More trouble at TRM…

An angler called into TRM reception recently to collect our map of the Tongariro River – “Fifty Pools to Fish Before You Die” – and particularly asked about fishing the Admirals Pool after he had seen so many trout lined up and obviously waiting for him. In the discussion he mentioned the pool had been named after Admiral Hickling who had written the book “Freshwater Admiral”. Rather than trying to correct him I should have remained dumb, but I could not resist it. However, (being a wet-liner) he was certain we were wrong as he had read it in a Q&A interview with a local expert in an article on Facebook.

So it was no surprise when he proudly returned the next day with his irrefutable evidence (?) repeated below: The extract from the article follows:

[LT] What legendary stories are there about the river that might not be commonly known?

[GO] I mentioned the Duchess Pool, but there are a whole lot of pools named after people. Another one is the ‘Admiral Pool’, named after Admiral Hickling, who used to come here quite a bit.

But the Admiral was not Rear Admiral Hickling – who wrote “Fresh Water Admiral” when he lived here. This famous pool was named after the far more illustrious Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Jellicoe, second Governor-General of New Zealand, 1920 – 1924.

What’s more, military historians will love this, his appointment as NZ’s G-G was very controversial after he had been sacked from the Royal Navy. As the angler did not believe me, I promised TRM’s correct version of the history of the Admiral of the Tongariro River Admirals Pool would be repeated in TRM’s blog.

It is historically important as it also reflects the special calibre of anglers attracted to fish the Tongariro River over one hundred years ago.

– Following pinched off Google:

First World War

At the start of the First World War, the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, removed Admiral George Callaghan, Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet^[16] (August 1914). Jellicoe was promoted to full admiral on 4 August 1914 and assigned command of the renamed Grand Fleet in Admiral Callaghan’s place, though he was appalled by the treatment of his predecessor.^[16] He was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 8 February 1915.^[22]

When Fisher (First Sea Lord) and Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty) both had to leave office (May 1915) after their quarrel over the Dardanelles, Jellicoe wrote to Fisher: “We owe you a debt of gratitude for having saved the Navy from a continuance in office of Mr Churchill, and I hope that never again will any politician be allowed to usurp the functions that he took upon himself to exercise”.^[18]

Jellicoe commanded the British Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916, the largest (and only major) clash of dreadnoughts, albeit an indecisive one.^[16] His handling of the Grand Fleet during the battle remains controversial, with some historians characterising Jellicoe as too cautious and other historians faulting the battlecruiser commander, Admiral David Beatty, for making various tactical errors.^[23] Jellicoe certainly made no significant mistakes during the battle: based on limited intelligence, he correctly deployed the Grand Fleet with a turn to port so as to “cross the T” of the German High Seas Fleet as it appeared.^[24] After suffering heavy damage from shells, the German fleet turned 180 degrees and headed away from the battle.^[25] At the time the British public expressed disappointment that the Royal Navy had not won a victory on the scale of the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar.^[16] Churchill described Jellicoe later as “the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon” –essentially hinting that Jellicoe’s decision to prefer caution was strategically correct.^[16] He was appointed a member of the Order of Merit on 31 May 1916,^[26] advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order on 17 June 1916^[27] and awarded the Grand Cross of the French Legion of Honour on 15 September 1916.^[28]

First Sea Lord

Jellicoe was appointed First Sea Lord in November 1916.^[16] His term of office saw Britain brought within danger of starvation by German unrestricted U-Boat warfare.^[29]

At the War Committee (a Cabinet Committee which discussed strategy in 1915–16) in November 1916, the admirals present, including Jellicoe, told Lloyd George that convoys presented too large a target for enemy ships, and that merchant ship masters lacked the discipline to “keep station” in a convoy. In February 1917, Maurice Hankey wrote a memorandum for Lloyd George calling for the introduction of “scientifically organised convoys”, almost certainly after being persuaded by Commander Henderson and the Shipping Ministry officials with whom he was in contact. After a breakfast meeting (13 February 1917) with Lloyd George, Carson (First Lord of the Admiralty) and Admirals Jellicoe and Duff agreed to “conduct experiments”. However, convoys were not in general use until August 1917, by which time shipping losses to U-boats were already falling from their April peak.^[30]

