John Henry Dacres Cunningham

Sir John Henry Dacres Cunningham portrayed as a Rear-Admiral.
Portrait: © National Portrait Gallery, London.

Admiral of the Fleet SIR John Henry Dacres Cunningham, G.C.B., M.V.O., D.L. (13 April, 1885 – 13 December, 1962) served in the Royal Navy from 1900 to 1948. After distinguished service in the Second World War he was First Sea Lord from 1946 to 1948.

Life & Career

Born in British Guiana, Cunningham gained three and a half months' time on passing out of Britannia in mid-May 1901. His first naval appointment was three years in the first class protected cruiser Gibraltar on the Cape of Good Hope Station. On 30 July 1904 he passed his Seamanship examination with a second class pass (881 out of 1,000 marks) and was accordingly promoted Acting Sub-Lieutenant from that date. He then went to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich to take the Navigation (or College) course and took a first class in Part A in November and a first class in Part B in March 1905. Before late 1904 Acting Sub-Lieutenants only received one certificate for the Navigation course. On 31 May he obtained a first class in Pilotage (925 out of 1,000 marks), on 9 September a first class in Gunnery (878 out of 1,000 marks) and on 13 October a first class in Torpedo (186 out of 200 marks). His obituary in The Times claimed that "In his courses as sub-lieutenant he gained five 'firsts'". Peter Kemp's Dictionary of National Biography entry claimed "he obtained the maximum seniority possible by gaining five first class certificates in his sub-lieutenant's courses, and was promoted lieutenant in October 1905". The succeeding Oxford Dictionary of National Biography altered this to "Achieving a first-class certificate in all five subjects (a so-called 'five-oner'), he was promoted in October 1905." How the authors misunderstood his service records is unknown. If he had obtained five first classes then he would have been promoted in a year and not 15 months (like his Britannia term mate Ralph L. Clayton). He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 30 October, 1905 and then was sent to join Cæsar in the Channel until 2 January, 1906.

At the start of the Great War, Cunningham was serving as navigating officer in Berwick of the Fourth Cruiser Squadron, where he had been since 16 May, 1911. Part of his work with Berwick required him to train Canadian midshipmen, which he did well enough to prompt the Canadian government to thank him. He left the cruiser in May of 1915. Following a month in Hibernia, he was appointed to Russell for navigation on 1 July, 1915. Cunningham was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 30 October, 1915.

Russell was lost to a mine on 27 April, 1916 and Cunningham was appointed to Barham, additional, for navigation work, putting him there just in time to fight in the Battle of Jutland. He was appointed to Renown for navigation in July, 1916 and would serve the rest of the war in that ship, being promoted to the rank of Commander on 30 June, 1917.

Post-War

Cunningham was promoted to the rank of Captain on 30 June, 1924.

Cunningham was appointed in command of the minelayer Adventure on 26 January, 1928. He was superseded on 21 November, 1929.

Cunningham was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 1 January, 1936.

Cunningham was superseded as Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty on 19 July, 1938, by Alexander Robert Maule Ramsay.

Cunningham was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral on 30 June, 1939.

Cunningham was promoted to the rank of Admiral on 4 August, 1943.

Cunningham was promoted to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet on 21 January, 1948.

On 10 March, 1950, Cunningham was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Bedford.

See Also

• Service Records
• Wikipedia

Naval Appointments
Preceded by New Formation	Squadron Navigating Officer, Battle Cruiser Squadron 5 Jul, 1918	Succeeded by Neville B. C. Brock
Preceded by Oswald H. Dawson	Master of the Fleet, Atlantic Fleet 15 Aug, 1923 – 15 Aug, 1924	Succeeded by Edward B. Cloete as Fleet Navigating Officer, Atlantic Fleet
Preceded by Patrick E. Parker	Captain of H.M.S. Adventure 21 Jan, 1928	Succeeded by Arthur D. H. Dibben
Preceded by G. Frederick B. Edward-Collins	Deputy Director of Plans 12 Dec, 1929 – 15 Dec, 1930	Succeeded by Henry R. Moore
Preceded by Roger M. Bellairs	Director of Plans 15 Dec, 1930 – 15 Dec, 1932	Succeeded by Henry R. Moore
Preceded by William E. Parry	Captain of H.M.S. Eagle 9 Jan, 1933 – 15 Mar, 1933	Succeeded by Lionel V. Wells
Preceded by Charles E. Turle	Captain of H.M.S. Resolution 7 Sep, 1933 – 16 Mar, 1936	Succeeded by Robert D. Oliver
Preceded by ?	Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air) 2 Oct, 1936 – Jul, 1938	Succeeded by The Hon. Sir Alexander R. M. Ramsay as Fifth Sea Lord
Preceded by Charles E. Kennedy-Purvis	Vice-Admiral Commanding, First Cruiser Squadron Sep, 1938 – Jan, 1941	Succeeded by W. Frederic Wake-Walker as Rear-Admiral Commanding, First Cruiser Squadron
Preceded by Geoffrey Arbuthnot	Fourth Sea Lord and Chief of Supplies and Transport 1 Mar, 1941 – 5 Jun, 1943	Succeeded by Frank H. Pegram
Preceded by Sir Andrew B. Cunningham as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet	Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Station & Allied Naval Commander Mediterranean 15 Oct, 1943 – 10 Jun, 1946	Succeeded by ?
Preceded by Sir Andrew B. Cunningham	First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff 10 Jun, 1946 – 6 Sep, 1948	Succeeded by Lord Bruce A. Fraser

Bibliography

• "Sir John Cunningham" (Obituaries). The Times. Friday, 14 December, 1962. Issue 55574, col C, p. 16.