Difference between revisions of "John Michael de Robeck, First Baronet"

Latest revision as of 02:26, 8 May 2024

Admiral of the Fleet Sir John M. de Robeck, Bart., portrayed as an Admiral in 1923.
© National Portrait Gallery, London.

Admiral SIR John Michael de Robeck, First Baronet, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., R.N. (10 June, 1862 – 20 January, 1928) was an officer of the Royal Navy during the First World War. He is perhaps most notable for his command of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron during the abortive attempts to force the Dardanelles in 1915. He later commanded a battle squadron in the Grand Fleet, and after the war ended held the commands of the Mediterranean and Atlantic Fleets.

Early Life & Career

John Michael de Robeck was born at Gowran Grange, Naas, Ireland, on 10 June, 1862, one of three surviving sons of the fourth Baron de Robeck. He entered the Royal Navy as a Naval Cadet on 15 July, 1875, by joining the training ship Britannia at Dartmouth. He left the ship after the usual two years, or four terms, with no time allowed for conduct or study towards promotion to Midshipman, suggesting his academic performance and behaviour had been poor. This is supported by a note in his papers signed by the establishment's captain, Captain William Graham, entitled "Offences of M^r De Robeck to Xmas 1875." In five months he had already been given four days No. 7 punishment by the Commander, i.e. "Extra drill one hour, leave stopped, go ashore one hour with Drill Sergeant, No. 4." No. 4 was "Stand on middle deck for one hour after prayers (evening)." For 15 offences he was given No. 3 punishment, "Extra drill for one hour" fifteen times. He was also reported 15 times "for want of attention in Study"!^[2]

He was appointed to his first ship, the armoured cruiser Shannon, Captain William B. Grant, on 27 July, 1877, on the Pacific Station. He was rated Midshipman on 28 July, 1878. In July, 1881, the Shannon paid off, and from 10 July to 22 July he was borne on the books of the Agincourt, flagship of the second-in-command of the Channel Squadron. After the usual three months' leave for such extended foreign service he was appointed to the ironclad battleship Minotaur in the Channel Squadron. On 10 January, 1882, he transferred to the ironclad battleship Northumberland in the same squadron.

On 29 April, 1882, de Robeck was appointed to the boys' training ship St. Vincent at Plymouth for service in the masted brig Martin. From 10 July he was appointed to the Royal Adelaide, flagship at Devonport. On 27 July was examined in Seamanship by Captains William Grant of the Royal Adelaide and Francis M. Prattent of the Belleisle and Commander Alexander G. McKechnie of the Lion.^[3] Captain Grant was of course known to him. He obtained a first class certificate with 950 marks out of 1,000. From the same date he was promoted to the rank of Acting Sub-Lieutenant. He was then borne on the books of Excellent while studying for the rank of Lieutenant. In March, 1883, he passed his so-called Navigation examination at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, with a third class and 869 marks. In May he passed in torpedo with a third class and 147 marks, and on 3 August he passed in gunnery with a second class and 570 marks.

H.M.S. Britannia at Dartmouth, formed of the Hindostan at left and Britannia on the right. De Robeck was trained in the establishment and served in it twice as a Lieutenant.
Image: By courtesy of Terry Dickens [astraltrader].

An appointment to the Agincourt on 9 August was cancelled, and on 14 August de Robeck returned to sea and was appointed to the gunboat Espoir on the China Station. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 30 September, 1885, after three years 2 months as a Sub-Lieutenant. His obituary in The Times claimed, "He took only one first in his examinations—in seamanship—and was placed only third in navigation and gunnery; consequently he had to serve for three years and two months as a 'sub'".^[4] As we saw, he actually attained one first, one second, and two thirds. Compare and contrast to Britannia term mate Henry H. Bruce who attained a first in seamanship and three thirds, yet was promoted in 30 months.^[5]

^[6] From 27 July to 15 October, 1886, he was borne on the books of the receiving ship Victor Emanuel at Hong Kong, taking passage home to the United Kingdom in a mail steamer on 11 September. His records indicate that he never served in the flagship Audacious as claimed by T. A. Heathcote.^[7] He was on foreign service leave from 16 October to 26 November, and then went on half pay. On 5 January he returned to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, for study, before being appointed to the Boscawen, boys' training ship at Portland, for service in the brig Seaflower on 25 March. On 2 November he returned to the Agincourt, now flagship of the Channel Squadron. He returned to the Britannia from 4 September, 1888, to 29 December, 1890, except for the period 22 July to 21 August, 1890, when he served in Torpedo Boat 86 for the annual manœuvres.

