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Abstract
In October 1911 Winston Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty with a mandate to improve the Royal Navy’s readiness for war. He immediately began a correspondence with ‘Jacky’ Fisher, First Sea Lord from 1904 to 1910, and during the last three months of 1911 the two men exchanged ideas on a wide range of subjects, including senior appointments in the navy. This article examines the background to Churchill’s appointment and his approaches to Fisher. It surveys the recommendations which Fisher made with regard to the positions in the fleet and the Admiralty which Churchill had to fill, providing an insight into Fisher’s opinions and the state of the upper ranks of the navy’s officer corps.
Notes
1 For example see Mackay, Fisher of Kilverstone, 432–5, and Lambert, Fisher’s Naval Revolution, 244–7. The author wishes to thank the anonymous referees and the Hon. Editor for their helpful comments and suggestions, and also Tone Lovell for a decade of unstinting support and encouragement.
2 The majority of the surviving correspondence of both Fisher and Churchill is held in the Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge (hereafter CAC). Marder edited a selection of Fisher’s correspondence in Fear God and Dread Nought, published in three volumes between 1952 and 1959. He did not explicitly explain his methodology, but it is clear from an examination of the originals.
3 An overview of the Agadir Crisis can be found in Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, I, 239–51.
4 He had previously been considered for the Admiralty in 1908, and had asked to be considered for either it or the Home Office in 1910. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, II, 233–4, 351–2.
5 Churchill, The World Crisis, 66.
6 Haldane, Autobiography, 229–32.
7 Churchill was back in London by 10 Oct.; The Times, 11 Oct. 1911.
8 Churchill, The World Crisis, 75.
9 Beresford to Churchill, letter of 4 Oct. 1911, The National Archives (hereafter TNA), CAB 1/31, fos 81–2. The signature has been cut out but the letterhead and handwriting make the identity of the author clear. For Beresford’s opposition see Bennett, Charlie B, 320.
10 Harris, Spender, 84.
11 Bennett, Charlie B, 321–3.
12 Wrigley, Winston Churchill, 178.
13 Churchill, The World Crisis, 71.
14 Maurer, ‘Ever-present Danger’, 21.
15 Churchill, The World Crisis, 75; Lambert, Fisher’s Naval Revolution, 245.
16 Churchill to Fisher, telegram of 12 Oct. 1911, Fisher Papers, CAC, FISR 1/10/64.
17 See, for example, Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, II, 531–2; Mackay, Fisher of Kilverstone, 432; Lambert, Fisher’s Naval Revolution, 245.
18 ‘Board Minutes. Tuesday 24th October 1911’, TNA, ADM 167/45. Not 25 Oct. as given by Churchill himself in The World Crisis, 70.
19 Churchill to Fisher, letter of 25 Oct. 1911, Fisher Papers, CAC, FISR 1/10/67, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt 2, 1298.
20 Fisher to McKenna, letter of 8 Nov. 1911, copy in Fisher Papers, CAC, FISR 1/10/76.
21 Fisher to Jellicoe, letter of 30 Nov. 1911, Jellicoe Papers, British Library (hereafter BL), Add. MS 49006, fo. 16. The figure ‘8’ was double underlined in the original. Fisher was referring to the battle over the eight Dreadnoughts.
22 Churchill, The World Crisis, 69–70.
23 Fisher, Records, 128.
24 See copy of the distribution of business in docket ‘Revised Table of Distribution of Admiralty Board Business’, dated 17 May 1910, in TNA, ADM 116/3392.
25 For pre-1914 war planning see Grimes, War Planning.
26 For the promised development of a staff, see ‘Report and Proceedings of a Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence appointed to Inquire into Certain Questions of Naval Policy Raised by Admiral Lord Charles Beresford. 1909’, 246, Q. 2192–3, TNA, CAB 16/9A. For the evolution of the Navy War Council see, inter alia, docket entitled ‘Naval War Staff’, TNA, ADM 1/8047; TNA, CAB 1/31, fos 31–40, 74–7; TNA, T 1/11139, docket 15848 dated 26 Jul. 1909. For the postponement of the staff corps see ‘Board Meeting. 16th December 1909’, TNA, ADM 167/43, fo. 31.
