no lean horses, and no starving dogs, and the Irishmen seem well contented."[11]

At the end of the Wellesley's commission in June, 1851, Tryon was appointed to the Vengeance, fitting out for service in the Mediterranean.[12] The commander was William R. Mends, later an admiral. He later wrote:

He [Tryon] served with me, when I was commander of the Vengeance, for two years as a midshipman, and a better young officer never existed; ever full of energy and zeal. As a boat midshipman and signal midshipman he was unrivalled. On my becoming flag-captain to the late Admiral Lord Lyons, I applied, with his permission, for Tryon as one of the lieutenants of the Royal Albert, and as such he more than fulfilled the opinions I had formed of him in the former ranks.[13]

Lieutenant

After seven months promising service as a Mate during which he was slightly wounded on shore in the Crimea, Tryon was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant with seniority of 21 October, 1854.

Commander

Tryon was promoted to the rank of Commander with seniority of 25 October, 1860. In mid 1861, he was appointed to the armoured frigate Warrior as executive officer. He spent three years in this role before being appointed in command of the gun vessel Surprise, vice Whyte, on 5 August, 1864.[14] In May of 1865, Surprise was ordered to Gibraltar to replace the Racoon.[15]

Captain

On 4 April, 1866 Surprise sailed from the Mediterranean for Plymouth, where she arrived on the 12th. Tryon then discovered that he had been promoted to the rank of Captain on the 11th, at the comparatively early age of thirty-four, after only five and a half years in the rank of Commander.[16][17] having paid off Surprise, which had been in commission for five years, Tryon then went on half pay. He went to the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth to study steam engineering, was certified in it and the following year travelled to Norway for a fishing holiday, from where he was recalled for service as "additional captain" borne on the books of the Octavia, Flagship of the East Indies Station. He was detailed to act as transport officer at Annesley Bay for duty with Sir Robert Napier's expedition to Magdala to secure the release of Britons taken hostage by Theodore, King of Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia).[18]

In June, 1877, Tryon was relieved in command of the screw frigate Raleigh by Captain Jago, after three and a half years' service. The officers of the ship gave Tryon a farewell dinner the night before his departure, at Athens. "A big affair on the upper deck, under awnings, &c. All very nice in tone and feeling," he recalled in a letter to his wife.[19] He felt unable to personally address his men upon leaving, and wrote a note which was posted on the mess deck:

I wish to write what it would have been difficult for me to say: it is 'good-bye' to a ship's company with whom I have been associated for three and a half years, and to wish all and every individual long life and happiness; and that in years to come, when they look back and recall the time we served together in the Raleigh, it may be with as kindly a reminiscence of their captain as I shall through my life retain for them.

"G. Tryon"[20]

He took a Greek steamer to Corfu, in the company of his friend Captain (later Admiral Sir) Frederick Richards (latterly in command of Devastation), and then an Italian steamer to Venice. On the overland journey between Venice and Paris Richards fell ill. Despite having been away from his family for so long, Tryon elected to remain in Paris while Richards recovered.[21]

Flag Rank

Tryon was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 1 April, 1884, vice Waddilove.[22] He left Britain in a P. & O. steamship on 4 December to become Commander-in-Chief on the Australian Station, hoisting his flag in the Nelson at Sydney on 22 January, 1885, in succession to Commodore, Second Class James Erskine.[23]

In September, 1885, Captain (later Admiral) Francis S. Clayton wrote of Tryon:

I hardly know whether I like the admiral or not, he is an odd fellow, very brusque in his manner but I think good at heart. He is the most tiresome man to talk to on service matters. You go up to his office, he is always smoking a very big cigar which fills his mouth well up. He talks first of one matter, then of another, so that it is all but impossible to follow him, everything so jumbled up and then when you ask some question to clear matters up a little, he said 'I have just told you that'. Fortunately he puts things into writing.[24]

On the occasion of Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, Tryon was appointed an Additional Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, in the Military Division of the Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) on 21 June, 1887.[25] In July, having returned from Australia, he was invited to contest the Spalding Division of Lincolnshire.