On 27 January, 1891, he was appointed to the Imperieuse, flagship on the China Station, taking passage in the troopship Tamar until joining the ship on 29 March. He took watchkeeping duties in the Tamar on the way. On 27 January, 1893, he was invalided home on account of diarrhoea, and took passage in the Tamar. He wasn't found fit until 15 May. He served in the Brilliant from 11 July to 24 August for the annual manœuvres, and on 25 August was again appointed to the Britannia, this time as First Lieutenant, where he would remain for the next 20 months.

He was superseded in the Britannia on 19 April, 1895, at his own request. After a short period on half pay he was appointed to Excellent for a short course of gunnery on 4 May, which he passed in July with a first class and 548 marks. During the manœuvres of 1895 he served as First Lieutenant of the Indefatigable, before being appointed to Vernon for a short course in torpedo, which he passed in November with a first class and 316 marks. On 12 November he was appointed to the Cordelia on the North America and West Indies Station as First and Gunnery Lieutenant. In March 1896 Commodore The Honourable Maurice A. Bourke wrote to the effect that "I cannot speak too highly of the admirable tact & judgement he displayed on occasion of riots at Basseterre [Guadeloupe] in command of landing party". In May, 1897, the Commander-in-Chief, Vice-Admiral James E. Erskine, specially recommended de Robeck for promotion, and he was accordingly promoted to the rank of Commander on 22 June.^[8]

Commander

After the usual period of half pay upon promotion he was appointed to Wildfire for command of the destroyer Haughty on 20 November, then over the next two years the destroyers Desperate, Angler and the Mermaid, as well as commanding the Medway Torpedo Flotilla. Sir Gilbert O. Stephenson served under him in the Mermaid as a Sub-Lieutenant, and recalled that the destroyers used to go up and down the Thames at speed, forcing the civilian traffic to cover their hatches to stop the destroyers' wash flooding their holds. The master of a vessel with an advert for Beecham's Pills on the sail started shouting at the passing destroyer and de Robeck roared back, "Go and lick your —— mainsail and give your liver a chance."^[9]

On giving up command in November, 1899, he was specifically recommended for early promotion by the Commander-in-Chief at the Nore, Sir Charles F. Hotham, an opinion concurred in by the late First Naval Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick W. Richards, who had been Commander-in-Chief in the Imperieuse at the beginning of the 1890s.

An appointment to the first class protected cruiser Powerful was cancelled in November. From 7 January to 3 April, 1900, he was on sick leave. At the same time he began to try and establish what his future in the Navy would be, corresponding and meeting with Captain Bourke, now Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, and Bourke's temporary replacement, Captain Prince Louis of Battenberg. According to de Robeck, Bourke informed him that the Admiralty wanted to recognise his services, to which he replied that the only way they could do that would be to promote him, "as I was already old for my standing & that I had no desire or wish to be promoted to Captain unless I was absolutely certain of becoming an Admiral on the Active List — otherwise I should prefer to have a quiet appointment to finish my time".^[10] In April he was offered the command of the third class protected cruiser Pyramus in the Mediterranean, and from this "I could but infer that I was to receive early promotion". He was appointed to the Pyramus on 1 June. He was superseded in command in August, 1901, at his own request, on account of "private affairs", and went on half pay from 19 August. At this point he seriously considered resigning from the Navy according to a draft letter to the Admiralty in his papers. He considered that a "deep wrong" had been done to him in not granting him early promotion to the rank of Captain, that "I have received nothing more substantial than their Lordships thanks", and that less deserving officers had been promoted over his head. Whether he ever sent this letter is unknown.^[10] Regardless, he was promoted to the rank of Captain on 1 January, 1902, at the age of 39.^[11] The average age of officers promoted to Captain in 1901 had been 41 years and 1 month. In 1902 it would be 40 years and 7 months.^[12]

Captain

After a few months on half pay on 16 July, 1902, de Robeck was appointed in command of the the Warrior, depot ship for torpedo boats and destroyers at Portsmouth. In May, 1903, the Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, now Hotham, wrote "Excellent officer, thorough knowledge of Destroyer work. Great zeal & very good physique." On 30 May he was appointed to the Orion for duty with destroyers in the Mediterranean, and on 21 January, 1904, transferred to light cruiser Leander for the same duty. Apparently not long afterwards he sent in a letter "re unseaworthy state of Leander". In July the Admiralty replied that they "regret he sh^d have allowed himself to make reckless & unsubstantiated charges about 'Leander'", and he was directed to be more circumspect in future. In August, 1904, the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, Sir Compton E. Domvile, wrote that de Robeck was "a most excellent officer, thoroughly au fait at his work with destroyers & made great improvements in his time. Physically very strong. Strongly recommended for advancement". The same month he applied for his Leander letter to be reviewed, which request was refused. On 1 June he was relieved at his own request and after leave went on half pay.

