John Jellicoe

Born in Southampton in 1859.

Joined the Royal Navy in 1872. Served in the Egyptian War in 1882 and appointed as Rear Admiral in 1888.  In1887 he was second in command on board the ill fated HMS Victoria, a battleship cruiser the flagship of Admiral George Tryon. The bridge officers unsuccessfully managed to persuade the Admiral to change the order that all the fleet should anchor in  choreographed  anchoring  manoeuvres off Tripoli, as the space proposed was dangerously too close together. The Victoria  rammed HMS Camperdown which sank immediately. The second in command  on the Camperdown was Jellicoe who survived but 358 of his shipmates drowned. Many years later Alec Guinness starred in the film "Kind Hearts and Coronets" which as its ending replicates the disaster.

The loss of HMS Camperdown

At the start of WW1 Jellicoe was appointed as Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet and organised defences against U boat attacks. Made Admiral of the Fleet in 1919 and in 1925 was created an Earl. He was Governor-General of New Zealand from 1924 to 1929. He died in 1935.