Cecil Burney, First Baronet

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cecil Burney, G.C.B., G.C.M.G. (15 May, 1858 – 5 June, 1929) was an officer of the Royal Navy during the First World War.

Burney was born in Jersey on 15 May, 1858, the second son of Captain Charles Burney R.N., for many years superintendent of Greenwich Hospital school, and his wife, Catherine Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Jones, of La Ferrière, Jersey. He was educated at the Royal Naval Academy, Gosport, and entered the Britannia as a naval cadet in July, 1871. He went to sea as a Midshipman in October, 1873, served for three years in the flagships of the Pacific and American stations, and was promoted Sub-Lieutenant in October, 1877. The next three years were spent in educational courses and in short appointments in the troop ship Serapis and in the royal yacht, from which he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. He then joined the corvette Carysfort, one of the vessels of Lord Clanwilliam's detached squadron, which was afterwards merged into the Mediterranean Fleet during the Egyptian campaign of 1882. This gave Burney an opportunity of war service ashore, and he was in charge of a Gatling gun at the actions of Tell al-Mahuta and Qassasin in August, 1882. In the same year he accompanied the mission led by Charles Warren across the desert in order to capture the Arabs who had seized and murdered Professor Edward Henry Palmer, Captain William John Gill, and Lieutenant Harold Charrington; he also took part in the operations against Osman Digna near Suakin in 1884.

Burney next spent two years in the gunnery schools at Portsmouth and Devonport. Then followed over five and a half years' service as Gunnery Lieutenant in the North American, reserve, and channel squadrons. On promotion to Commander in January, 1893 he was appointed to the Hawke and served in the Mediterranean for three years; and in 1896 he went to Portland in command of the boys' training establishment in the Boscawen and Minotaur for three and a half years until September, 1899. He was promoted Captain in January, 1898. After commanding the Hawke in the naval manœuvres of 1900, he commissioned the Sappho for service on the South-East coast of America, but was soon transferred to the Cape station during the South African War. His ship struck the Durban bar when in the charge of a pilot on 3 May, 1901, and Burney had to bring her home. In May, 1902 he became Flag-Captain to Rear-Admiral Atkinson-Willes in the Home Fleet, and remained with him and his successor, Rear-Admiral Poë, until June, 1904. He then spent a year (1904–5) in command of the ex-Chilean battleship Triumph in the Channel Fleet. His successful work in training boys at Portland led to his appointment in July, 1905 to the Impregnable as inspecting captain of all boys' training ships, a post that he held until his promotion to Flag Rank in 1909. He thus spent, in all, six years in supervising the training of boys.

Burney's first appointment to Flag Rank was in the Plymouth division of the Home Fleet for one year. From February, 1911, when he took command of the 5th Cruiser Squadron, he was continuously on full pay for nine years. At the end of 1911 he took command of the Atlantic Fleet, with the acting rank of Vice-Admiral; he transferred to the 3rd Battle Squadron in 1912, shortly before reaching confirmed Vice-Admiral's rank. This squadron was on special service in the Mediterranean, and the disturbances that arose in Montenegro and Albania at the close of the second Balkan war led to the dispatch, arranged by the British foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, of an international naval force to Antivari on the Montenegrin coast in April, 1913. Burney's squadron was sent in order to secure that an Englishman should be senior officer of the combined fleet. Burney took command and handled the highly delicate and difficult situation, in which his firm manner and rugged mien stood him in good stead, with great ability, and he received a special commendation both from the Foreign Office and from the Admiralty. He had to secure unanimity of action between the naval forces of the five powers represented, as well as resolve the differences between the turbulent Balkan states ashore. He established a pacific blockade of the coast during April and May of 1913, and then from May to November commanded the international force occupying Scutari, which the Montenegrins had captured, until the trouble was finally settled by the conclusion of peace. He was created K.C.B. in the summer of 1913, and on the termination of the Scutari affair he was gazetted K.C.M.G.

On his return to England at the end of 1913 Burney took over the command of the Second and Third fleets, then in partial reserve, and the early part of 1914 was occupied in preparing for the test mobilization of that summer. On the outbreak of the First World War in August these fleets were organized as the Channel Fleet, with the duty of protecting the channel from enemy raids. In December, 1914 Burney went to the 1st Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet, as second-in-command under Jellicoe. At the Battle of Jutland (31 May, 1916) his squadron was the rear of the line, and was more heavily engaged than the rest of the battleships of the main fleet. His flagship, the Marlborough, was torpedoed, and during the night he transferred his flag to the Revenge. He was promoted Admiral a few days after the Battle of Jutland, and was made G.C.M.G. for his services in the action. Jellicoe had complete confidence in Burney, but that confidence was not shared by many other Flag-Officers, who were apprehensive that Burney might succeed to command of the Grand Fleet. He was regarded as overcautious, lacking in initiative, and burdened by ill health.

In November, 1916, when Jellicoe was appointed First Sea Lord, Burney joined the Board of Admiralty as Second Sea Lord. However, the prime minister, Lloyd George, and Sir Eric Geddes, who became First Lord of the Admiralty in July, 1917, grew anxious to replace him by a younger, and in their opinion more efficient, man. Consequently, and despite Jellicoe's effort to keep him, when the board was reorganized the following September, Burney was relieved. Shortly afterwards he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Coast of Scotland at Rosyth; there he remained until appointed in March, 1919 to be Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth. A year later, owing to prolonged ill health, he was relieved of the command at his own request. He was promoted Admiral of the Fleet in the following November, created a baronet for his war services in January 1921, and promoted to G.C.B. in 1922. He died at his home, Upham House, Upham, Hampshire, on 5 June, 1929. He was buried at Brookwood cemetery five days later.

Burney married in 1884 Lucinda Marion (d. 1944), second daughter of George Richards Burnett, of London; they had one son and two daughters. His son, Commander Charles Dennistoun Burney R.N. (1888 – 1968), who succeeded to the baronetcy, invented during the First World War the paravane, a device for protecting ships against mines, and subsequently was a major supporter of projects for the commercial development of airships. His daughter Sybil Katherine Neville-Rolfe (1885–1955) was founder of the Eugenics Society.