In December, 1905, he again applied for a review of the Leander rebuke. The Admiralty again refused, but informed him "T.L.s [their Lordships] do not consider any stigma of the nature he refers to rests on his character but they are of opinion still that his letter of Feb. 04 was ill considered & more circumspection should have been used". Perhaps as a result of the change of government at the end of 1905, he was appointed Captain of the armoured cruiser Carnarvon on 1 August 1906. Captain Rosslyn E. Wemyss of the heavy cruiser Suffolk, wrote to his wife on 20 August "he is a very nice fellow".^[13] The 1907 performance of the ship's 6-inch guns was poor enough to warrant the Admiralty writing to him in February, 1908 that "T.L. look for considerable improvement in the future." By this time he had been appointed in command of the battleship Dominion on 25 January, 1908, in the Channel Fleet. In November he was criticised by the Admiralty for improperly drawing up the charge sheet in a court-martial while serving as Prosecutor. Their Lords considered that there had been grave neglect of duty. Yet again, de Robeck took offence, and requested reconsideration of the matter. The Admiralty refused, but did deign to retract the word "grave".

On giving up command of the fleet in March, 1909, the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Charles Beresford, reported:

No defect, very high qualifications in both zeal and judgment. Strongly recommended for advancement as one of the best officers in the Service. Splendid physique. A brilliant officer with great all round knowledge of the Service, exceptionally good in the management and command of T. flotillas. Has all the qualifications of an Admiral, and is certain to make a brilliant Commander-in-Chief.

After two years in the ship he was superseded in command on 25 January, 1910. Vice-Admiral Sir A. Berkley Milne, Bart., commanding the Second Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet (as the Channel Fleet had become), reported "A very zealous & efficient officer. Handles his ship very well. Ship in first rate order. Very reliable. Will make a very good Flag Officer in command of a squadron."

In early 1910 he received what he considered to be verbal assurances from Ernest C. T. Troubridge, Private Secretary to the First Lord, now Reginald McKenna, that he would be appointed as Commodore of the Royal Naval Barracks, Portsmouth. In the event the appointment went to Alexander L. Duff in October, which prompted yet another paper trail of pique, this time at being "passed over". He immediately requested to be appointed to courses, telling Admiral Milne, that it was "more to prevent him [McKenna] saying that I had no desire to serve".^[14] In an attempt to mollify him, Troubridge offered to recommend him for "The next good appointment for a senior Captain", Inspecting Captain of Boys' Training Ships which would fall vacant on Herbert W. Savory's promotion to Rear-Admiral early the following year.^[15] Eventually de Robeck agreed, and on 15 February, 1911, he took up the appointment, after taking gunnery, torpedo, and navigation courses at Portsmouth at the end of 1910. As Inspecting Captain he also had command of the training ship Impregnable. In April the outgoing Commander-in-Chief, Sir Wilmot H. Fawkes, reported that de Robeck was "Physically strong. Has shown a good grasp of the work of the training service in the short time he has served here. Strongly recommended for advancement." Despite his repeated complaints bordering on insubordination over the years, the Admiralty deemed de Robeck worthy of promotion to the rank of Rear-Admiral, even though his service as a captain was not in the prescribed order. Treasury sanction was obtained to promote him under the Order in Council of 19 December, 1881.

Flag Rank

De Robeck was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 1 December, 1911, vice Savory.^[16] On 21 December he was superseded in charge of the boys' training ships. He returned to half pay until 15 March, 1912, when he was appointed to the new appointment of Admiral of Patrols, with charge of four patrol flotillas on the East Coast. He asked Captain Walter H. Cowan to go as his Assistant, who later recalled:

