Beatty , David , 1871-1936 , 1st Earl Beatty , Admiral of the Fleet

Beatty , David , 1871-1936 , 1st Earl Beatty , Admiral of the Fleet

David Beatty entered the navy in 1884 as a cadet on board the BRITANNIA. Two years later he was posted as a midshipman to the ALEXANDRA, flagship of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, after which he served in the CRUISER and TAMAR. As an acting Sub-Lieutenant, he underwent training between 1890 and 1892 at Portsmouth and at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Promoted Lieutenant in 1892, he spent most of the next four years in the RUBY corvette, and battleships CAMPERDOWN and TRAFALGAR. Between 1896 and 1898, in the efforts to retain the Sudan under Egyptian control, he distinguished himself in operations involving a flotilla of gunboats on the Nile; in addition in 1898 he commanded a rocket battery on shore. For these services he was promoted Commander in November 1898 (see BTY/1/2 and BTY/24/1-6).

The following year, Beatty went as commander in the BARFLEUR to China, then in the throes of the Boxer rebellion. Again he distinguished himself in reinforcing the garrison at Tientsin and in leading sorties against the besieging rebels (see BTY/1/3). Although only 29, in November 1900 he was promoted captain. Between 1902 and 1910, Beatty commanded the cruisers JUNO, ARROGANT, DIANA and SUFFOLK and the battleship QUEEN. Memoranda survive relating to his command of the JUNO (BTY/2/1). In 1910 Beatty was promoted Rear-Admiral, the youngest flag-officer for over a hundred years, at 39. In 1911 he was offered a Flag post in the Atlantic Fleet, which he refused (see BTY/2/2), and after Winston Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty in October 1911, he chose Beatty for his naval secretary (see BTY/2/3). To test Beatty's aptitude for sea command, Churchill gave him commane of a cruiser squadron during the manoeuvres of 1912 (see BTY/22/1). In 1913 Churchill gave Beatty command of the battlecruiser squadron based at Scapa Flow, with his flag in the LION (see BTY/2/4). Beatty took a leading part in the naval operations of the Grand Fleet throughout the First World War Admiral Sir John Jellicoe became first Sea Lord and Beatty as Commander-in-Chief and Jellicoe's subordinate, the correspondence with Jellicoe is a key source for the history of naval operations for the whole war (see BTY/13/21-23).

Other important correspondence is that between Beatty and Sir Rosslyn Wemyss (1864-1933) (see BTY/13/39, 40). In 1901 Beatty married Ethel (1874-1932), daughter of Marshall Field of Chicago and former wife of the american, Arthur Tree. They had two sons, David (1905-1981) and Peter (b 1910). Their correspondence (BTY/17 and 18) is an important source for the war as well as for pre- and post-war periods, extending from 1900 to 1927. In 1919 Beatty succeeded Wemyss as first sea lord at the Admiralty, a post he held until 1927. Beatty's correspondence with W H Long (1854-1924), then First Lord, covers the terms of his appointment and his first three years at the Admiralty (BTY/13/28). Dominating his first three years at the Admiralty was the controversy over what actually happened at the battle of Jutland, and the succession of efforts to produce a version of events for public comsumption. Particularly important are the memoranda relating to the production by Captain J E T Harper (1874-1949) of the 'Official Record' of the battles and the decision not to publish it (BTY/9/2 and 3). In 1927 Beatty was elevated to the peerage and took his place in the House of Lords. He died in 1939 and was buried in St Paul's Cathedral.