David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty

Admiral of the Fleet The Earl Beatty
17 January 1871(1871-01-17) – 11 March 1936 (aged 65)
Place of birth	Nantwich, Cheshire, England
Place of death	London, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1884-1927
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands held	First Sea Lord
Battles/wars	Mahdist War Battle of Omdurman Boxer Rebellion World War I Battle of Heligoland Bight Battle of Dogger Bank (1915) Battle of Jutland
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Order of Merit Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Distinguished Service Order

Rear-Admiral David Beatty.

Admiral of the Fleet David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO (17 January 1871 – 11 March 1936) was an admiral in the Royal Navy. Achieving career success at an early age, he commanded the British battlecruisers at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, a tactically indecisive engagement after which his aggressive approach was contrasted with the caution of his commander Admiral Jellicoe. Later in the war he succeeded Jellicoe as Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet, in which capacity he received the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet at the end of hostilities, and then in the 1920s he served a lengthy term as First Sea Lord (head of the Royal Navy).

He is best remembered today for his comment that "there is something wrong with our bloody ships today" at Jutland, where two of his battlecruisers exploded and sank due to design faults.

Early career

Beatty was born at Howbeck Lodge in the parish of Stapeley, Cheshire, on 17 January 1871.^[1] He was the second son of four children born to David Longfield Beatty and Katherine (or Katrine) Edith Beatty, both from Ireland. Beatty's father had been an officer in the Fourth Hussars (and his two brothers would both later join the British Army), but early on young David developed an interest in ships and the sea and expressed a desire to join the Royal Navy. He was sent to a "crammer" at Gosport for a year to prepare for the entrance examination, and in January 1884 passed into the officers' training ship Britannia tenth out of ninety-nine candidates.^[2] During his two years at Britannia, moored at Dartmouth, Devon, he was given twenty-five times for "minor offences" and beaten three times for more serious infractions. He passed out of Britannia eighteenth out of the thirty-three remaining cadets at the end of 1885.^[2] Thanks to the influence of his mother, Beatty's first appointment was to HMS Alexandra, the Duke of Edinburgh's flagship in the Mediterranean Squadron.^[3]

In 1889 Beatty left Alexandra and was appointed Sub-Lieutenant in the sailing corvette Ruby for seamanship training.^[4] He was transferred to HMS Cruiser. He was at the gunnery school, Excellent from 1890 until 1892 when he was promoted to lieutenant. He rejoined HMS Ruby, remaining in her until 1893, when he was transferred to the battleship Camperdown until 1895. Following Camperdown he was transferred to the battleship Trafalgar. In 1897, he was given his first command, the destroyer Ranger.

Beatty gained recognition in the recapture of the Sudan (1897-1899), where he was selected as second in command of the river flotilla by Lord Kitchener for his Khartoum expedition. Beatty commanded the gunboat Fatah at the Battle of Omdurman. He was promoted to commander during the expedition, in 1898 at the early age of 27 over the heads of many senior officers.

He gained further recognition as a member of the British naval brigade during the Boxer Rebellion (1900), which he joined from the battleship Barfleur on the China Station where he was second in command. During the capture of Tientsin in June, he was twice wounded in an arm, and rewarded for his bravery with a promotion. At the age of 29, Beatty became the youngest Captain in the Royal Navy. The average age for a newly promoted Captain at the time was 43.

Advancement

In 1900, he married Ethel Field Tree, the divorced, only daughter of Chicago department store founder Marshall Field. The couple had two sons, David Field Beatty, 2nd Earl Beatty (1905-1972) and the Hon. Peter Randolph Louis Beatty (1910-1949). His marriage to a very a wealthy heiress allowed Beatty much independence that most other officers lacked. She is reputed to have commented after he was threatened with disciplinary action following the straining of his ship's engines "What? Court martial my David? I'll buy them a new ship".^[5] She had bought him a steam yacht, houses in London and in the Leicestershire hunting country, and a Scottish grouse moor. The couple circulated in high society, even occasionally dining with the King. However, there were disadvantages, as Beatty discovered after his marriage, for his wife was an unstable neurotic who caused him extreme mental tortures. Beatty was an intelligent and able leader, but all his social and sporting obligations, coupled with his high-strung temperament, prevented him from becoming a coldly calculating professional like Jellicoe – or his adversary, Hipper. Beatty’s flamboyant style included wearing a non-standard uniform, which had six buttons instead of the regulation eight on the jacket, and always wearing his cap at an angle.

