McKenna Papers at Churchill Archives Centre
A list of the personal papers of Reginald McKenna in the possession of Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge.
MCKN/3
MCKN/3/1
"Private Correspondence of the Right Honourable Reginald McKenna". Printed list to part of McKenna's correspondence, prepared by the Admiralty in 1912. 1 file. Mar 1912.
MCKN/3/2
Correspondence with King Edward VII and King George V. Correspondents include: 1st Lord Knollys, Private Secretary to the King, on subjects including King Edward's regret at appointing the Tsar of Russia to be Admiral of the Fleet without proper consultation, shortened periods of command for the Channel and Home Fleets and naval appointments (5); the Prince of Wales [later King George V] on subjects including his voyage to Canada (2); King Edward VII on the launch of HMS Vanguard; Sir Charles Frederick [Master of the Household]; Sir Dighton Probyn [Extra Equerry to King Edward VII]; Louise Margaret, Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn. 1 file. Jun 1908-Mar 1911.
MCKN/3/3
Correspondence with members of the Cabinet. Correspondents include: John Sinclair, Secretary of State for Scotland [later 1st Lord Pentland] on complaints from fishermen about destroyers mooring in the Hamble river and on trained dogs supplied to the Admiralty (3); Sir Edward Grey [Foreign Secretary] on subjects including the Conference of Naval Powers and the visit of British warships to the Chilean coast (3); Winston Churchill [President of the Board of Trade] on subjects including the Austrian Dreadnought programme (2); Richard Haldane [Secretary of State for War] on the Field Service regulations and Admiralty orders for the Woolwich Arsenal (4); 1st Lord Crewe [Secretary of State for the Colonies] on colonial visitors to the Naval Review and asking for a ship for the West Indian Commission (2); Sydney Buxton [Postmaster-General] on shipbuilding in the Thames and proposed terms of the Fair Wages Advisory Committee (3); Lewis Harcourt [First Commissioner of Works] (2); Walter Runciman [President, Board of Education]; Herbert Asquith [Prime Minister, later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith] on the [?] Naval Conference. 1 file. Apr 1908-Dec 1910.
MCKN/3/4
Correspondence with 1st Sea Lord. Correspondence with Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher on subjects including: naval estimates; submarine numbers and distribution; American warships; economies to the naval manoeuvres; the attitude and proposed dismissal of Admiral Lord Charles Beresford; Germany's accelerated shipbuilding programme and its effect on the British naval estimates; defence policy; reorganisation of the Home and Channel Fleets; King Edward VII's visit to Russia; Brazilian dreadnoughts; relations with Turkey and Germany; turbine development; an engineers' strike; HMS Indomitable; the success of 12-inch shrapnel; Admiral Sir Percy Scott; Winston Churchill [President of the Board of Trade] and the naval estimates; Beresford's naval enquiry; efficiency of the Home Fleet; Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson's appointment as 1st Sea Lord; Fisher's own departure from the Admiralty. Other correspondents include: Rear-Admiral Alfred Winsloe [4th Sea Lord]; Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson on servicemen's facilities for voting in the General Election. 1 file. Apr 1908-Dec 1910.
MCKN/3/5
Correspondence with other members of the Board of Admiralty. Correspondents include: Sir [Charles] Inigo Thomas [Permanent Secretary] on subjects including destroying Admiral Sir Arthur Moore's resignation letter and settlement of the Archer-Shee case (3); Thomas Macnamara [Financial Secretary] on subjects including a visit to shore establishments and the debate on the naval estimates (4); Admiral Sir William May [2nd Sea Lord]; Vice-Admiral Alfred Winsloe [4th Sea Lord] on the detention barrack system, the report of the Beresford Committee and promotion of Captain David Beatty to Rear-Admiral (2); George Lambert [Civil Lord of the Admiralty]; Vice-Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman [Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet] on increasing fleet personnel, an officer shortage, appointing Rear-Admiral Francis Foley to a command and recommending Vice-Admiral Sir Frederic Fisher (3); Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe [Controller of the Navy] on payment for Arthur Pollen's gunnery system. 1 file. Aug 1908-Nov 1910.
MCKN/3/6
Correspondence with Admiralty officials. Correspondents include: Sir Philip Watts [Director of Naval Construction] on building battleships for the Chilean Navy; James Porter [Director-General, Medical Department] on care of the Fleet Surgeon Home; Vice-Admiral Thomas MacGill; Rear-Admiral Alexander Bethell [Director of Naval Intelligence] on appointing his new assistant director (2). 1 file. Jan 1909-Oct 1910.
MCKN/3/7
Correspondence with officials outside the Admiralty. Correspondents include: Sir George Murray [Permanent Secretary to Treasury] on the naval estimates, Coast Guard Committee report and expenses of the Naval Review (3); Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Ottley [Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence] (5); Joseph Pease [later 1st Lord Gainsford]; 5th Lord Desart [Solicitor to the Treasury, earlier Hamilton Cuffe]; Lord Althorp [Lord Chamberlain, later 6th Lord Spencer]; Sir Gerard Lowther [British Ambassador to Turkey]; Sir [James] Rennell Rodd [British Ambassador to Italy]; Sir Rufus Isaacs [Attorney-General, later 1st Lord Reading]. 1 file. Oct 1908-Nov 1910.
