Henry Bradwardine Jackson

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry B. Jackson.

Admiral of the Fleet SIR Henry Bradwardine Jackson, G.C.B., K.C.V.O., F.R.S., Royal Navy (21 January, 1855 – 14 December, 1929) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a pioneer in Wireless Telegraphy. A Yorkshireman by birth, Jackson reached the twin pinnacles of a naval officer's career, serving as First Sea Lord from 1915 to 1916 during the First World War and being promoted to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet in 1919.

Early Life & Career

Henry Bradwardine Jackson was born on 21 January, 1855, at Rectory House, Darfield, South Yorkshire, to Mr. Henry Jackson of Cudworth, a relatively well-off linen manufacturer and bleacher, and Mrs. Jane Jackson, née Tee.

The elder Jackson died on 2 December, 1867. In a ceremony at St. Mary in the Castle, Hastings, on 5 May, 1870, the widow Jackson would marry the Reverend Dr. Baylee, late Principal of St. Aidan's Theological College.

Educated at Chester and Stubbington House, Jackson was nominated as a Naval Cadet and was called for examination on 2 December, 1868, and was found medically fit on 8 December. Jackson joined H.M.S. Britannia on 23 January, 1869. He was entitled to a First Class Certificate in Study and a First Class Certificate in Seamanship, obtaining 1,629/2,000 marks and 783/1,000 marks respectively. He was allowed six months' sea time for study, three months for seamanship, and three months for conduct. Having spent an extra term in Britannia he was allowed an additional three months for a total of fifteen months, and was rated Midshipman on 20 April, 1870.

On 21 July he was appointed to the corvette Cadmus. He was promoted to the rank of Sub-Lieutenant on 18 October, 1874. On 27 November, 1874 he was appointed to the Excellent for study, and on 30 October, 1875 he joined the training brig Liberty. On 26 May, 1876, he was appointed to the corvette Rover for navigating duties in lieu of a Navigating Sub-Lieutenant.

Lieutenant

Jackson was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant with seniority of 27 October, 1877. On 28 November he took passage in the Simoom and on 21 December was appointed to Royal Adelaide on Full Pay leave until 3 January, 1878. From 21 February to 17 March he was on passage in a mail steamer, joining the Active on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station, to which he had been appointed on 15 February. From 23 June to 9 July he was lent to the Flora. He was discharged from Active on 25 October, 1879, and was appointed on Full Pay leave from 26 October to 15 November, before going on Half Pay.

He joined Excellent on 31 July, 1880, for a short course of gunnery, which he passed. From 30 October to 10 December he was appointed to H.M.S. Vernon for a short torpedo course, which he passed, before again going on Half Pay. On 31 February, 1881, he was was appointed to Agincourt in the Channel Squadron. On 30 September he was appointed to Vernon to qualify in Torpedo Duties. He passed on 21 March, 1883, with a First Class certificate, and on 2 April was appointed to join Vernon as a Staff Officer. On 22 October he went to Woolwich Arsenal, London, for a seven day course of instruction in torpedo apparatus.

Jackson was promoted to the rank of Commander on 1 January, 1890. On 1 July he was appointed to Vernon for Torpedo Duties, and for temporary service at Fiume, Austria-Hungary, the location of the Whitehead torpedo factory. On 6 September, 1890, he was appointed to the battleship Edinburgh in the Mediterranean, where he remained until she paid off on 23 January, 1894. Captain John W. Brackenbury wrote of him, "V.G.I. [Very Good Indeed] Brilliant officer of great zeal & ability, most worthy of promotion." On 5 February he was reappointed to the Vernon for temporary service on the Committee on Torpedo Designs.

Captain

On 29 January, 1895, Jackson was appointed to H.M.S. Defiance in command. On 30 June, 1896, he was promoted to the rank of Captain, and reappointed to Defiance so as to complete three years' service. In July, 1897 he was given temporary command of the Plymouth flotilla of torpedo boat destroyers for a three day programme of exercises. He was superseded on 1 November, 1897 and appointed Naval Attaché to "the Embassies & Legations in [the] Maritime Powers [of Europe] and America," in succession to Captain Lewis E. Wintz.

His service as Naval Attaché ended on 10 July, 1899. He was appointed to the Juno for manœuvres on 11 July and on 23 August went on Half Pay, before being appointed to the Vernon on 20 October to carry out courses and trials of the "Marconi Telegraphic System." The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth was told that:

This appointment has been made with a view to Captain Jackson imparting to the Officers of the 'Vernon' the results of the experience gained by him during several years of experiments with this system of telegraphy, and also, for the purposes of working out the many small details required for ship fittings of the Marconi apparatus, and establishing a course of instruction for the operators who will be required for working the system.