He was captain of HMS Duke of Wellington from 1900 to 1902, while still recovering from the injury to his arm. In August 1902 he was passed fit for sea duty and was appointed captain of the cruisers HMS Juno, HMS Arrogant in 1903-1904 and HMS Suffolk from 1904 until 1905. He then became the naval advisor to the Army Council in 1906.

He was made captain of the battleship HMS Queen in 1908 and promoted to Rear-Admiral on 1 January 1910, becoming, just shy of 39, the youngest Admiral in the Royal Navy (except for Royal family members) since Horatio Nelson.

He was offered the post of second-in-command of the Atlantic Fleet, but declined it and asked for one in the Home Fleet. As the Atlantic Fleet post was a major command, the Admiralty were very unimpressed and his attitude nearly ruined his career. Beatty, as a rapidly promoted war hero, with no financial worries and with a degree of support in Royal circles, felt more confident than most naval officers in standing firm on requesting a posting nearer home. He was approaching two years on half pay (which would trigger automatic retirement from the navy) when on January 8, 1912 his career was saved by the new First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill.^[6] Churchill had met Beatty when Beatty was commander of a gunboat on the Nile supporting the army at the Battle of Omdurman, in which Churchill took part as a cavalry officer. A "probably apocryphal"^[7] story relates that as Beatty walked into Churchill's office at the Admiralty, Churchill looked him over and said, "You seem very young to be an Admiral." Unfazed, Beatty replied, "And you seem very young to be First Lord." Churchill - who was himself only thirty-eight years old in 1912 - took to him immediately and he was appointed Private Naval Secretary to the First Lord against the advice of First Sea Lord Sir Arthur Wilson.^[8]

On 1 March 1913 he received the appointment of Rear-Admiral Commanding the First Battle Cruiser Squadron.^[9] Beatty was late taking up his new post, choosing not to cut short a holiday in Monte Carlo. On his eventual arrival, he set about drafting standing orders regarding how the squadron was to operate. He noted, 'Captains...to be successful must possess, in a marked degree, initiative, resource, determination, and no fear of accepting responsibility', and particularly regarding wartime conditions'...as a rule instructions will be of a very general character so as to avoid interfering with the judgement and initiative of captains...The admiral will rely on captains to use all the information at their disposal to grasp the situation quickly and anticipate his wishes, using their own discretion as to how to act in unforeseen circumstances..' The approach outlined by Beatty contradicted the views of many within the navy, who felt that ships should always be closely controlled by their commanding admiral, and harked back to reforms attempted by Admiral George Tryon. It is argued that Tryon had attempted to introduce greater independence and initiative amongst his captains, which he believed would be essential in the confusion of a real war situation, but had ironically been killed in an accident caused by captains rigorously obeying incorrect but precise orders issued by Tryon himself.^[10]

A commander has some discretion as to choice of officers to serve under him. The new command came with a competent Flag Lieutenant, Charles Dix, but Beatty was not happy with him, and anyway the former commander of the squadron wanted Dix to accompany him to his new command. Beatty chose Lieutenant Ralph Seymour as his successor, despite Seymour being unknown to him. Seymour had aristocratic connections, which may have appealed to Beatty since he sought connections in society, but it was also the case that Seymour's sister was a longstanding close friend of Churchill's wife. Appointments by influence were common in the navy at this time, but the significance of Beatty's choice lay in Seymour's relative inexperience as a signals officer, which later resulted in difficulties in battle.^[11]

World War I

On the eve of the First World War in 1914, Beatty was knighted with the KCB^[12], and promoted to acting Vice-Admiral a month later. In August 1915, he was promoted to full Vice-Admiral^[13]. During the course of the war, he took part in actions at Heligoland Bight (1914), Dogger Bank (1915) and Jutland (1916). He was an aggressive commander who expected his subordinates to always use their initiative without direct orders from himself.