MCKN/3/8
Correspondence with flag officers. Correspondents include: Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe on advances on 12-inch guns, accepting the post of Controller of the Navy and the shipbuilding programme (3); Rear-Admiral Sir Sydney Eardley-Wilmot on advances on 12-inch guns; Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Poore [Commander-in-Chief, Australian station] on the American Fleet's visit to Australia (2); 1st Lord Crewe [Secretary of State for the Colonies]; Rear-Admiral George Egerton, accepting the post of 2nd in command, Channel Fleet; Admiral Sir Reginald Custance; Vice-Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman [Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet]; Admiral Sir Gerard Noel [Commander-in-Chief, the Nore] on docks for dreadnoughts, the duration of his appointment and the inadequacy of defences at Harwich [Essex] and the Thames (3); Admiral Lord Charles Beresford [Commander-in-Chief, Channel Fleet] on subjects including Sir Percy Scott and the Court of Enquiry, shipbuilding policy, his relations with the Admiralty and Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Fisher [1st Sea Lord], the duration of his appointment and termination of his command (7); Vice-Admiral Sir Wilmot Fawkes [Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth] on subjects including the press paying officers for news and commercial views on Australian defence (4); Vice-Admiral Sir Hedworth Lambton [Commander-in-Chief, China Station, later Sir Hedworth Meux] on relations between Japan and the United States, one calibre armaments and the value of Wei-hai-wei [Weihai]; Rear-Admiral James Startin, accepting the post of Rear-Admiral, Channel Fleet; Vice-Admiral Sir Assheton Curzon-Howe [Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet]; Rear-Admiral Sir George Warrender [Commander-in-Chief, East Indian Station] on the work of the station and extension of his appointment. 1 file. Apr 1908-Dec 1908.
MCKN/3/9
Correspondence with flag officers. Correspondents include: Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Poore [Commander-in-Chief, Australian station] on subjects including the new Australian ministry and a coal strike (5); Vice-Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg [Commander-in-Chief Atlantic Fleet, later 1st Lord Milford Haven] (3); Vice-Admiral Sir Wilmot Fawkes [Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth] on subjects including employing Australians in the Royal Navy and training; Rear-Admiral Arthur Farquhar [4th Cruiser Squadron]; Rear-Admiral George Egerton [Commander-in-Chief Cape of Good Hope] on subjects including dock building and the transport of gold from South Africa in wartime; Vice-Admiral Sir Assheton Curzon-Howe [Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet] on subjects including disturbances at Lemnos (2); Admiral Sir William May [Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet] on subjects including orders to concentrate the Fleet without arousing suspicion, the report of the Naval Enquiry, fleet tactics and practice, speed of dreadnoughts and Home Fleet appointments (7); Vice-Admiral Sir Hedworth Lambton [Commander-in-Chief, China Station, later Sir Hedworth Meux]; Rear-Admiral Sir James Goodrich [Admiral Superintendent of the Gibraltar Dockyard]; Vice-Admiral Sir John Durnford [Admiral-President, Naval College, Greenwich]; Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Seymour (2); Rear-Admiral Ernest Simons, accepting the appointment of Admiral Superintendent Malta Dockyard; Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson, accepting the post of 1st Sea Lord; Rear-Admiral [Frederick] Doveton Sturdee, accepting the post of Rear Admiral 1st Battle Squadron; Rear-Admiral A Galloway; Rear-Admiral Charles Cross (2); Vice-Admiral Alfred Winsloe [4th Sea Lord]. 1 file. Mar 1909-Dec 1909.
MCKN/3/10
Correspondence with flag officers. Correspondents include: Admiral Sir Assheton Curzon-Howe on subjects including his appointment as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth and the health of ships under his command in the Mediterranean (4); Vice-Admiral Sir Edmund Poe, accepting the appointment of Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean (3); Admiral Sir Arthur Fanshawe; Vice-Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg [Commander-in-Chief Atlantic Fleet, later 1st Lord Milford Haven] (2); Vice-Admiral Sir John Durnford [Admiral-President, Naval College, Greenwich]; Rear-Admiral Lewis Bayly; Vice-Admiral Sir [Archibald] Berkeley Milne on subjects including the extension of his command of the Second Division, Home Fleet (2); Vice-Admiral Sir Wilmot Fawkes [Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth] on subjects including Australian and New Zealander recruits and the amalgamation of the Marine Artillery and Light Infantry (2); Vice-Admiral Sir George Neville (2); Rear-Admiral Frederic Brock; Rear-Admiral Sir Alfred Paget [Senior Officer, Coast of Ireland]; Rear-Admiral Arthur Farquhar [4th Cruiser Squadron]; Rear-Admiral Edmond Slade [Commander-in-Chief, East Indies]; Rear-Admiral George Egerton [Commander-in-Chief Cape of Good Hope] on subjects including a Japanese naval visit to the Cape (2); Admiral Sir William May [Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet] on subjects including appointments, recommendations and exercises (7); Vice-Admiral Sir Alfred Winsloe [Commander-in-Chief, China Station] on subjects including station business (3); Rear-Admiral [Thomas] Martyn Jerram, accepting the appointment of Second in Command Mediterranean Fleet; Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Jackson; Rear-Admiral George Patey, accepting the appointment of Rear-Admiral 2nd Division Home Fleet; Rear-Admiral Sir Douglas Gamble, on command of the 6th Cruiser Squadron (2); Rear-Admiral Sir George Warrender on his appointment to command the 2nd Cruiser Squadron; Rear-Admiral Arthur Limpus on his appointment as Rear-Admiral, Home Fleet; Rear-Admiral Paul Bush, accepting command of the Cape of Good Hope station; Vice-Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman (3); Rear-Admiral Cecil Burney, accepting command of the 5th Cruiser Squadron; Rear-Admiral Edward Bradford, accepting command of the 4th Cruiser Squadron; Admiral Sir Charles Drury; Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe; Vice-Admiral Sir Alfred Paget, relinquishing his command as Senior Officer, Coast of Ireland; Vice-Admiral George King-Hall [Commander-in-Chief Australia Station] on Australian opinion towards schemes for naval defence and the presence of Japanese in Australia. 1 file. Feb 1910-Mar 1911.
