ADMIRAL SIR JOHN RUSHWORTH JELLICOE, G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O., was born on December 5th, 1859. He was educated at Rottingdean, and entered the Navy in 1872, becoming in 1880 a Lieutenant (three First Class Certificates). As a young officer he specialised in Gunnery.

During the Egyptian War, as Lieutenant of the "Agincourt," he gained the Egyptian Medal and Khedive's Bronze Star. In 1883 he received a special ￡80 prize at the Royal Naval College.

In May, 1886, Lieutenant Jellicoe was awarded the Board of Trade Silver Medal for having commanded a gig, manned by volunteers, which set out to rescue the crew of a steamer stranded on a sandbank near Gibraltar. A heavy sea was running and the boat capsized, but the crew, being provided with cork jackets, managed to reach the shore in safety.

Lieutenant Jellicoe was Assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance from 1888 to 1891, on June 30th of which year he became a Commander, and was serving in the "Victoria" when she foundered off Tripoli after collision with the "Camperdown" on June 27th, 1893. At the time of the catastrophe Commander Jellicoe was suffering from Mediterranean fever. He was promoted to Captain on January 1st, 1897. During the Boxer outbreak in 1900 he was Flag-Captain in the "Centurion," and took part in Admiral Sir E. H. Seymour's International Expedition to relieve the Pekin Legations. In this Expedition he acted as Chief Staff Officer, was wounded, and afterwards received the C.B. for his services.

He was Naval Assistant to the Controller of the Navy from February, 1902, to August, 1903; Captain of the "Drake" from August, 1903, to January, 1905; and Director of Naval Ordnance and Torpedoes from 1905 to August, 1907. In the previous March he had been made Aide-de-Camp to the King, a post which he held until February 8th, 1907, when he became an Admiral. From August, 1907, to August, 1908, he was Rear-Admiral in the Atlantic Fleet, becoming Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy at the end of 1908. He commanded the Atlantic Fleet in 1910, with the rank of Acting Vice-Admiral, and on the occasion of King George V.'s Coronation he was made a K.C.B. In 1911 he commanded the Second Division of the Home Fleet, becoming a Vice-Admiral on September 18th of that year. On December 9th, 1912, he was appointed Second Sea Lord.

On the outbreak of war on August 4th, 1914, he was given Chief Command of the Grand Fleet, with the acting rank of Admiral. He was in supreme command at the Battle of Jutland.

In recognition of his services during the war, he received the G.C.B. on February 8th, 1915, and an Order in Council, dated November 10th, 1914, laid down that "Admiral Jellicoe on his promotion to the rank of Admiral is to retain seniority as Admiral of August 4th, 1914, while holding his present command."

On May 31st, 1916, Admiral Jellicoe received the Order of Merit.

On December 4th, 1916, he became First Sea Lord, the title "Chief of Naval Staff" being added on May 31st, 1917.

Admiral Jellicoe holds the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, the Russian Order of St. George (Third Class), the Order of the First Class of the Rising Sun with Paulounia, and the Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold, also the French and Belgian Croix de Guerre and the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savoy.

No biographical notice of Sir John Jellicoe would be complete without a mention of his father, who was, in his day, a well-known and distinguished Captain in the Merchant Service. It is pleasant to remember that Captain Jellicoe lived to see his son in command of the Grand Fleet during the greatest war in history. This close connection between the two branches of sea service is also peculiarly happy and appropriate. Admiral Patton, a great-grandfather on his mother's side, was Second Sea Lord during the Trafalgar campaign.