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Jutland proved to be decisive in Beatty's career, despite the loss of two of his battlecruisers. Beatty is reported to have remarked (to his Flag Captain, Chatfield, later First Sea Lord in the early 1930s), "there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today," after two of them had exploded within half an hour during the battle. One theory is that this was caused by a design fault in the ammunition loading system to the main gun turrets, so that an enemy hit on the turret set off an explosion in the magazine, thus sinking the ship. Churchill's account of the First World War, The World Crisis, describes Beatty's next order as, "Steer two points nearer the enemy." His next order was to turn away by two points, and, in any case, a few minutes later he reversed his fleet's course to fulfill its anticipated role of leading the German forces towards the main British fleet.

Admiral John Jellicoe, described by Churchill as the only man who could "lose the war in an afternoon" by losing the strategic British superiority in dreadnought battleships, was not a dashing showman like David Beatty. When Jellicoe was promoted to First Sea Lord in 1916, Beatty succeeded him as commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet and received promotion to the acting rank of Admiral at the age of 45 on 27 November.

Beatty received the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in November 1918. On the night of 15 November, Rear-Admiral Hugo Meurer, the representative of Admiral Franz von Hipper, met Admiral Beatty aboard Beatty's flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth. Beatty presented Meurer with the terms, which were expanded at a second meeting the following day. The U-boats were to surrender to Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt at Harwich, under the supervision of the Harwich Force, then the surface fleet was to sail to the Firth of Forth and surrender personally to Beatty. They would then be led to Scapa Flow and interned, pending the outcome of the peace negotiations. Meurer eventually signed the terms after midnight. Rather than show any sign of magnamimity to Meurer and his staff, he chose to overawe and humiliate them instead. Germany never forgot Beatty's treatment, and indeed, Germany chose to ignore the news of Beatty's subsequent death: this contrasting with the condolences and honours rendered by Germany at the news of Jellicoe's passing.

Postwar career

On 1 January 1919, Beatty was promoted to the permanent rank of Admiral, with seniority from 27 November 1916^[14]. On 1 May, he was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet^[15]. On 18 October, he was created 1st Earl Beatty, Viscount Borodale and Baron Beatty of the North Sea and Brooksby^[16]. Afterwards, he served a lengthy term as First Sea Lord until 1927. This was not a happy period for the Royal Navy. With the removal of the German High Seas Fleet in 1919, Britain had no naval enemies, and at the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 it was agreed that the USA, Britain and Japan should set their navies in a ratio of 5:5:3, with France and Italy maintaining smaller fleets. Britain was required to scrap most of her vast First World War fleet (only two new, oddly-shaped, battleships, HMS "Rodney" and "Nelson" were built at this time, known colloquially as the "Cherry Tree Class" as they had been "cut down by Washington"). Japan, which had been an ally of Britain since 1900, was angered that she had not been treated as an equal by the two major powers, and Anglo-Japanese relations soured thereafter. When the United States began to expand her navy in the 1930s, she would surpass Britain as the world's premier naval power.

After 1924 Beatty, supported by the First Lord of the Admiralty Bridgeman, clashed with the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Winston Churchill, over the number of cruisers required by the Royal Navy. At this stage of his career Churchill was opposed to what he saw as excessive defence spending. This may seem in odd in light of his previous and subsequent reputation, but in the 1920s no major war seemed to be on the horizon, although Beatty correctly warned that Japan should be treated as an enemy going forward. The dispute dragged on until after Beatty's retirement, and a further naval disarmament treaty, (the London Treaty of 1930) would limit the numbers of cruisers.

In 1927 Beatty, who had become the first chairman of the Chiefs of Staff, retired from active service. On the 24 July he was made a Freeman of Huddersfield.