On 9 December, 1899 Jackson was appointed to H.M.S. Vulcan, for command of the Mediterranean Station torpedo boats. After a September, 1900 inspection, the Commander-in-Chief, Vice-Admiral Sir John A. Fisher wrote, "I cannot speak too highly of this officer's ability & his usefulness in the exercises of the fleet & the excellent use he makes of the resources of the Vulcan." In January, 1901, he was called back temporarily to Britain "to consult with Vernon as to Wireless Telegraph apparatus." He was honoured with election as a Fellow of the Royal Society on 5 August. In January, 1902, Admiral Fisher wrote of Jackson:

I cannot speak too highly of this officer. He is a thorough Master of every branch of his profession & equally excels as a practical as well as a scientific officer. It is to be regretted that seniority alone can place him on the Flag List.

On 21 January, 1902, he was appointed to President to serve as Chairman of the Committee on Electrical Equipment, until 9 February. He was appointed to the President on 10 February, 1902, as Assistant Director of Torpedoes (confusingly also known as Assistant Director of Naval Ordnance for a time). On 6 April, 1903 he took command of the battleship Cæsar, which he paid off on 6 October. He took command of the new battleship Duncan on 8 October, 1903. While Captain of Duncan he served on the Mediterranean Committee on Methods of Controlling Gun Fire in Action under the presidency of Rear-Admiral Reginald N. Custance, for which he received Their Lordships' "high appreciation." On 16 September, 1904, he assumed command of Vernon, where he remained only for a few months, having been selected for the position of Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy, in succession to Sir William H. May. He was appointed to the Admiralty on 24 December for duty with the Controller, and on 5 January, 1905 was appointed a member of the Committee on Designs. He was appointed Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy on 7 February.

Flag Rank

Jackson was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 18 October, 1906, vice Durnford. On 9 November he was appointed a Knight Commander in the Royal Victorian Order (K.C.V.O.), and knighted by the King in an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 18 December. On 16 October, 1908, he was appointed Rear-Admiral Commanding the Third Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean. In 1909 the squadron was renamed the Sixth Cruiser Squadron, and he gave up command on 10 October, 1910, arriving back in Britain on the 15th. He had been 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 24 June. In November he succeeded Sir Douglas A. Gamble as Admiralty Representative at the International Conference on Aerial Navigation held in Paris.

On 24 February he was appointed to H.M.S. Terpsichore for command of the Royal Naval War College, Portsmouth. On 15 March he was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral, vice Foote. On 2 July, 1912, he went afloat with the staff of the War College, flying his flag in the Illustrious as Vice-Admiral Commanding the Seventh Battle Squadron during the annual manœuvres. He was superseded at the War College on 28 January, 1913, having been appointed Chief of the Admiralty War Staff on 6 January.

Onset of war

Apparently Jackson was opposed to the continuing escalation of the size of capital ships, telling Admiral Sir George F. King-Hall at the beginning of 1914 that: "He [Jackson] agreed with me that Battleships were getting too big and he had set his face against the 15" guns most determinedly." He was promoted to the rank of Admiral on 10 February, 1914, vice King-Hall. In July, 1914, it was announced that Jackson would succeed Admiral Sir Berkeley Milne as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet on 10 December. However, when war broke out he was retained for special service at the Admiralty. He was president of the subcommittee of the Committee of Imperial Defence dealing with overseas attack and largely concerned with planning attacks on the German colonies.

In October, 1914, the First Sea Lord, Prince Louis of Battenberg, had been forced to resign following the agitation over his German birth. At an audience on 27 October, King George V mentioned to Churchill Jackson's name as a replacement, but the First Lord replied that "while admitting", in the words of Lord Stamfordham, the King's private secretary, "his [Jackson's] scientific and intellectual capacity [Churchill] did not think he would do." Asquith told Stamfordham that Jackson was "no personality," and confided to a correspondent that he was a "nonsense" candidate for the post of First Sea Lord. Halpern's explanation that "Jackson no doubt appeared too bland and mild" is unfounded. Goldrick's opinion that Jackson "was colorless and lacked the necessary energy to get the job done" is equally insipid. It is clear that at the time Churchill, and as a consequence Asquith, would accept no one other than Fisher as Battenberg's replacement.

First Sea Lord

Churchill had written to Asquith on 21 May, "I have tried my hand but without success to persuade Sir Arthur Wilson to hold himself at Mr. Balfour's disposition. In these circumstances I wd advise Sir Henry Jackson." Jackson officially became First Sea Lord on 27 May. There was been much adverse comment on the appointment of Jackson. One of the more sympathetic historians, Mackay, having described Jackson as "scientific, dismal, desk-bound", then implies that there was no "imposing alternative," and claims that "talent was scarce at the top." The biographer of Captain (later Admiral of the Fleet Sir) Dudley Pound, who served as Additional Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord, writes without any evidence shown whatsoever that Jackson was "clever but colourless."

