Lord Walter Kerr
1839 – 1927
Place of birth	Midlothian
Place of death	Derby
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands	First Sea Lord
Battles/wars	World War One

Admiral of the Fleet Lord Walter Talbot Kerr was born on 28 September 1839 and died on the 12th May, 1927 at age 87. He served in the Royal Navy and was the British First Sea Lord from 1899 to 1904. 1839 (MDCCCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The central portions of the old province of Lothian in Scotland, centred around Edinburgh, became known as Midlothian, Scotland. ... For other uses, see Derby (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... Image File history File links Naval_Ensign_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Royal Navy Insignia The flag of an Admiral of the Fleet is the Flag of the United Kingdom, and is in 1:2 rather than the 2:3 of other admirals flags. ... The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the British Royal Navy. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Royal Navy Insignia The flag of an Admiral of the Fleet is the Flag of the United Kingdom, and is in 1:2 rather than the 2:3 of other admirals flags. ... 1839 (MDCCCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the British Royal Navy. ... Year 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ... Year 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Early Life and Indian Mutiny

He was born at Newbattle Abbey, Midlothian, on 28 September 1839, the fourth son of John William Robert Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian (1794–1841), and his wife, Lady Cecil Talbot (1808–1877). Kerr was educated at Radley College from 1851 to 1853, when he joined the Prince Regent as a naval cadet. During the Baltic operations of the Crimean War (1854–5) he served in the Neptune and Cornwallis and was promoted Midshipman in August 1855. The next year he was appointed to the frigate Shannon on the China station. On the outbreak of the Indian mutiny in 1857 the Shannon was ordered to Calcutta, and Peel landed with most of his ship's company as a naval brigade. Kerr was wounded in an action near Cawnpore, and was given an independent command at the siege and capture of Lucknow. For this service he was specially rated mate for the rest of the Shannon's commission, and in the following year served for a few months in the same rank in the royal yacht Victoria and Albert, and was promoted Lieutenant in September 1859. The central portions of the old province of Lothian in Scotland, centred around Edinburgh, became known as Midlothian, Scotland. ... Combatants Allies: Second French Empire United Kingdom Ottoman Empire Kingdom of Sardinia Russian Empire Bulgarian volunteers Casualties 90,000 French 35,000 Turkish 17,500 British 2,050 Sardinian killed, wounded and died of disease 256,000 killed, wounded and died of disease The Crimean War (1854–1856) was fought... A midshipman is a subordinate officer, or alternatively a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the navies of several English-speaking countries. ... An engraving titled Sepoy Indian troops dividing the spoils after their mutiny against British rule gives a contemporary view of events from the British perspective. ... This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ... Kānpur (known as Cawnpore before 1948) is the most populous city in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Lucknow   (Hindi: लखनऊ, Urdu: لكهنو, ) is the capital city of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. ... Lieutenant is a military, naval, paramilitary, fire service or police officer rank. ...

1860 to 1894

In 1860 he was appointed to the Emerald for three years' service in the channel, and in 1864 he went to the Princess Royal, flagship on the East Indies and Cape station, for another three years. He was promoted commander in 1868 and served in the Hercules, channel squadron, until 1871, and afterwards in the Lord Warden, until promotion to captain in November 1872. While in the Hercules he was awarded the Royal Humane Society's silver medal for jumping overboard from a height of 30 feet into the Tagus to rescue a man who had fallen from the rigging. Kerr married in 1873 Lady Amabel Cowper, the youngest daughter of George Augustus Frederick Cowper, 6th Earl Cowper. They had four sons and two daughters. The Indies, on the display globe of the Field Museum, Chicago The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term used to describe lands of South and South-East Asia, occupying all of the former British India, the present Indian Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and...

During his first eleven years on the captains' list, four of them on half pay, Kerr's principal commands were as flag-captain to Sir Beauchamp Seymour (afterwards Lord Alcester) in the channel squadron (1874–7), and in the Mediterranean (1880–81). In September 1880 he was sent by Seymour (who commanded the combined fleet of the five naval powers assembled to enforce, under the terms of the treaty of Berlin, the surrender of Dulcigno to Montenegro by Turkey) on a special mission to Rıza Pasha, the Turkish governor of Albania. He then had a shore appointment as captain of the Medway steam reserve until 1885, when Lord George Hamilton, on becoming first lord of the Admiralty in Lord Salisbury's Conservative government, appointed him his naval private secretary. Baron Alcester, of Alcester in the County of Warwick, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... The name Treaty of Berlin is attached to four treaties: Treaty of Berlin, 1878 Treaty of Berlin, 1899 Treaty of Berlin, 1921 Treaty of Berlin, 1926 This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Lord George Francis Hamilton (17 December 1845 - 22 September 1927) was a British Conservative politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ... Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC (3 February 1830 – 22 August 1903), known as Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and as Viscount Cranborne from 1865 until 1868, was a British statesman and Prime Minister on three occasions, for a total of over 13 years. ...