Controversy

The battle of Jutland was the major naval engagement of WWI and marked a turning point in the naval war. Although it was tactically inconclusive, with significantly higher losses in the British fleet but with the German fleet fleeing the field of battle, it was effectively a strategic defeat for Germany. The Royal Navy could much more readily replace its losses with ships already under construction, while the engagement ended with the German fleet retreating as fast as possible from the British. Thereafter the Imperial German Navy ceased any serious attempts to engage the British fleet and remained at home as a 'fleet in being'. British public perception of the engagement was initially as a serious defeat, at a time when popular opinion expected great things from the Royal Navy. As admiral in command, Jellicoe received much of the blame for this 'defeat', despite the fact that most of the significant losses were amongst the independent battlecruiser squadron commanded by Beatty.

A number of serious errors have been identified in Beatty's handling of this squadron. These included:

• Failing to engage the German battlecruiser squadron with all his ships, thus throwing away a two to one numerical superiority and instead fighting one-to-one. Beatty was given command of the 5th Battle squadron to replace a squadron of battlecruisers away for training. These were four of the most powerful ships in the navy, but he positioned them so far away from his six battlecruisers that they were unable to take part in most of the engagement with Admiral Hipper's squadron of five battlecruisers.^[17]
• Failed to take advantage of the time available to him between sighting the enemy and the start of fighting, to position his battlecruisers to most effectively attack the enemy. At the point the German ships opened fire with accurately determined ranges for their guns, Beatty's ships were still maneuvering, some could not see the enemy because of their own smoke, and hardly any had the opportunity of a period of steady course as they approached to properly determine target range. As a result the German ships had a significant advantage in early hits, with obvious benefit. During this time he also lost the potential advantage of the larger guns on his ships: they could commence firing at a longer range than the German ships.^[18]
• Failed to ensure that signals sent to his ships were handled properly and received by the intended ships. Lost signals added to the confusion and lost opportunities during the battle. This issue had already arisen in previous battles, where the same signals officer had been involved, but no changes had been made.^[19]
• The gunnery of his ships was generally poor compared to the rest of the fleet. This was partly a consequence of his ships being stationed at Rosyth, rather than Scapa Flow with the main fleet, since local facilities at Rosyth were limited, but this was a problem identified months before Jutland which Beatty had failed to correct.^[20] He preferred to trust to rapid close-range fire rather than deliberate ranging and operating at extreme range, a failing which had also been pointed out to him previously. His battlecruisers achieved few hits on the enemy, with most of the damage being inflicted by the battleships, when they eventually came close enough to take part.
• He failed in his role as fast armoured scout to report to Jellicoe the exact position of the German ships he encountered, or to keep in contact with the German fleet while he retreated to the main British Grand Fleet. This information was important to Jellicoe to know how best to position the main fleet to make the most of its eventual engagement with the German High seas fleet. Despite this, Jellicoe succeeded in positioning his ships to good advantage, relying on other closer cruisers for final knowledge of the German's position, but necessitating last-minute decisions.^[21]

After the war a report of the battle was prepared by the Admiralty under First Sea Lord Wemyss. Before the report was published, Beatty was himself appointed First Sea Lord, and immediately requested amendments to the report. When the authors refused to comply, he ordered it to be destroyed and instead had prepared an alternative report, which proved highly critical of Jellicoe. Considerable argument broke out as a result, with significant numbers of servicemen disputing the published version, including Admiral Bacon, who wrote his own book about the battle, criticising the version sponsored by Beatty and highly critical of Beatty's own part in the Battle.^[22] Many books and reviews were published as the debate continued over which version of events was correct. Beatty was critical of Jellicoe's cautious approach to the Grand Fleet, arguing this had thrown away the opportunity for a decisive numerical victory. Defenders of Jellicoe argued that he did no more than protect the body of his fleet, which outnumbered the German ships while steadily pressing the attack. The German strategy was one which relied upon chance to create opportunities for local victories, such as had happened against Beatty, whereas Jellicoe considered a careful approach always favoured the larger force. Ultimately it was not clear that Jellicoe made any mistakes in his management of the fleet, nor departed from procedures which had been agreed upon by all concerned in advance.

