People/CharactersJohn Jellicoe

John Jellicoe (1859-1935): British admiral. A reformer in the period leading up to the First World War, he was appointed commander of the Grant Fleet (the fleet defending Britain itself) as World War I approached. In that post, he commanded at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The British fleet's failure to destroy the German navy was by no means his fault, but it was held against him; he was put into a desk job at the end of 1916 (where he did not prosper) and retired in 1917. He was given a paper earldom in 1925.