MCKN/3/11
Correspondence with Lord Cawdor. Correspondence with 3rd Lord Cawdor [former First Lord of the Admiralty] on subjects including: repairs; increase of the fleet in home waters; shipbuilding policy; enlisting dockyard men in the Territorial Army. 1 file. Nov 1908-Mar 1909.
MCKN/3/12
Correspondence with members of Parliament. Correspondents include: Sir Charles McLaren [later 1st Lord Aberconway] on subjects including shipbuilding (3); George Wyndham on the docks at Dover [Kent] (2); Edmund Lamb (2); Ernest Pretyman on subjects including oil fuel and restoring good feeling in the Navy (4); Sir Christopher Furness on the negotiations for the trials and purchase of new torpedo boats; John Seely [Under-Secretary for the Colonies, later 1st Lord Mottistone] (2); Sir Hudson Kearley [Chairman of the Port of London Authority, later 1st Lord Devonport] on the construction of docks at Tilbury [Essex]; [Charles] Roden Buxton. 1 file. Apr 1908-Jul 1910.
MCKN/3/13
Miscellaneous correspondence Related Material. Correspondents include: Alfred Deakin [Prime Minister of Australia] on Britain's naval agreement with Australia and Australian naval policy (2); Vice-Admiral Georg von Muller [Chief of the German Naval Cabinet]; Admiral Sir Day Bosanquet (3); Canon Edward Lyttelton, advising on pamphlets against immorality in the Navy; James Garvin [Editor of the Observer] on a proposed article; Sir Charles Dilke on McKenna's appointment as First Lord of the Admiralty; James Thursfield on an allegation by Admiral Lord Charles Beresford that he had written a naval article for the Times, inspired by Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Fisher [1st Sea Lord]; Margot Asquith [later Lady Oxford and Asquith]; 8th Lord Granard (2); Gertrude Tuckwell; Rear-Admiral Douglas Gamble on his terms for acting as Naval Adviser to the Turkish Government; Arthur Pollen on his gunnery system and relations with the Admiralty. 1 file. Apr 1908-Dec 1908.
MCKN/3/14
Miscellaneous correspondence. Correspondents include: Lord Graham (2); Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Ottley [Secretary Committee of Imperial Defence] on the Krupps works in Germany; Admiral Andrew Bickford, applying for a colonial governorship; Arthur Pollen on his gunnery system (4); 2nd Lord Nunburnholme [earlier Charles Wilson] on the Navy League (2); Ishbel, Lady Aberdeen on using coastguard stations as consumption sanatoria; William Rees-Davies; [Arthur] Trevor Dawson on a report on the German Navy and alloy experiments (2); Robert Glendinning; 1st Lord Brassey; Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge; Rear-Admiral Victor Montagu on espionage in the Navy; Whitelaw Reid [American Ambassador to Britain] asking for facilities for obtaining information on the Royal Dockyards; 1st Lord Northcliffe [owner of the Times, earlier Alfred Harmsworth] on the value of German assurances on their construction programme; Sir Andrew Noble, Chairman of Armstrong, Whitworth, and Company, Limited] on his company's relations with the Admiralty; Colonel Albert Gatliff (2); Sir Thomas Bramsdon; 2nd Lord Esher [earlier Reginald Brett] with a suggested circular to the Fleet on naval officers criticising the Admiralty in the press and on resigning the presidency of the Aerial League (2); Mary, Lady Lyell; Dorothea, Lady Glasgow; Violet, Lady Loreburn; Admiral Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, on the selection of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson as the next 1st Sea Lord; Commodore Archibald Moore accepting his appointment as Director of Naval Ordnance; Hugh Wood on his appointment as Honorary Chaplain to King Edward VII; Colonel Justin Foxton on the passing of the Naval Loan Bill in Australia. 1 file. Feb 1909-Dec 1909.