Later life and legacy

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portrait of Beatty by William Orpen

David Beatty spent much of his life (when not at sea) in Leicestershire, and lived at Brooksby Hall and Dingley Hall. During the First World War, he and his wife performed many services for the public of Leicestershire, including opening up their home first as a VAD Hospital under the 5th Northern General Hospital, and later as a hospital for Naval Personnel.

In 1930 the Scottish artist Cowan Dobson painted a full-length portrait of Beatty in white-tie and tails.

A (perhaps apocryphal) story is sometimes told of Beatty's retirement, that he canvassed in uniform in support of Conservative candidates in dockyard constituencies, presumably in the 1929 or 1931 General Elections. On knocking on one door the lady of the house, presuming him to be a sailor in search of "horizontal refreshment", directed him to the local brothel several doors down the road. Another version of the story is that he canvassed with Nancy, Lady Astor, MP for Plymouth Sutton, and received an embarrassingly friendly welcome at boarding houses who were used to renting rooms by the hour to sailors and their lady companions.

Beatty died after catching a chill as pallbearer at the funeral of his old commander Admiral Jellicoe. He had been advised not to leave his bed, but he went anyway saying, "What will the Navy say if I fail to attend Jellicoe's funeral?" Beatty had requested in his will that he would like to be buried next to his wife Ethel at Dingley. Instead he was buried at St Paul's Cathedral. Thus the double grave at Dingley Church only has Beatty's wife buried there.^[23]

In Germany, Beatty had ruined his reputation when he told the crews of his ships that were receiving the German High Seas Fleet for its internment at Scapa Flow, "Don't forget that the enemy is a despicable beast," and arranged the surrender of the German Fleet as a grand spectacle of humiliation. The German navy thus ignored Beatty's request that its Commander-in-Chief, Erich Raeder, attend his funeral – as Raeder had done at Jellicoe's funeral earlier. Raeder merely sent the German navy attache. Admiral Sir Dudley Pound commented: 'Who wants these sinkers-of-hospital-ships and machine-gunners-of-sailors-in-the-water at Admiral Beatty's funeral anyway?'.

The Royal Navy named a King George V-class battleship after Beatty, but this ship was renamed HMS Howe before completion.

A bust of Beatty rests on Trafalgar Square in London, alongside those of Jellicoe and Andrew Cunningham, Admiral of the Fleet in World War II.

In Toronto, Canada at 55 Woodington Blvd. there is a school named Earl Beatty Junior and Senior Public School. The school belongs to the Toronto District School Board (commonly referred to as the TDSB). The school is an active member of the eastern Toronto community and celebrates his legacy.

A street called Beattytown was built in Galway, Ireland in the 1920s by the Irish Soldiers' and Sailors' Land Trust and named after Admiral Beatty, following their policy of naming streets after notable commanders of the British Empire.

Styles

• 1871-1889: David Beatty
• 1889-1892: Sub-Lieutenant David Beatty
• 1892-1896: Lieutenant David Beatty
• 1896-1898: Lieutenant David Beatty, DSO
• 1898-1900: Commander David Beatty, DSO
• 1900-1905: Captain David Beatty, DSO
• 1905-1908: Captain David Beatty, MVO, DSO
• 1908-1910: Captain David Beatty, MVO, DSO, ADC
• 1910-1911: Rear-Admiral David Beatty, MVO, DSO
• 1911-19 June 1914: Rear-Admiral David Beatty, CB, MVO, DSO
• 19 June-September 1914: Rear-Admiral Sir David Beatty, KCB, MVO, DSO
• September 1914-1915: Rear-Admiral (Actg. Vice-Admiral) Sir David Beatty, KCB, MVO, DSO
• 1915-27 November 1916: Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty, KCB, KCVO, DSO
• 27 November 1916-January 1917: Vice-Admiral (Actg. Admiral) Sir David Beatty, KCB, KCVO, DSO
• January-25 June 1917: Vice-Admiral (Actg. Admiral) Sir David Beatty, GCB, KCVO, DSO
• 25 June 1917-1 January 1919: Vice-Admiral (Actg. Admiral) Sir David Beatty, GCB, GCVO, DSO
• 1 January-1 May 1919: Admiral Sir David Beatty, GCB, GCVO, DSO
• 1 May-3 June 1919: Admiral of the Fleet Sir David Beatty, GCB, GCVO, DSO
• 3 June-18 October 1919: Admiral of the Fleet Sir David Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO
• 18 October 1919-1936: Admiral of the Fleet the Right Honourable the Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO

Honours

British

• Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO)-17 November 1896^[24]
• Member Fourth Class (present-day Lieutenant) of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO)-28 April 1905^[25]
• Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB)-19 June 1911^[26]
• Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB)-19 June 1914^[27]
• Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO)-1915
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB)-January 1917
• Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)-25 June 1917^[28]
• Member of the Order of Merit (OM)-3 June 1919^[29]
• Earl Beatty, Viscount Borodale of Wexford in the County of Wexford, Baron Beatty of the North Sea and of Brooksby in the County of Leicester-18 October 1919^[30]

Foreign

• Order of Majid, 4th Class (Nishan-i-Majidieh) of the Ottoman Empire-1898^[31]
• Order of St George, Fourth Class of the Russian Empire-1916^[32]
• Grand Officer of the Legion d'Honneur of France-15 September 1916^[33] (Grand Cross-23 May 1919^[34])
• Croix de Guerre of France-15 February 1919^[35]
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania of the Kingdom of Romania-17 March 1919^[36]
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer of the Kingdom of Greece-21 June 1919^[37]

Quotations

References

Further reading

v • d • e First Sea Lords of the Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet The Earl Howe · Sir Peter Parker · Prince William, Duke of Clarence First Naval Lords (1828–1904) Sir George Cockburn · Sir Thomas Hardy · The Hon. George Dundas · Charles Adam · Sir George Cockburn · Sir Charles Adam · Sir George Cockburn · Sir William Parker · Sir Charles Adam · James Dundas · The Hon. Maurice Berkeley · Hyde Parker · The Hon. Maurice Berkeley · The Hon. Sir Richard Dundas · William Martin · The Hon. Sir Richard Dundas · The Hon. Sir Frederick Grey · Sir Alexander Milne · Sir Sydney Dacres · Sir Alexander Milne · Sir Hastings Yelverton · George Wellesley · Sir Astley Key · Sir Arthur Hood · Lord John Hay · Sir Arthur Hood · Sir Richard Hamilton · Sir Anthony Hoskins · Sir Frederick Richards · Lord Walter Kerr First Sea Lords (1904–present) Sir John Fisher · Sir Arthur Wilson · Sir Francis Bridgeman · Prince Louis of Battenberg · The Lord Fisher · Sir Henry Jackson · Sir John Jellicoe · Sir Rosslyn Wemyss · The Earl Beatty · Sir Charles Madden, Bt · Sir Frederick Field · The Lord Chatfield · Sir Roger Backhouse · Sir Dudley Pound · The Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope · Sir John Cunningham · The Lord Fraser of North Cape · Sir Rhoderick McGrigor · The Earl Mountbatten of Burma · Sir Charles Lambe · Sir Caspar John · Sir David Luce · Sir Varyl Begg · Sir Michael Le Fanu · Sir Peter Hill-Norton · Sir Michael Pollock · Sir Edward Ashmore · Sir Terence Lewin · Sir Henry Leach · Sir John Fieldhouse · Sir William Staveley · Sir Julian Oswald · Sir Benjamin Bathurst · Sir Jock Slater · Sir Michael Boyce · Sir Nigel Essenhigh · Sir Alan West · Sir Jonathon Band · Sir Mark Stanhope