‘’Rosy’ Wemyss Admiral of the Fleet: The Man who Created Armistice Day’. Reviewed by Jonathan Seagrave

‘Rosy’ Wemyss Admiral of the Fleet: The Man who Created Armistice Day. John JohnsonAllen, Whittles Publishing, £17.99. ISBN 978-1-84995-485-3

A while back I enjoyed and reviewed Mary Jones’ account of Admiral John Marx (SWS 70), so I thought I’d tackle this new biography of Wemyss too, another little known but significant figure. He was very much of the same period, and the account begins in the same way, time at Britannia, then the unchallenged supremacy of the RN showing the flag to the colonies, on HMS Bacchante, in Wemyss’ case alongside fellow midis the royal heirs to the throne, George and Eddy, both at Britannia and later.

These trips involved much jollying, more extensive for the princes’ presence. Interestingly though, the instructions were very clear for the princes to be treated exactly the same as their peers whilst on board, despite the class distinctions of the era. The Navy was a leveller in some ways. They were lengthy trips; he was away for 2 ½ years, showing the flag and meeting and greeting.

Wemyss rose swiftly; he was gregarious, diplomatic and capable as well as well connected, assisted by his spell on Osborne, the smaller royal yacht. His next appointment, to HMS Undaunted, a new armoured cruiser commanded by Beresford, started this climb up the ladder. It was his first ship without sails, a major jump in terms of fighting power, though she only lasted 20 years as technology moved on. After time in the Med he had his first command, a torpedo boat, in 1892. Later, as second in command when the Kaiser, in his British Admiral of the Fleet uniform, unexpectedly arrived very early on HMS Astraea. Wemyss tactfully defused the embarrassment of unreadiness, by pointing out that British admirals didn’t board before divisions. A stint on the royal yacht Victoria and Albert saw his promotion to commander. By the time he went to South Africa at the start of the Boer war he was frustrated by lack of action.

His next big posting was the world tour with the Duke and Duchess of York in 1901 on HMS Ophir which honed his organisational and diplomatic skills. After return, he married quietly to Victoria, not Lady Constance Butler to whom he wrote often on the world cruise. She appears to never have married. I sense an untold story there. We aren’t told anything about Victoria; they

He set up Osborne College, a Fisher project, where both engineering and deck cadets learned side by side, so deck officers would become aware of how the engines and machinery worked, followed by command of a new cruiser, HMS Suffolk, in the Med. He seems to have greatly improved morale; he had a flair for leading men. After another royal trip to South Africa, he is promoted in 1911 to vice admiral and becomes a naval ADC to the new King George, his old midi companion on Bacchante.

Before WW1 started he was on a regular annual trip to take the waters in Germany; he had friends there, and had to rush back as mobilisations started. His first wartime command was cruisers on blockade duty in the Western approaches, much like Marx.

His next posting was Greece for the ill-fated Dardanelles operation. He recounts the chaos of a poorly thought through operation, with no or unclear orders, even at high level. He managed much of the planning for landing and all of it for withdrawal - hugely complex logistical tasks, and I think the first large modern combined operation, and supported the creation of the first landing craft, the hastily adapted River Clyde. The evacuation, a mini Dunkirk, was a success with only one casualty on withdrawal, a huge contrast with the lethal fighting on land. The Navy, though, had had heavy losses too, especially from submarines, old battleships going down in minutes. Churchill and Fisher resigned as a result of the fiasco. He received the KCB for his efforts.

As an aside, as a fifties schoolboy I visited an old man who had been at the Dardanelles. He recounted seeing a gun on one of the bombarding battleships peel apart like a banana, from a shell exploding inside the barrel. I imagine this recollection is at the very limit of personal, albeit second-hand, witness.

Appointed to the East Indies station, which covered a vast area including Suez, Saudi and Iraq, he ensured the Navy did everything possible to assist TE Lawrence and the Arab revolt against the Turks, and was much appreciated by them.

The book relies quite heavily on Victoria’s account of his life in her own biography, also on his own account of the Dardanelles, as well as several separate accounts of the royal tour. These may not always be impartial, and some anecdotes are challenged by others, but his private letters to Victoria show a leader always keen to praise his subordinates and team, whilst taking a clear eyed view of his superiors. He had character. It is said he declined the plum post of naval secretary to Admiral Fisher as he felt he would have to be a yes man, and he clearly wasn’t that. No doubt his comparative wealth and royal friendships protected him from any comeback. He twice offered to resign.

Towards the end of the war he rose swiftly. He wanted to be C-in-C Mediterranean fleet, a seagoing post, but instead became deputy First Sea Lord, then First Sea Lord. He didn’t like the politicians he had to deal with, but seems to have been very successful at getting on with them. As Germany began the final retreat, he managed to secure all the Allies agreement on the naval terms of Armistice, even more of a challenge. There is some detail on this, though it is doubtless covered elsewhere. He was one of the signatories of the Armistice in the famous