He was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral on 13 August, 1889, vice Greive.[26]

Post-Mortem

Prince Louis of Battenberg, then a Commander, wrote to Queen Victoria:

He was extremely masterful, marvellously quick of perception, and proportionately impatient with others less quick and above all that he would never put up with any contradiction. On all executive matters he was an absolute autocrat, taking no man's advice, feeling himself head and shoulders above his subordinates in all matters … We all had blind confidence in him … He may have argued: "It is risky but we can just do it."[27]

Sir James Thursfield later claimed that, upon the loss of the torpedo cruiser Serpent in 1890, Tryon had opined, "An error of judgement I fear; but we are all liable to it, and those poor fellows have paid for it with their lives."[28]

Bibliography

  • Allen, Matthew (July 2008). "The Deployment of Untried Technology: British Naval Tactics in the Ironclad Era". War in History 15 (3): pp. 269–293.
  • FitzGerald, Rear-Admiral C. C. Penrose (1897). Life of Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, K.C.B.. London: William Blackwood and Sons.
  • Gordon, Andrew (2005). The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command. London: John Murray (Publishers). ISBN 0719561310. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
  • Hough, Richard (1959). Admirals in Collision. New York: The Viking Press.

Service Records

Footnotes

  1. ↑ FitzGerald. pp. 11-13.
  2. ↑ FitzGerald. pp. 13-14.
  3. ↑ FitzGerald. p. 15.
  4. ↑ FitzGerald. pp. 12-13.
  5. ↑ FitzGerald. p. 13.
  6. ↑ FitzGerald. p. 14.
  7. ↑ Quoted in FitzGerald. p. 15.
  8. ↑ FitzGerald. p. 23.
  9. ↑ FitzGerald. p. 20.
  10. ↑ Quoted in FitzGerald. p. 21.
  11. ↑ Quoted in FitzGerald. p. 22.
  12. ↑ FitzGerald. p. 25.
  13. ↑ Quoted in FitzGerald. p. 27.
  14. ↑ "Naval & Military Intelligence." The Times (London, England), Monday, August 8, 1864, Issue 24945, p.9.
  15. ↑ "Naval & Military Intelligence." The Times (London, England), Friday, May 12, 1865, Issue 25183, p.12.
  16. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 23101. p. 2393. 13 April, 1866.
  17. ↑ FitzGerald. p. 97-98.
  18. ↑ FitzGerald. pp. 99-100.
  19. ↑ FitzGerald. pp. 151-152.
  20. ↑ FitzGerald. p. 152.
  21. ↑ FitzGerald. p. 130.
  22. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 25338. p. 1562. 4 April, 1884.
  23. ↑ FitzGerald. Life of Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. p. 165.
  24. ↑ Clayton letter to his wife (September, 1885). Quoted in Gordon. p. 194.
  25. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 25712. p. 3362. 21 June, 1887.
  26. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 25965. p. 4460. 16 August, 1889.
  27. ↑ Prince Louis to Queen Victoria. R.A., E56/111. Quoted in Hough. Louis and Victoria. p. 170.
  28. ↑ The Naval Annual, 1894. p. 177.
  29. ↑ Tryon Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/37/1308.
  30. ↑ Tryon Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/13/401.
  31. ↑ A List of the Lords High Admiral and Commissioners for executing that Office, which have been from time to time appointed, since the year 1660. p. 41. Tudor Papers. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. King's College London. Tudor 1.
  32. ↑ Tryon Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/13. f. 394.
  33. ↑ Clowes. The Royal Navy. Vol. VII. p. 89.
  34. ↑ Tryon Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/13. f. 394.
  35. ↑ Tryon Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/13. f. 394.
  36. ↑ Tryon Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/37. f. 1322.
  37. ↑ Tryon Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/13. f. 394.
  38. ↑ Clowes. The Royal Navy. Vol. VII. p. 87.
  39. ↑ Tryon Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/37. f. 1322.

Retrieved from "http://ftp.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php?title=George_Tryon&oldid=328614"