MCKN/3/15
Miscellaneous correspondence. Correspondents include: Alice, Lady Bristol; Admiral Sir Harry Rawson; Robert Collins [Australian Secretary in Great Britain] (2); Sir Frederick Borden [Canadian Minister of Militia Defence]; Arthur Pollen on his gunnery system (3); Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson, accepting Chairmanship of the Cadets Interview Committee; Admiral of the Fleet Sir Gerard Noel on the death of King Edward VII; Rear-Admiral John Denison on an education scheme, the short-service system and reforms by Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [1st Sea Lord]; Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Seymour; Vice-Admiral Sir Percy Scott on firing gear for HMS Neptune; Charlotte, Lady Winchester; Mary, Lady Clifden; 9th Lord Elgin (2); 8th Lord Granard [Special Ambassador to announce the accession of King George V] on his mission to the Spanish and Portuguese courts; Vice-Admiral Baron Makoto Saito, on hospitality given to a Japanese cruiser; Charles Fry on naval training (2); Captain Hugh Watson [Naval Attaché at Berlin] on his reception in Germany; Admiral Sir Lewis Beaumont on his appointment as naval aide to the King (2); 1st Lord Dunedin [earlier Andrew Murray]; Vice-Admiral Sir Hedworth Lambton [Commander-in-Chief, China Station, later Sir Hedworth Meux]; Admiral Sir Archibald Douglas; Mary, Lady Dartmouth; Admiral Sir George Atkinson-Willes on commands being given to officers junior to himself; Alice, Lady Leicester; Marjorie, Lady Pentland; Georgiana, Lady Llangattock; Admiral of the Fleet Lord John Hay; Rear-Admiral Reginald Bacon [Managing Director of the Coventry Ordnance Works] on the failure of the naval airship; Joan, Lady Camden. 1 file. Jan 1910-Oct 1911.
MCKN/3/16
Correspondence with 1st Lord Knollys. Correspondence with Knollys, Private Secretary to King Edward VII, on subjects including: the King's approval of McKenna's note in the Times on the resignation of Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [1st Sea Lord] but querying why he hadn't given a date; the resignation of Admiral Sir Hedworth Lambton [later Sir Hedworth Meux]; protests on a speech by the King in which he regretted an action of the House of Lords; the improving prospects of the Government reaching a majority; naval appointments, particularly Vice-Admiral Sir Assheton Curzon-Howe for the Portsmouth command, whether Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe should move to the Atlantic Fleet or remain Controller of the Navy and the wish of Prince Louis of Battenberg [later 1st Lord Milford Haven] to remain in the Atlantic Fleet, rather than going to the Mediterranean. 1 file. Nov 1909-Jan 1910.
MCKN/3/17
Correspondence with the Prime Minister. Correspondence with Herbert Asquith [later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith] on subjects including: ammunition trials; the resignation of 2nd Lord Tweedmouth [as First Lord of the Admiralty]; Violet Asquith [later Violet, Lady Bonham-Carter, then Lady Asquith of Yarnbury] knocking herself out; Austrian dreadnoughts; investigating Admiral Lord Charles Beresford's allegations that Britain was not prepared for war; the harmful effects of a leak to the Times on the constitutional conference, 1910; combined naval exercises for the Home, Atlantic and Mediterranean Fleets, leaving home waters relatively unguarded. Other correspondents include: Margot Asquith [later Margot, Lady Oxford and Asquith] on finding a place for a boy in the Navy and a discussion which could be harmful to Arthur Balfour, arising from fears that the Government would lose its majority; Vincent Baddeley [Private Secretary to McKenna] on McKenna's missing out on election to Trinity House. 1 file. Sep 1908-Sep 1911.
MCKN/3/18
Correspondence with the Prime Minister. Correspondence with Herbert Asquith [later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith] on Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, particularly on King Edward VII's wish that Beresford should be made Admiral of the Fleet and Beresford's allegations of intimidation and favouritism against the Admiralty. 1 file. Oct 1909-Dec 1910.
MCKN/3/19
Correspondence with the Prime Minister. Correspondence with Herbert Asquith [later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith] on naval estimates and battleship construction, particularly in the light of the German construction programme, with a letter from the Sea Lords to McKenna. 1 file. Jan 1909-Mar 1909.
MCKN/3/20
Correspondence with David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Correspondence on subjects including: a request from Lloyd George [Chancellor of the Exchequer] and Churchill [President of the Board of Trade] that McKenna should speed up the shipbuilding programme to help alleviate unemployment in the engineering and shipbuilding industries; Lloyd George's view that cuts should be made in the naval estimates; Churchill's decision (as First Lord of the Admiralty] to select a new Board of Admiralty and new commanders for the Fleets. 1 file. Sep 1908-Nov 1911.
MCKN/3/21
Correspondence with Winston Churchill. Correspondence with Churchill, Home Secretary, on subjects including: a complaint from Churchill's brother-in-law, Lieutenant William Hozier, against his captain and requests for advancement from others of Churchill's friends or relatives; the German construction programme; the effects of a general strike on the Admiralty coal supply; the food supply in time of war. 1 file. Aug 1910-Sep 1911.