27 Spender Papers, BL, Add. MS 46390, fos 112–18, reproduced in Marder, Fear God and Dread Nought, II, 397–9. A summary of the salient details from this letter is in Churchill’s papers, ‘Ld Fisher’s proposals in letter to J. A. Spender of Oct. 25, 1911 written at Lucerne’, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/1/35, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt 2, 1316– 17.
28 Fisher to Spender, letter of 25 Oct. 1911, Spender Papers, BL, Add. MS 46390, fo. 111, reproduced in Harris, Spender, 130.
29 It is interesting to note that Battenberg could not normally have entered the navy, being over age, and had been found medically unfit, ‘on account of small, flat chest, slight lateral curvature of spine and defective vision’. It had been deemed impolitic to disappoint his sponsor, Queen Victoria, docket dated 17 Dec. 1868 entitled ‘Prince Louis of Battenberg. Entry & Appt “Ariadne”’, TNA, ADM 1/6062.
30 Fisher to McKenna, letter of 12 Jan. 1911, copy in Fisher Papers, CAC, FISR 1/10/507.
31 Entry for 3 Jan. 1907, ‘G A Ballard. Record of business letters &c.’, Ballard Papers, National Maritime Museum (hereafter NMM), MSS/80/200, box 1.
32 In a notable speech to the annual banquet of the Royal Society in 1903 Fisher, then Second Naval Lord (Second Sea Lord from 1904), had concluded by saying, ‘We now have a Board of Admiralty that is united, progressive and determined, and you may sleep quietly in your beds.’ The Times, 4 May 1903.
33 Fisher to Spender, letter of 25 Oct. 1911, Spender Papers, BL, Add MS 46390, fo. 119, reproduced in Marder, Fear God and Dread Nought, II, 400. ‘All’ is underlined four times in the original.
34 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 26 Oct. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/2/2–5, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt. 2, 1298–1300.
35 ‘On the Increasing Necessity for a General Staff for the Navy to Meet War Requirements’. Fisher Papers, CAC, FISR 1/3/25–33.
36 Marder, Fear God and Dread Nought, II, 401.
37 Churchill, The World Crisis, 77.
38 Fisher to Spender, letter of 31 Oct. 1911, Spender Papers, BL, Add. MS 46390, fo. 120, reproduced in Harris, Spender, 133. Fisher ended with the curious request, ‘Please post enclosed to McKenna as Winston says I am watched & that my letters are opened by the French government. This is very private. D—N THEIR EYES if they open this!’
39 Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/2/86–8.
40 See, for example, Hankey’s account of the infamous CID meeting of 23 Aug. 1911. Hankey to Fisher, letter of 24 Aug. 1911, Fisher Papers, CAC, FISR 1/10/59–60.
41 Custance to Tweedmouth, letter of 29 Oct. 1907, Tweedmouth Papers, National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, MSS 254/638. Tweedmouth was Churchill’s uncle.
42 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 2 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/2/6–9, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt. 2, 1318–20.
43 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 4 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/2/13–15. Randolph Churchill wrongly dated this letter to 9 Nov. Reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt. 2, 1325–6.
44 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 4 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/2/10–12, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt 2, 1320–1.
45 As opposed to Director of Naval Ordnance and Torpedoes, better known as DNO. For a discussion of the new office as part of a suggested staff see Ottley memorandum of 8 Nov. 1911, TNA, CAB 1/31, fo. 142–58.
46 Leveson would eventually serve as Director of Operations Division from 1914 to 1915.
47 Churchill to Asquith, draft letter of 5 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/1/1, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt. 2, 1321–3.
48 Churchill to Asquith, draft letter of 5 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/1/1.
49 Ottley to Churchill, letter of 13 Nov. 1911, TNA, CAB 1/31, fo 193. Ottley left the CID in 1912 to become a director of armaments firm Armstrong’s, being succeeded as secretary by Hankey. In July 1912 he lobbied for, or was again offered, the position of chief of staff, but Asquith told Churchill that Ottley’s terms were ‘quite exorbitant’, and there the matter ended. See Ottley to Churchill, letter of 27 Jul. 1912, CHAR 13/9/110, and Asquith to Churchill, letter of 17 Aug. 1912, CHAR 13/10/22.
50 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 10 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/2/21–5, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt 2, 1327–9.
51 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 11 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/2/29–32, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt 2, 1330–2.
52 Churchill to Asquith, draft letter of 16 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/1/8–9, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt 2, 1335–6.