Kerr retained this appointment at the Admiralty until nearly a year after his promotion to Rear Admiral in January 1889. He then hoisted his flag in the Trafalgar, as second in command in the Mediterranean until 1892, when he returned to the Admiralty as junior naval lord. In November 1893 Kerr became second naval lord. The naval lords, led by Sir Frederick Richards (first lord, 1893–9), pressed for a large shipbuilding programme to counter the Franco-Russian threat. Spencer agreed, but Gladstone and Harcourt opposed it. The term Rear Admiral originated from the days of Naval Sailing Squadrons, and can trace its origins to the British Royal Navy. ... Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick William Richards (1833 - 1912) was the British First Sea Lord from 1893 to 1899. ...

1894 to 1927

He was promoted Vice Admiral in February 1894 and in May 1895 Kerr was appointed commander of the channel squadron, with his flag in the Majestic, for two years. In June 1895 he took part with his squadron in the celebration of the opening of the Kiel Canal. After several years as A.D.C. to Queen Victoria and as Privy Councellor, in 1899 he was made First Sea Lord, the professional head of the Royal Navy and he was promoted Admiral in March 1900; by a special order in council he was then promoted Admiral of the Fleet in June 1904, until Trafalgar day (21 October) of that year, when Selborne brought Fisher back from Portsmouth to succeed him. He remained on half pay until he retired on account of age in September 1909. Vice Admiral is a naval rank of three star level, equivalent to Lieutenant General in seniority. ... Victoria Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819–22 January 1901) was a Queen of the United Kingdom, reigning from 20 June 1837 until her death. ... The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the British Royal Navy. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. ... Admiral of the Fleet is a supreme naval position that has existed in historical navies and still exists in several modern-day navies. ...

He was president of the Catholic Union of Great Britain from 1917 to 1921. After his retirement Kerr resided at Melbourne Hall, Derby, and died there on 12 May 1927. A funeral service was held on 17 May at St David's, Dalkeith. Detail of a scary figure on a large vase in the gardens of Melbourne Hall Melbourne Hall, Derbyshire, was once the seat of Victorian Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, and thus is the ultimate origin for the naming of Melbourne, Australia. ... For other uses, see Derby (disambiguation). ... Dalkeith (Scottish Gaelic: Dail Cheith) (pop. ...

First Sea Lord and Opposition to Submarines

Admiral Kerr was a proponent of the Royal Navy leadership who rejected the idea of submarines. Kerr was a stringent advocate of the idea of the surface fleet as the principle unit of naval warfare and had disagreements with the newly formed Submarine Task Force. The A-class submarine (the first Royal Navy submarine) developed into the B-class. The B Class Submarine Service’s first Captain – Roger Bacon, who invented the submarine’s periscope had wanted to put a small-calibre gun on the deck of the B-class but he did not receive support to do this from the First Sea Lord, Lord Walter Kerr. The First Sea Lord had never given his full support to the Submarine Service and he refused to give his permission for Bacon to do anything with the new submarines. There has been speculation as to why Kerr adopted his view that Submarines were pointless, especially as the “Daily Express” had as early as 1902, informed its readers about the submarines “tremendous possibilities in warfare.” It is possible that he saw the submarine as an underhand weapon that should not have been associated with the Royal Navy; it could simply be that submarines had yet to be tried and tested in war and that their designs were still relatively crude, hence his rejection of the use of submarines. USS Los Angeles A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate underwater. ...

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First Sea Lords of the Royal Navy

Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe • Sir Peter Parker • Prince William, Duke of Clarence • Sir George Cockburn • Sir Thomas Hardy • The Hon. George Heneage Dundas • Charles Adam • Sir Charles Adam • Sir William Parker • Sir Charles Adam • James Whitley Deans Dundas • The Hon. Maurice Fitzhardinge Berkeley 1852 Hyde Parker • The Hon. Maurice Fitzhardinge Berkeley • William Fanshawe Martin • The Hon. Sir Richard Saunders Dundas • The Hon. Sir Frederick Grey • Sir Sydney Dacres • Sir Alexander Milne • Sir Hastings Yelverton • George Wellesley • Sir Astley Cooper Key • Sir Arthur Acland Hood • Lord John Hay • Sir R. Vesey Hamilton • Sir Anthony Hoskins • Sir Frederick Richards • Lord Walter Kerr • Sir Jackie Fisher • Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson • Sir Francis Bridgeman • Prince Louis of Battenberg • Sir Henry Jackson • Sir John Jellicoe • Sir Rosslyn Wemyss • The Earl Beatty • Sir Charles Madden, Bt • Sir Frederick Field • The Lord Chatfield • Sir Roger Backhouse • Sir Dudley Pound • The Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope • Sir John Cunningham • The Lord Fraser of North Cape • Sir Rhoderick McGrigor • The Earl Mountbatten of Burma • Sir Charles Lambe • Sir Caspar John • Sir David Luce • Sir Varyl Begg • Sir Michael Le Fanu • Sir Peter Hill-Norton • Sir Michael Pollock • Sir Edward Ashmore • Sir Terence Lewin • Sir Henry Leach • Sir John Fieldhouse • Sir William Staveley • Sir Julian Oswald • Sir Benjamin Bathurst • Sir Jock Slater • Sir Michael Boyce • Sir Nigel Essenhigh • Sir Alan West • Sir Jonathon Band • The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the British Royal Navy. ... John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher (January 25, 1841 – July 10, 1920), commonly known as Jackie Fisher, was a British admiral known for his efforts at naval reform. ... Image File history File links Naval_Ensign_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the British Royal Navy. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe (March 8, 1726 – August 5, 1799) was a British admiral. ... Sir Peter Parker (1721-1811) was a British naval officer, born probably in Ireland. ... William IV (William Henry) (21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death. ... Sir George Cockburn was born in 1772 and went to sea at the age of 14. ... This article is about the naval officer. ... Admiral Sir Charles Adam, KCB (6 October 1780 – 19 September 1853) was a British naval officer. ... Admiral Sir Charles Adam, KCB (6 October 1780 – 19 September 1853) was a British naval officer. ... The second Admiral Sir William Parker was born on December 1, 1781, at Almington, Staffordshire, England. ... Admiral Sir Charles Adam, KCB (6 October 1780 – 19 September 1853) was a British naval officer. ... Sir James Whitley Deans Dundas (4 December 1785-3 October 1862) was a British admiral. ... Hyde Parker (1786 – 26 May 1854) was a British Vice-Admiral started to serve in the Napoleonic Wars and appointed First Sea Lord of the Admiralty in 1852. ... Richard Saunders Dundas (1802 - 1861) was a British naval officer. ... Sir Alexander Milne, 1st Baronet - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Sir Astley Cooper Key (1821 - March 3, 1888), English admiral, was born in London, and entered the navy in 1833. ... Admiral Arthur William Acland Hood, 1st Baron Hood of Avalon (July 14, 1824 – November 15, 1901), was an officer of the Royal Navy who held command during the Crimean War and later served as First Sea Lord. ... Lord John Hay GCB (August 23, 1827 Geneva, Switzerland – May 4, 1916) was a British politician and Admiral of the Fleet. ... Anthony Hiley Hoskins (1828-1901), was a British naval officer who was First Sea Lord from 1891 to 1893. ... Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick William Richards (1833 - 1912) was the British First Sea Lord from 1893 to 1899. ... John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher (January 25, 1841 – July 10, 1920), commonly known as Jackie Fisher, was a British admiral known for his efforts at naval reform. ... Arthur Knyvet Wilson (VC, GCB, OM, GCVO) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. ... Admiral Sir Francis Charles Bridgeman Bridgeman GCB, GCVO (7 December 1848 – 17 February 1929) was a British sailor. ... Prince Louis of Battenberg Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, (24 May 1854 – 11 September 1921), formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a minor German prince who married into the British Royal Family and pursued a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, eventually serving as First Sea... Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Bradwardine Jackson was born in 1855 and died in 1929. ... Admiral of the Fleet Lord Jellicoe Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe (December 5, 1859–November 20, 1935) was a British Royal Navy admiral. ... 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Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh, Royal Navy, is a British admiral who served as First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy from 2001-2002. ... The Queen and Admiral Sir Alan West, then First Sea Lord embarked onboard HMS Endurance during the review of the international fleet Admiral Sir Alan West, GCB, DSC, DUniv (born 1948) was the First Sea Lord, the professional head of the Royal Navy, from 2002 to 2006. ... Admiral Sir Jonathon Band KCB ADC is a senior officer in the Royal Navy. ...