Jellicoe continued to take a pessimistic view, advising the War Policy Committee (a Cabinet Committee which discussed strategy in 1917) during planning meetings for the Third Ypres Offensive in June and July that nothing could be done to defeat the U-boats. However, removing Jellicoe in July, as Lloyd George wanted, would have been politically impossible given Conservative anger at the return of Churchill (still blamed for the Dardanelles) to office as Minister of Munitions. In August and September Lloyd George was preoccupied with Third Ypres and the possible transfer of resources to Italy, whilst the new First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, was reforming the Naval Staff (including creating a post for Wemyss as Deputy First Sea Lord). Geddes and Lloyd George met with Balfour and Carson (both former First Lords of the Admiralty) on 26 October to discuss sacking Jellicoe after he had failed to act on “secret, but absolutely reliable” information about a German attack on a Norwegian convoy, but again nothing came of this as Lloyd George was soon preoccupied by the Battle of Caporetto and the setting up of the Supreme War Council. Geddes wanted to return to his previous job in charge of military transportation in France, and by December it was clear that Lloyd George would have to sack Jellicoe or lose Geddes.^[31]

Jellicoe was rather abruptly dismissed by Geddes in December 1917.^[29] Before he left for leave on Christmas Eve he received a letter from Geddes demanding his resignation. Geddes’ letter stated that he was still in the building and available to talk, but after consulting Admiral Halsey Jellicoe replied in writing that he would “do what was best for the service”. The move became public knowledge two days later.^[32]

The Christmas holiday, when Parliament was not sitting, provided a good opportunity to remove Jellicoe with a minimum of fuss. Geddes squared matters with the King and with the Grand Fleet commander Admiral Beatty (who had initially written to Jellicoe of his “dismay” over his sacking and promised to speak to Geddes, but then did not write to him again for a month) over the holiday. The other Sea Lords talked of resigning (although Jellicoe advised them not to do so), especially when Geddes suggested in a meeting (31 December) that Balfour and Carson had specifically recommended Jellicoe’s removal at the 26 October meeting; they had not done so, although Balfour’s denial was less than emphatic. There was no trouble from the generals, who had a low opinion of Jellicoe. In the end the Sea Lords remained in place, whilst Carson remained a member of the War Cabinet, resigning in January over Irish Home Rule.^[33]

Although it was pretended that the decision had been Geddes’ alone, he let slip in the Naval Estimates debate (6 March 1918) that he had been conveying “the decision of the Government”, i.e. of Lloyd George, who had never put the matter to the War Cabinet. MPs picked up on his slip immediately, and Bonar Law (Conservative Leader) admitted in the same debate that he too had had prior knowledge.^[34]

As First Sea Lord Jellicoe was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Belgian Order of Leopold on 21 April 1917,^[35] the Russian Order of St. George, 3rd Class on 5 June 1917,^[36] the Grand Cross of the Italian Military Order of Savoy on 11 August 1917^[37] and the Grand Cordon of the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun on 29 August 1917.^[38]

Later life

After war

Jellicoe was created Viscount Jellicoe of Scapa Flow on 7 March 1918.^[39]

At the Supreme War Council at the start of June 1918, amidst concerns that—following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk—the Germans were about to requisition the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Lloyd George proposed Jellicoe as Allied Supreme Naval Commander in the Mediterranean. The French were in favour of a combined Allied naval command, but the Italians were not, so nothing came of the suggestion.^[40]

Jellicoe was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 3 April 1919.^[41] He became Governor-General of New Zealand in September 1920^[42] and while there also served as Grand Master of New Zealand’s Masonic Grand Lodge.^[43] Following his return to England, he was created Earl Jellicoe and Viscount Brocas of Southampton in the County of Southampton on 1 July 1925.^[44] He also served as the Commissioner for London Boy Scouts from 1925 to 1928.^[45] He was made a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire in 1932.^[46] He died of pneumonia at his home in Kensington in London on 20 November 1935 and was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral.^[29]