53 Marder, Fear God and Dread Nought, II, 401. Lambert, Fisher’s Naval Revolution, 245. To call their meeting a ‘secret rendezvous’ as Lambert does is a touch melodramatic, as both were on the platform at the launch of the battleship Centurion at Devonport Dockyard on 18 Nov., The Times, 20 Nov. 1911. As Marder wrote, their meetings were secret insomuch as they ‘did not appear in the newspapers’.
54 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 20 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/2/50.
55 See, for example, undated draft minute. TNA, CAB 1/17, fos 303–5.
56 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 20 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/2/40, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt 2, 1338.
57 Telegrams of 21 Nov. 1911, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt 2, 1338–9.
58 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 22 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/2/41–4, reproduced in Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Companion, III, pt 2, 1341–2.
59 Everett would eventually become Private Secretary, or Naval Secretary as the position was renamed, in 1916.
60 The Times, 29 Nov. 1911.
61 See the diary of Egerton’s son-in-law, Captain Philip Dumas, for 1910–11, entry for 29 Nov. 1911, Dumas Papers, Liddle Collection, University of Leeds Special Collections (hereafter UoL), LIDDLE/WWI/RNMN/083.
62 ‘Board Minutes. Tuesday 5th December 1911’, TNA, ADM 167/45, fo. 24.
63 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 10 Dec. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/2/55–6.
64 Napier to McKenna, letter of 2 Jan. 1910, McKenna Papers, CAC, MCKN 3/22/8.
65 Adapted from typescript copy of telegrams, Fisher Papers, CAC, FISR 1/11/11. Also reproduced in Marder, Fear God and Dread Nought, II, 400n. Marder confused Trevylyan Napier with his elder brother Charles.
66 See Wemyss to the Prince of Wales (later King George V), letter of 7 May 1908, Wemyss Papers, CAC, WMYS 2/8.
67 Churchill to Asquith, letter of 13 Dec. 1911, TNA, CAB 1/31, fos 290–3.
68 See Churchill to Troubridge, memorandum of 10 Dec. 1911, Troubridge Papers, NMM, TRO/300/5/30.
69 Ballard had accepted the post of ‘Director of Naval Intelligence’ on 22 Nov. Ballard to Churchill, letter of 22 Nov. 1911, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/1/30.
70 ‘Naval Intelligence Department. Distribution of Work – April 1908’, TNA, ADM 231/50.
71 The Times, 8 Jan. 1912.
72 Captain Dumas had written in his diary of Beatty’s rumoured appointment that it would not ‘be popular or work well’. Two days later he recorded that the whole war course at Portsmouth was ‘furious’ at the prospect of Beatty relieving Troubridge, and observed, ‘I had really no idea the former was so unpopular.’ Dumas diary entries for 19 Dec. and 21 Dec. 1911, Dumas Papers, UoL, LIDDLE/WWI/RNMN/083/1.
73 For the date of Hankey’s appointment, see Hankey service record, TNA, ADM 196/62/322. For Meux’s and Egerton’s appointments see TNA, ADM 196/39/17 and 196/38/345, respectively. Churchill later told Egerton that his intention had always been for him to have Plymouth when vacant. See Egerton diary entry for 27 Mar. 1912, Liddle Papers, UoL, LIDDLE/WWI/ RNMN/086.
74 Marder, Fear God and Dread Nought, II, 418.
75 75 Ibid., 309n.
76 Lambert, Fisher’s Naval Revolution, 245.
77 Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, I, 418.
78 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 22 Apr. 1912, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/14/107, reproduced in Marder, Fear God and Dread Nought, II, 450.
79 Meux had been appointed Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth; Milne Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean; and Custance, who had only six months left on the active list, had been appointed chairman of a committee on the training of officers. Fisher observed that Churchill was breaking his promise to Egerton, and feared that Custance would destroy his personnel reforms of a decade earlier.
80 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 2 May, 1912, CHAR 13/14/108–13.
81 Churchill to Fisher, letter of 12 Apr. 1912, Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, I, 405–6. It has not been possible to find the original of this letter.
82 Fisher to Churchill, letter of 22 Apr. 1912, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 13/14/79–107, fo. 6.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Simon Harley
Simon Harley is a hygiene operative from Cumbria and co-edits The Dreadnought Project online resource in his spare time. His research focuses on the Royal Navy from 1854 to 1919 from the perspective of the British flag officers of the First World War. This is his first published article.