MCKN/3/22
Miscellaneous correspondence. Correspondents include: E Harold Spender [Daily News] asking to see McKenna; 2nd Lord Esher [earlier Reginald Brett] congratulating McKenna on his performance at the Committee of Imperial Defence (May 1909) but regretting that he had said anything about Admiral Reginald Bacon [Director of Naval Ordnance]; Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe [Controller of the Navy, then Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet] on his wife launching a ship, on requirements for the naval estimates of 1910, armour plating costs and his fear that Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson might replace Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher as 1st Sea Lord, as Wilson had given many impractical orders, such as an attack on Heligoland [Germany] and sending Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty [1st Battle Cruiser Squadron] out over an area full of mines, as he did not realise the effect of enemy submarines (4); Trevelyan Napier, accepting the position of McKenna's Private Secretary but suggesting that someone more in touch with the Fleet might be better; Walter Runciman on a split between Sir Edward Grey [Foreign Secretary] and Herbert Asquith [Prime Minister, later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith] on the Parliament Act, with Grey and others, including Runciman, considering plans for reform of the House of Lords inadequate and also wishing to include Home Rule in the debate, the chances of David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill resigning over the matter and also a forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle (1911), Runciman's intention of resigning if he was passed over and his warning to McKenna not to do anything indiscreet (3); Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson [1st Sea Lord] on subjects including the disposal of HMS Bedford, the case of Simeon Exham [Superintending Engineer, Portsmouth and Rosyth Dockyards] being badly treated by the Admiralty and McKenna's failure to send enough ships to Australia and New Zealand (3); Ernest Pretyman [former Secretary to Admiralty] supporting Exham's case; Alfred Yarrow, President of Yarrow and Company Limited on orders for specialist shipbuilding; Richard Haldane [Secretary of State for War] on subjects including McKenna retaining his seat in the General Election and a book on compulsory service (3); Margaret Lloyd George; Georgiana, Lady Llangattock; David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the naval estimates; 1st Lord Gladstone [Governor-General of South Africa] commenting on coal output, McKenna's naval estimates and possible complications over Lourenco Marques [later Maputo, Mozambique]; 1st Lord Morley of Blackburn; Admiral Sir Edmund Poe [Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Station] asking Wilson for sick leave and commenting on station business; Herbert Asquith; Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, writing to Asquith to warn against giving Germany an opportunity to declare war as the Navy was not prepared for it; Agnes, Lady Jekyll on her concern about Pamela McKenna's health; Lewis Harcourt [Secretary of State for the Colonies] regretting that he could not appoint any of McKenna's Marine Officers to the governorship of St Helena; Sir [Arthur] Trevor Dawson [Director of Vickers Limited] putting forward his naval designer as a candidate for the post of Chief Constructor (2); Arnold Hills, the Thames Iron Works, Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, on armour plating (3); Thomas Crease [Naval Assistant to 1st Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher] on Fisher's resignation, explaining that he had persuaded Fisher to go to Scotland and to write to Asquith, asking for permission to leave, while expecting that Fisher would be called back in the future, and commenting on the departure of Winston Churchill from the Admiralty; Arthur Balfour; Admiral Sir Hedworth Lambton [Commander-in-Chief, China Station, later Sir Hedworth Meux] on a quarrel between himself and Admiral Reginald Bacon; Philip Wilson on the public reaction to McKenna's naval estimates. . Also includes: a draft letter from McKenna to Asquith changing the naval programme in the light of information about Austria building dreadnoughts; an incomplete letter from McKenna to Wilson on manning requirements and a letter on transporting servicemen to their polling stations in an election; letters from McKenna to Lloyd George on the naval estimates (4). 1 file. Feb 1908-May 1915.
MCKN/3/23
Memorandum on strength of German fleet. Draft memorandum written by McKenna for Sir Edward Grey [Foreign Secretary] on the German construction programme, with comparisons between British, German and French naval strength, 1909-12. 1 file. Dec 1908.
MCKN/3/24
Index to Admiral Lord Charles Beresford's opinions. Quotations from statements by Beresford on subjects including: torpedo craft; the standard of naval strength; scrapping out of date ships; small battleships; dreadnoughts; training naval reserves; the short service system; the Committee of Imperial Defence enquiry, 1909; length of commissions; repairing stations; stores; the value of speed; manning; duty to the Admiralty; Beresford as a reformer and his methods in general; conscription; sea training of officers; Admiralty administration; sweets of office; the Two-Power standard; trade routes; gunnery. 1 file. 21 Feb 1910.
MCKN/3/25
Lecture by Admiral Bacon. Text of a lecture by Admiral Reginald Bacon on the Navy's chief requirements. 1 file. c 1910.
MCKN/3/26
Newspaper cuttings and other printed items. Includes: cuttings on McKenna's naval estimates; Richard Haldane's election address; report of an address by Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith, Permanent Secretary to the Board of Trade, on unemployment insurance; report of an interview with Rear-Admiral Sir Edmond Slade, Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, on naval defence in the East. 1 file. Oct 1910-Feb 1911.
MCKN/3/27
Inquiry on Admiral Lord Charles Beresford. Correspondence and papers relating to inquiry into Beresford's conduct as Commander-in-Chief Channel Fleet and his relations with the Admiralty. 1 file. Apr 1909.
