Jellicoe:Death and Legacy

Jellicoe was at a ceremony planting poppies on 9 November, 1935 and "probably" caught a chill in the cold weather. On Armistice Day (11 November) he laid a wreath at the Foch Memorial near London Victoria station and then led the marchpast of ex-service personnel at the Cenotaph. The following day he gave a speech at Euston station and named a London, Midland and Scottish Railway steam engine British Legion. In what was to be his final public appearance he praised the work of the railway's predecessor companies (following "grouping" in 1922) in keeping the Grand Fleet supplied during the war, and thanked it for employing 9,000 disabled ex-servicemen and held it as an example for other companies to follow: "For let me remind you that those men saved the Empire, aye, saved civilization, and no recompense should be too great for them."

The chill slightly affected Jellicoe's left lung (the one with the Boxer bullet in it) but had been deemed "apparently not dangerous." Jellicoe's family had to go away for a brief period and it was arranged for three naval officers to dine with him: "He was happy to be experimenting with a new hearing-aid and the talk was much of help for needy ratings. At the evening's end he said, 'If you fellows don't mind I won't come down to see you off. I think I've got a chill and I'll take an aspirin and go to bed.' I looked at him and saw something that made me apprehensive. Nevertheless he came running down to give one of the others an address which he had recommended." On 19 November his heart began to fail and bulletins were issued to the press on the state of his health. The following day, 20 November, Jellicoe's son George was informed by his housemaster that his father was very ill, and he took the next train from Winchester. In the evening the father and son spoke, and at one point Jellicoe told his son, "Let's have another chat tomorrow when I'm feeling better." George went for a walk down Brompton Road and then felt an "overwhelming urge" to return home. He was greeted by the doorman with the news that his father had just died. A British Pathé newsreel announcing his death ended with the words: "The British Navy has lost the man who represented its highest ideals. England is the poorer for his passing."