Gerard Henry Uctred Noel

Admiral Sir Gerard Noel, circa 1905.
Detail from Japanese postcard from collection of Christopher Buckey.

Admiral of the Fleet SIR Gerard Henry Uctred Noel, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., Royal Navy (5 March, 1845 – 23 May, 1918) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

Gerard Henry Uctred Noel was born on 5 March, 1845, the son of the Reverend Augustus William Noel and Lucy Tonge, daughter of Captain Norris William Tonge, Royal Navy.

Noel entered the Royal Navy on 4 December, 1858, appointed as a Naval Cadet to the training ship Illustrious at Portsmouth. On 1 January, 1859, he transferred to the Britannia.

Noel was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 21 April, 1866.

He was promoted to the rank of Commander on 31 March, 1874. On 27 July, 1874, he was appointed Commander of the frigate Immortalité. He was reappointed on 15 September, 1875, and from 26 January, 1877, he served in her with the rank of Acting Captain. From 22 May to 24 May he was appointed to Duke of Wellington to attend a Court-Martial, after which he was placed on Half Pay.

On 15 January, 1878, he was appointed to the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert.

Captain

Noel was promoted to the rank of Captain on 11 January, 1881.

Noel was appointed to the battleship Temeraire on 26 October, 1889. He was appointed to Nile in command on 30 June, 1891.

According to his Flag Captain, The Hon. Maurice Bourke, Tryon once pointed to Noel's ship and said, "Oh I wish they were all like that!"

Allegedly, when his Commander, Reginald C. Prothero, wished him a "Good morning, sir" when the ship was weighing anchor at three o'clock one morning, Noel replied, "Captain Prothero, this is no time for frivolous compliments."

Noel was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 8 May, 1896, vice Fisher.

Flag Rank

On 12 January, 1898, Noel was appointed Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet. He hoisted his flag on 4 February. His appointment as an Ordinary Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (K.C.M.G.) for his services in Crete was announced on 16 November, 1898, and gazetted on 25 November.

To his Commander-in-Chief, Vice-Admiral Sir John A. Fisher, Noel allegedly sent what is perhaps the most entertaining—and threatening—signal made in British Naval History:

If you had reason to find fault with my orders, you should have made an appropriate signal to me, not vented your views on Theseus. I am on my way to see you in my frock coat and sword.

Noel's differences with Sir John Fisher would prove persistent.

He struck his flag as Second-in-Command on 9 February, 1900, and remained abroad for three months. He was appointed Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves on 21 May, 1900, in succession to Vice-Admiral Sir Compton E. Domvile.

On 2 November, 1901, he was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral, vice Fisher.

Admiral Sir Sydney R. Fremantle, who had served under Noel as a Midshipman in the Rover, later recalled of him:

He was a fine seaman, and had, as a younger man, shown his cultivated and progressive mentality by publishing an essay which was much discussed, the subject being naval tactics under the title, "The Gun, Ram and Torpedo". He had, unfortunately, a violent temper, was a stern disciplinarian, and was very difficult to please.

Noel was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, in the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) on 26 June, 1902. From 1 October Noel was appointed in command of the Home Fleet, in addition to his appointment as Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves.

In mid 1904, upon taking command of the China Station, he wrote to First Lord of the Admiralty Selborne to complain in strong terms about the condition and modernity of his T.B.s and T.B.D.s, which prompted a review of his assets to be sent in reply. Although correspondence between the two seemed generally friendly, the First Lord here seemed annoyed at how Noel had couched his pleas, writing in summation, "I cannot think that the actual case is as bad as your words would seem to imply. The boats seem to me to have been carefully and continuously maintained and repaired, and the 30 knot destroyers certainly cannot by any standard of comparison be called old."

Friction with Selborne seemed to linger, and was indicated a considerable time later when Noel privately alluded to his discomfort with Sir John Fisher's naval reforms around this time which concentrated Britain's battleships in Home waters, bemoaning "the wicked change in Naval policy introduced by Fisher in 1904, under Selborne's weak rule."