MCKN/3/28
Letters to McKenna on his appointment to and his departure from the Admiralty. Correspondents on McKenna's appointment include: William Bowen; Thomas Bramsdon; T Cairns; Richard Causton [later 1st Lord Southwark]; Sir Benjamin Cohen; Sir Clifford Cory; Harold Cox; William Crook; Robert Donald, Editor of the Daily Chronicle; 1st Lord Glantawe [earlier John Jenkins]; Harry Hudson; Rufus Isaacs [later 1st Lord Reading]; [Arthur] Levy Lever; [? John] Fletcher Moulton; Sir George Newnes and Priscilla, Lady Newnes; Robert Perks; Joel Seaverns; Sir Edgar Speyer; Henry Spicer; Sir Guy Fleetwood Wilson; Frederic Mackarness; Edward Marshall-Hall; George Lambert; John Mellor; Arthur Pollen; Walter Runciman; Frederic Maugham; Peter Freyer; Sir Kenneth Muir-Mackenzie; 1st Lord Eversley [earlier George Shaw-Lefevre]; Sir [Herbert] George Fordham; Ivor Guest [later 1st Lord Wimborne]; [Edward] Stafford Howard; Lewis Haslam; Herbert Leon. Correspondents on McKenna's departure include: 1st Lord Northcliffe [earlier Alfred Harmsworth]; Maurice Hankey [Assistant Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence] on McKenna's services to the Navy and the difficulties which he had had to contend with; Vice-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe on his regret at McKenna's departure; Vice-Admiral Sir George King-Hall recalling McKenna's defence of the Naval Estimates; John Middlemore; Reginald Acland; Rear-Admiral Lewis Bayly; Rear-Admiral Charles Madden (2); Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Coke; Admiral John Denison; Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson; Admiral Philip Nelson-Ward; Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman; Rear-Admiral Herbert King-Hall; Hugh Evan-Thomas; Rear-Admiral Arthur Farquhar; Horace Hood; Lord George Hamilton; Sir John Moulton; Robert Donald; William Stead. 2 files. Apr 1908-Nov 1911.
MCKN/3/29
Secret reports by Commander Sir [Arthur] Trevor Dawson on German shipbuilding. Reports "to the Admiralty as a result of visits made to the continent at the request of the First Lord of the Admiralty and as collected through special agencies". 1 file. Sep 1906-Sep 1914.
MCKN/3/30
Secret reports by Commander Sir [Arthur] Trevor Dawson on German shipbuilding. Reports "to the Admiralty as a result of visits made to the continent at the request of the First Lord of the Admiralty and as collected through special agencies". 1 file. Sep 1906-Sep 1914.
MCKN/3/31
Papers relating to German ship building in the run up to the First World War. Includes: originals of reports by Commander Sir [Arthur] Trevor Dawson to McKenna while he was First Lord of the Admiralty, 1909-11; Cabinet memoranda by McKenna and Winston Churchill [President of the Board of Trade] on naval matters, particularly requirements for a naval war staff, naval estimates and European battleship building programmes; paper from the Sea Lords supporting McKenna's view that Germany might have 21 dreadnoughts (or at least 17) by 1912; memorandum by McKenna in tribute to Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher following his [initial] retirement as 1st Sea Lord. 1 file. Jan 1909-Aug 1911.
MCKN/3/32
Papers relating to German ship building in the run up to the First World War. Includes: Cabinet memorandum by Sir Edward Grey [Foreign Secretary] on German naval spending; collected references in the German Parliament and official press to British proposals on arms limitation, with reports of speeches by Grand-Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz [Head of the German Admiralty] on the German battleship programme and also alleged cases of acceleration in the programme; translations of German articles and speeches on naval spending and the building programme; Admiralty Intelligence Department figures for new German battleships, comparative spending and German dock capacity; notes on the German fleet laws; report by Herbert Heath, Naval Attaché, Berlin, summarising naval affairs in Germany. 1 file. Jul 1910-Aug 1910.
MCKN/3/33
Beresford Inquiry: volume 1. 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. 1 file. Aug 1909.
MCKN/3/34
Beresford Inquiry: volume 2. Appendices to 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. 1 file. Aug 1909.
MCKN/3/35
General Election 1910: Admiralty Private Office correspondence. Indexed collection of McKenna's correspondence as First Lord of the Admiralty during the Election, with correspondents (mainly asking for naval information to assist their election campaigns) including: [William] Wedgwood Benn [later 1st Lord Stansgate]; Sir Owen Philipps [MP for Pembroke and Haverfordwest, later 1st Lord Kylsant] asking for information on the Pembroke dockyard (2); Sir Samuel Evans on the Pembroke dockyard (3); Arthur Crosfield (3); Charles Mallet [Liberal candidate for Plymouth], asking if the Government would support the Devonport dockyard; Sir John Benn [MP for Devonport] on giving ships' crews and dockyardsmen time to vote (2); Edwin Montagu on combating allegations that the Navy had depleted its stores and did not have enough men; Vincent Baddeley [Private Secretary to McKenna] on subjects including the shortage of docks capable of taking dreadnoughts (6); [Allen] Clement Edwards (2); Sir Gerald Hohler on giving naval crews time to vote; Cecil Grenfell on spending in the dockyards; Sir Francis Blake; Ernest Lamb [later 1st Lord Rochester] on giving the men of Chatham dockyard a half-day to vote; Herbert Samuel; the Master of Elibank on the reduction of naval estimates from those of the previous Government; Charles Geake, Secretary Liberal Publication Department, on combating allegations by the 9th Duke of Marlborough that McKenna had admitted that the working classes would pay most of the Government's new taxes; Nicholas Grattan-Doyle on Marlborough's allegation; Edward Tebbutt, Editor of the North Mail, on the allegation (2). Also includes: annotated draft of McKenna's election address; figures of the comparative strengths of the British and German navies; figures for employment and wages in the naval dockyards; notes on shortcomings and deficiencies in the Navy; memorandum on granite used in Admiralty works; list of MPs who voted against McKenna's 1908 naval estimates, with their election results. 1 file. Mar 1909-Jan 1910.