In a memorandum of 20 May on the choice of Fisher's successor for Asquith, his Private Secretary, Maurice Bonham Carter, wrote of Jackson: "Sir Henry Jackson is undoubtedly a possibility worthy of very serious consideration. He has been in the machine since the beginning of the war, his paper work is admirable & he would have the confidence of the Admiralty & I think of the Fleet."

Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick T. Hamilton, Second Sea Lord, recounted in his diary an amusing incident from Jackson's visit to Paris in late 1915:

At last Jackson said [to the Minister of Marine] "You talk too much." The Minister said "I suppose you mean I talk too fast." "Not [at] all" said Jackson. "You talk too much." The Frenchman was much surprised and was uncertain how to take it[,] however he took it well and they parted friends.

Hamilton noted in his diary an example of intrigue against Jackson in February, 1916:

He [the King] questioned me very closely about Jackson[,] the 1^st Sea Lord[.] I think the politicians between whom and Jackson no love is lost had evidently been blackening his character.

I told him that Jackson was very well and quite up to the job and the government would go a long way before they found a more level headed man for the job.

It is a pity Jackson is so taciturn before the politicians as he does not do justice to himself.

Later Years

On 4 December Jackson 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.), and was invested with the honour by the King on the same day. Also on 4 December he was appointed President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, where he remained until July, 1919. On 2 April, 1917 he succeeded Sir George Callaghan as First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to the King. On 31 July, 1919, he was promoted Admiral of the Fleet in place of Sir William May, placed on the Retired List.

In 1920 the Lord President of the Council appointed Jackson as Chairman of the Radio Research Board of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. He served as a pall bearer at the ceremonial funeral of the Unknown Soldier on Armistice Day, 1920, marching with Admirals of the Fleet Earl Beatty and Sir Hedworth Meux, Admiral Sir Charles Madden, and General Albert Gatliff of the Royal Marines. On 31 July, 1924, he was placed on the Retired List. He remained active with scientific societies such as the Institution of Electrical Engineers. He was also a vice-president of the Institution of Naval Architects and vice-president of the Seamen's Hospital Society. He was awarded honorary degrees: D.S.C.s from Oxford and Leeds and an L.L.D. from Cambridge. He was also awarded Spanish, Russian, Japanese, and French decorations.

Jackson died of anaemia and chronic nephritis at the age of seventy-five on 14 December, 1929, at his home, Salterns, on Hayling Island, Hampshire. Lady Jackson received the following message from the King:

I learn with sincere regret of the death of Sir Henry Jackson and assure you of my sympathy in your sad loss. Sir Henry will be remembered not only for his distinguished service in the Navy, but also for his devotion to the cause of science and research as a member of the Royal Society.

His funeral took place at Hayling Island Parish Church on 17 December.

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• "Admiral of the Fleet Sir H. B. Jackson" (Obituaries). The Times. Monday, 16 December, 1929. Issue 45387, col A, pg. 19.
• Template:BibGoldrickKing'sShips
• Lambert, Andrew (2010). "The Naval War Course, Some Principles of Naval Warfare and the Origins of 'The British Way in Warfare'". in Neilson, Keith; Kennedy, Greg. The British Way in Warfare: Power and the International System, 1856-1956. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited. ISBN 9780754665939.
• Murfett, Malcolm H. (1995). Murfett, Malcolm H.. ed. The First Sea Lords: From Fisher to Mountbatten. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-94231-7.

Papers

• Papers in the possession of the National Maritime Museum. For a comprehensive list, see Jackson Papers at the National Maritime Museum.
• Papers in the possession of the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth. MSS/255.

Service Records

• The National Archives. ADM 196/87.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/38.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/19.

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Naval Appointments
Preceded by George Le C. Egerton	Assistant Director of Torpedoes 1902 – 1903	Succeeded by The Hon. Alexander E. Bethell
Preceded by Sir William H. May	Third Sea Lord and Controller 1905 – 1908	Succeeded by Sir John R. Jellicoe
Preceded by Lewis Bayly	In Command of the Royal Naval War College 1911 – 1913	Succeeded by The Hon. Sir Alexander E. Bethell
Preceded by Ernest C. T. Troubridge	Chief of the Admiralty War Staff 1913 – 1914	Succeeded by Sir F. C. Doveton Sturdee
Preceded by The Lord Fisher	First Sea Lord 1915 – 1916	Succeeded by Sir John R. Jellicoe
Preceded by Position Vacant	President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich 1916 – 1919	Succeeded by Sir William C. Pakenham
Preceded by Sir George A. Callaghan	First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp 1917 – 1919	Succeeded by The Hon. Sir Stanley C. J. Colville