Noel was promoted to the rank of Admiral on 24 May, 1905, vice Dale.

In a letter of 23 October, 1906, to the Prince of Wales (later King George V), Sir John Fisher was scathing (and quite ungracious) about Noel:

The politicians and diplomatists will not be hung if the British Navy fails to annihilate the German Fleet and to gobble up every single one of the 842 German merchant steamers now daily on the ocean! No. It will be the Sea Lords! and as one distinguished retrograde Admiral—Sir Gerard Noel, who wants to build more sailing men-of-war—told the King, I personally am to have the proud pre-eminence of Hamam amongst the Sea Lords. I have never been able to ascertain how high Hamam was hung, but it could not have been higher than Noel wishes me; and yet I particularly enjoy his receiving the high and important command of Commander-in-Chief at the Nore. if this is not charity, I do not know what is! I digress to make this remark to Your Royal Highness, as I am accused of relentless hate towards those who differ from me.

In a letter to Tweedmouth of 16 October, 1907, Fisher wrote, "I suppose Noel clearly appreciates that he is to give a cordial and ungrudging support to Admiralty Policy. He used such violent language to me that his acceptance of the Nore greatly surprised me. To have a mutineer in high command would soon lead to awkwardness!"

He was promoted to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet on 2 December, 1908, in the place of Sir James E. Erskine.

Noel was appointed an Ordinary Member of the First Class, or Knight Grand Cross, in the Military Division of the Order of the Bath (G.C.B.) on 1 January, 1913.

In accordance with the provisions of the Order in Council of 22 February, 1870, Noel was placed on the Retired List on 5 March, 1915.

Bibliography

• "Death of Sir Gerard Noel" (Obituaries). The Times. Friday, 24 May, 1918. Issue 41798, col B, p. 8.
• Fremantle, Admiral Sir Sydney Robert, G.C.B., M.V.O. (1949). My Naval Career: 1880—1928. London: Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.
• 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).

Papers

• Papers in the possession of the National Maritime Museum. For a detailed list see Noel Papers at the National Maritime Museum.

Service Records

• The National Archives. ADM 196/86. Volume 1. f. 33.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/37. Volume 1. f. 969. Volume 3. f. 956.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/15. Volume 3. ff. 458-459.

Naval Appointments
Preceded by Sir Compton E. Domvile	Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves 1900 – 1903	Succeeded by Ernest Rice As Admiral Commanding Coastguard and Reserves
Preceded by New Command	Vice-Admiral Commanding, Home Fleet 1902 – 1903	Succeeded by Sir Arthur K. Wilson

Naval Appointments
Preceded by Thomas Barnardiston	Captain of H.M.S. Rover 21 Sep, 1885 – 1 Nov, 1888	Succeeded by Reginald F. H. Henderson
Preceded by ?	Captain of H.M.S. Narcissus 18 Jul, 1889 – 13 Sep, 1889	Succeeded by Lewis A. Beaumont
Preceded by Edmund C. Drummond	Captain of H.M.S. Temeraire 26 Oct, 1889 – 19 Jun, 1891	Succeeded by Frederick W. Loane
Preceded by New Command	Captain of H.M.S. Nile 30 Jun, 1891 – 17 Oct, 1893	Succeeded by James L. Hammet
Preceded by Lord Walter Kerr	Junior Naval Lord 1 Nov, 1893 – 12 Jan, 1898	Succeeded by Arthur W. Moore
Preceded by Robert H. Harris	Second-in-Command, Mediterranean Station 12 Jan, 1898 – 9 Feb, 1900	Succeeded by The Rt. Hon. Lord Charles Beresford
Preceded by Sir Compton E. Domvile	Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves 21 May, 1900 – 11 Aug, 1900	Succeeded by ?
Preceded by Sir Cyprian A. G. Bridge	Commander-in-Chief, China Station 15 Jan, 1904 – 16 Mar, 1906	Succeeded by Sir Arthur W. Moore
Preceded by Sir Hugo L. Pearson	Commander-in-Chief at the Nore 1 Jan, 1907	Succeeded by Charles C. Drury