It meant working from the Admiralty and a lot of travelling. What we had to do was, to organise for war, the defence of the whole East Coast from Balta Sound in the Shetlands down to the Thames Estuary, with a force of Destroyers and Submarines and to settle bases for them, all up that line and from time to time, go out to sea with them to drill them up.
We had an old Cruiser for Flagship 'St. George' I think it was late Flagship at the Cape [of Good Hope] in the days when I was in the 'Barrosa' but we were very seldom in her except when John de Robeck wanted to give a dinner-party. We soon learnt to combine business with pleasure - we were both very fond of playing gold and hunting the FOX.
There was golf almost everywhere we went, especially Edinburgh way where our duties took us a good deal. Barnton, Bruntisfield, Gullane, North Berwick, Dumfermline [sic] and even once, we practised on May Island where the lighthouse keepers had a miniature course and a challenge cup.
The hunting took rather more arranging, John de Robeck had his horses at Farnborough near Banbury, and mine were at Kineton and a typical example of how, now and then we managed it was from Grimsby. We were out half the night exercising our Destroyers there, then landed and caught the train for Banbury where our horses met us; got there in time for breakfast and to change our clothes at the 'White Lion', hunted that day and then back to London in time for dinner and working at the Admiralty the next morning. I think on the whole we spent more time travelling about and seafaring than in London, and it was a good sort of 'full up' life and no one had any say about our movements. John de Robeck had superlatively good, heavy weight horses, he rode about 17 stone and often I had the riding of them when he was otherwise engaged.^[17]

He was superseded as Admiral of Patrols on 30 April, 1914, and went on half pay. On 13 July he hoisted his flag in the armoured cruiser Aboukir in command of the Eighth Cruiser Squadron for the Test Mobilisation. He struck his flag at Chatham on 26 July, 1914.^[18]

Great War

He hoisted his flag in the first class protected cruiser Amphitrite as Rear-Admiral Commanding Cruiser Force I from 1 August. According to one service record he served in first class protected cruiser Argonaut from 27 July to 8 September, apart from a period from 2 to 12 August in the aircraft carrier Vindictive. Then Amphitrite from 8 September to 18 September, Argonaut from 19 September to 19 October, Amphitrite again from 20 October to 19 December apart from two days in armoured cruiser Warrior on 18 and 19 November. That he changed flagship a lot was commented upon by Vice-Admiral Sir F. C. Doveton Sturdee, who wrote to him on 18 November, "I have admired very much the way you have changed your Flag, it must have been a great inconvenience".^[19]

On 7 February, 1915, de Robeck was appointed Rear-Admiral Second-in-Command of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron off the Dardanelles, with his flag in the battleship Vengeance. He took command of the squadron from Sackville H. Carden on 17 March, with the rank of Acting Vice-Admiral.

On 1 January, 1916, he was appointed an Additional Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, in the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (K.C.B.).^[20] He struck his flag in Lord Nelson on 19 June, 1916, and on 27 June he assumed command of the Third Battle Squadron with the rank of Acting Vice-Admiral in succession to Vice-Admiral Sir Edward E. Bradford, wearing his flag in the battleship Dreadnought. He wrote to the First Sea Lord, Sir Henry B. Jackson, "it is a mistake not to have a change, as regards myself I feel a different person, though slack & rather a want of energy; but the North Sea air should put that into one".^[21]

De Robeck and his second-in-command in the Second Battle Squadron, Rear-Admiral William E. Goodenough.

He was placed in command of the Second Battle Squadron on 3 December, 1916. He was confirmed in the rank of Vice-Admiral on 17 May, 1917, vice Sturdee.^[22]

He was chastised for sending a telegram protesting the appointment of his navigating Cdr. Schäfer to the convoy sloop Gaillardia in November 1917.

Post-War & Retirement

On 1 January, 1919, de Robeck was appointed an Additional Member of the First Class, or Knight Grand Cross, of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (G.C.M.G.).^[23] He struck his flag in the Second Battle Squadron on 22 March. On 26 July he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, and on 26 August was also appointed High Commissioner at Constantinople. On 29 December he was granted a Baronetcy, of Naas, in the County of Kildare.^[24] On 24 March, 1920, he was promoted to the rank of Admiral, vice Grant,^[25] and on 17 November he relinquished his position as High Commissioner. He 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.) on 1 January, 1921.^[26]

He gave up command of the Mediterranean on 7 April, 1922. On 3 July he married Hilda Lockhart, widow of Colonel Sir Simon Macdonald Lockhart, Bart.^[27] On 15 August he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet. His love of hunting nearly contributed to his premature demise. On 24 August, 1923, he was on his way home to Lee Castle at Lanark from a shooting party near Carnwath, when his car skidded. De Robeck was found by his host with a severe head injury. The injury was so bad that he wasn't fit for command in early November.^[28]

On 15 August, 1924, he struck his flag for the last time. On the same day he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross in the Royal Victorian Order.

He was advanced to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet on 24 November, 1925, vice Burney.^[29] He died in London on 20 January, 1928 at his residence, 5 Southwick Crescent, London.

Bibliography

Papers

Service Records

Footnotes