MCKN/3/36
Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary and investiture of the Prince of Wales. Coronation invitation and certificate of appointment for McKenna as a member of the Coronation Committee, and order of ceremony for the investiture of Edward, Prince of Wales [later King Edward VIII and Edward, Duke of Windsor]. 1 file. Jul 1910-Jul 1911.
MCKN/6
MCKN/6/1
Letters to McKenna. Letter from Fisher assuring McKenna of his gratitude for his kindness and considering a time for his retirement. Also includes an advertisement for a public demonstration against the dismissal of Admiral Lord Charles Beresford [Commander-in-Chief, Channel Fleet]. 1 file. Feb 1908-Oct 1908.
MCKN/6/2
Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: removing ships from service; numbers of Dreadnoughts required in the naval estimates; a discussion with Winston Churchill [President of the Board of Trade] on Dreadnought numbers; information on German shipbuilding and the Krupps Works; German naval strategy; attacks against the Admiralty by Admiral Lord Charles Beresford [Commander-in-Chief, Channel Fleet] and the subsequent enquiry; Fisher's respect for McKenna; Japan buying oil from Burma [later Myanmar]; sending a warship to the Sudan with the Governor-General, General Sir [Francis] Reginald Wingate; Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson becoming a member of the Committee of Imperial Defence; Fisher being cited in a divorce case; the by-election at Portsmouth [Hampshire], Beresford's seat; Fisher's view of Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe [Controller of the Navy]; his concern that McKenna might resign; Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman [Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet]'s intention to resign went Fisher went. Other correspondents include: Admiral Beresford writing to 1st Lord Brassey on his dismissal; Ernest Pretyman on his disgust as press attacks against Fisher and a report that Japan was buying fuel oil from Burma; Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister [later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith] offering Fisher a peerage. Also includes memorandum on a proposed inquiry into Admiralty policy; a report on Germany's attitude to war and a crisis in Serbia; memorandum by Fisher on the need for an increase in the numbers of officers in the Fleet. 1 file. Feb 1909-Dec 1909.
MCKN/6/3
Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: the retirement of Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson and his work for the coastguard service; Admiral Lord Charles Beresford's re-election campaign at Portsmouth [Hampshire]; Fisher's handover [as 1st Sea Lord] to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson; Fisher's comments on various commands, including his view that the career of Prince Louis of Battenberg [later 1st Lord Milford Haven] was finished and his regret that Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe was not going to the Atlantic; the birth of Michael McKenna; Beresford's influence over King Edward VII; Fisher's relations with the Royal Family; the origin of the Dreadnought type; the political situation, particularly among the Conservatives; a threatened campaign against McKenna over the Archer-Shee compensation case, inaugurated by Henry Massingham and Fabian Ware; naval estimates and a discussion with David Lloyd George [Chancellor of the Exchequer]; Fisher's irritation with Admiral Sir William May; an operation undergone by McKenna. . Other correspondents include: Lionel Yexley, passing on the gratitude of the service for all Fisher had done for the men of the lower deck and on Beresford's re-election campaign at Portsmouth. 1 file. Jan 1910-Dec 1910.
MCKN/6/4
Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: Sir Marcus Samuel [later 1st Lord Bearsted]'s new oil company; Fisher's visit to Italy; stories from 2nd Lord Esher [earlier Reginald Brett] on the position of Herbert Asquith [Prime Minister, later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith]; Fisher urging McKenna to use Maurice Hankey to prepare the Admiralty case for the Imperial Conference; the naval estimates; McKenna's health; Fisher's relations with Winston Churchill [First Lord of the Admiralty]; schemes for compulsory service and increasing the army estimates. . Other correspondents include: Sir Marcus Samuel asking Fisher to be director of his new oil company in Sarawak [Malaya, later Malaysia]. 1 file. Jan 1911-Nov 1911.
MCKN/6/5
Letters to Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: Winston Churchill's respect for McKenna as his predecessor at the Admiralty and Fisher's disapproval of his naval appointments; the wrecking tactics of "Napoleon B" [1st Lord Haldane] and Fisher's allegation that Haldane interfered with the original draft of the Beresford Report; Fisher's satisfaction at the appointment of Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe [2nd Sea Lord]; Admiral Lord Charles Beresford's continuing attacks against Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson. Also includes a copy of Fisher's letter to Churchill on Dreadnought design and describing his appointments of Admiral Sir Hedworth Meux [Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, earlier Hedworth Lambton], Admiral Sir [Archibald] Berkeley Milne [Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean] and Admiral Sir Reginald Custance as a betrayal of the Navy. 1 file. Mar 1912-Dec 1912.
MCKN/6/6
Letters to Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: inviting her and McKenna to visit; meetings with Arthur Balfour; Fisher's belief that Winston Churchill [First Lord of the Admiralty] and "Napoleon B" [1st Lord Haldane, Lord Chancellor] were Conservatives at heart and a rumour that Haldane was dying. 1 file. Jun 1913-Dec 1913.
MCKN/6/7
Letters to Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: John Seely [Secretary of State for War, later 1st Lord Mottistone] "blacking the King's boots" by adding King George V's view to what the Cabinet had already agreed; wishing that David Lloyd George [Chancellor of the Exchequer] would remove duty from tea, sugar and tobacco; numbers of Germans living in Britain; the unaltered war arrangements at the Admiralty since McKenna left; the popularity of the Government; Sir George Armstrong's appointment as Chief Naval Censor; German submarine torpedoes being much more powerful than British torpedoes; the military control of the German Fleet; Fisher's return to the Admiralty as 1st Sea Lord; altering navigation lights and buoys to control neutral trade and confuse German pilots; the likely chances of a raid on the north-east coast; Fisher's satisfaction at having sent HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible in time to join Vice-Admiral Sir (Frederick) Doveton Sturdee's squadron in the Falklands. 1 file. Jan 1914-Dec 1914.
MCKN/6/8
Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: his decision to resign and his view that Winston Churchill [First Lord of the Admiralty] had always been thinking of the military side rather than that of the Navy; Fisher's determination to serve only with McKenna or with Andrew Bonar Law as First Lord; the appeal written by Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe [Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet] against Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson becoming 1st Sea Lord; Admiral Lord Charles Beresford being made a peer; Fisher's view that he had been out-manoeuvered with Churchill remaining in the Cabinet; Fisher's hope to return to the Admiralty as Arthur Balfour's 1st Sea Lord; Churchill's resentment at not being consulted when Fisher was made [Chairman of the board of invention and research]. Also includes a letter from Fisher to Churchill stating that he had been opposed to the Dardanelles Operation from the beginning and announcing his decision to resign. 1 file. May 1915-Dec 1915.
MCKN/6/9
Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: his discontent at being out of the war; the unabated submarine menace; his hope that he might be back as 1st Sea Lord before Christmas 1916; the losses in France; the dismissal of Grand-Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz [Head of the German Admiralty]. Also includes: papers from Fisher's evidence before the Dardanelles Commission of Enquiry; copy of a letter from Rear-Admiral Cecil Lambert supporting Fisher's policy of building oil-fuelled battleships of the Dreadnought type. 1 file. Apr 1916-Dec 1917.
MCKN/6/10
Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: the submarine menace; Fisher's evidence before the War Council of January 1916 on the Dardanelles; German naval activity in the Baltic. Also includes: a copy of Fisher's letter to Sir Maurice Hankey [Secretary to the Imperial War Cabinet] on Hankey's advice for him to see David Lloyd George [Prime Minister] about being reappointed as 1st Sea Lord and on dealing with the submarine menace; letter to Fisher from Admiral John Moresby on Fisher's legacy; letter from Hankey on Fisher's pre-war prophecy about the date of outbreak of war and of Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe becoming Commander-in-Chief; letters from Fisher to Lloyd George urging a joint naval and military attack on the German coast, higher numbers of aircraft, and making use of the superiority of numbers in the joint British and American fleets; memorandum by Fisher on the position of the Fleet and its policy of steady pressure, particularly in the Baltic (1914). 1 file. Oct 1916-Jan 1918.
MCKN/6/11
Letters to Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: meetings with Sir Edward Carson and [James] Ramsay MacDonald. Also includes: a letter from Sir Frederick Treves on Fisher's health, comparing it with the state of the Government; copy of a letter from Fisher to 1st Lord Mersey [earlier John Bigham] with his views on conditions for an armistice. 1 file. Mar 1918-Feb 1920.
MCKN/6/12
Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: the chances of a General Election; the threat of food shortages due to submarine attacks and Fisher's conviction that he could defeat them if restored to the Admiralty; [?] King George V interfering in Army affairs; the autocratic behaviour of Winston Churchill [First Lord of the Admiralty] and the excuses of Rear-Admiral Henry Campbell [Rear-Admiral Home Fleets at The Nore] in sending HMS Cressy, HMS Aboukir and HMS Hogue out on patrol in the North Sea to be torpedoed; "Napoleon B" [1st Lord Haldane, Secretary of State for War] and his attempts to move to the Admiralty following insubordination among his generals; Admiral Sir William May's manoeuverings to become 1st Sea Lord; attacks by Winston Churchill [President of the Board of Trade] against the naval estimates with information provided by Sir William White; Admiral Lord Charles Beresford's campaign to become Admiral of the Fleet; suggestions that Fisher should write his memoirs. 1 file. c 1910-c 1918.
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