George John Scott Warrender, Seventh Baronet

Vice-Admiral Sir George J. S. Warrender, Bart.

Vice-Admiral SIR George John Scott Warrender, Seventh Baronet, K.C.B., K.C.V.O., Royal Navy (31 July, 1860 – 8 January, 1917) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He entered the Navy in 1873 and enjoyed an active sea-going career with relatively few periods of shore duty. He served ashore in the Anglo-Zulu War, qualified in gunnery duties and served in the Pacific and on the China Station. He commanded a Naval Brigade during the Boxer Rebellion, and later commanded the East Indies Squadron. He succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1901. After command of a cruiser squadron he was given command of the Second Battle Squadron, which command he held for the first year of the First World War. He was elevated to Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in 1916, but was forced through ill-health to relinquish command and retire from the Navy in December of that year, dying early in 1917 at the age of fifty-six.

Career

George John Scott Warrender was born on 31 July, 1860, the second son of Sir George Warrender, Sixth Baronet, of Lochend, Haddingtonshire, and of Helen, only child of Sir Hugh Hume-Campbell, Seventh Baronet, of Marchmont, Berwickshire. Warrender entered the Training Ship Britannia on 15 January, 1873. He was rated a Midshipman on 19 December, 1874 and appointed to the frigate Raleigh on 1 June, 1875. He was appointed to the corvette Boadicea on 9 July, 1878. While in the Boadicea he landed with the Naval Brigade in the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879, and accompanied the Eshowe Relief Column. He was present at the Battle of Ginghilovo [Gingindlovu] on 2 April and received the South African Medal 1877-1879 and clasp for his participation. The battle saw a Zulu impi of 11,000 men try and destroy an encamped British force of 6,000, in an attempt to repeat the Zulu success at the Battle of Isandlwana, when 1,300 British troops had been killed. At Ginghilovo, the British lost only eleven men killed, while the Zulus lost over a thousand. The battle allowed to raise the two-month long Siege of Eshowe by Zulu forces on 3 April. He served ashore from 19 March to 27 May. Another Midshipman from Boadicea who served with the column was Stanley C. J. Colville, later Admiral Sir Stanley Colville. On 31 July, 1879 he took a First Class certificate in his Seamanship examination and was promoted Acting Sub-Lieutenant. From October, 1879 to May, 1880 he was appointed to H.M.S. Excellent to study for his Lieutenancy examinations at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, which he passed on 26 May, 1880. He took three firsts and received a prize for his efforts, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 7 September, 1880.

On 19 May, 1884 Warrender was appointed as a Junior Staff Officer to Excellent with Lieutenants Hugh Williams and John Jellicoe. One of the three Senior Staff Officers was Percy Scott, and the Captain was John Fisher.

Warrender was promoted to the rank of Commander on 30 June, 1893 in the half-yearly promotions, and was instructed to remain as First Lieutenant of Active until relieved. On 26 October he was appointed Secretary to a Committee advising on the defence of the Medway. On 2 November it was confirmed that his secretarial service would "count as full service" in relation to his pay and benefits. He was superseded on 6 January, 1894. On 6 February, 1894 in St. Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, Warrender married Lady Ethel Maud Ashley-Cooper, daughter of the Eighth Earl of Shaftesbury. He was promptly appointed to the battleship Centurion heading for the China Station on 14 February, where he remained until he was appointed to the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert on 13 May, 1896. During his service in Centurion, he was described by Admiral Sir Edmund Robert Fremantle as, "A smart, energetic + efficient senior executive." He returned to Britain on 3 June. The Warrenders' first child, Violet Helen Marie Warrender, was born on 20 November, 1896. According to historian Paul G. Halpern, "The family connections of both Warrender and his wife gave them the entrée into society and they were well known in the London social world." On 23 June, 1899 the Warrenders' second child, Victor Alexander George Anthony Warrender (later First Baron Bruntisfield), was born. Queen Victoria acted as godmother. On 13 May Warrender had been promoted to the rank of Captain, and on 11 July he was appointed to command the protected cruiser Brilliant for the annual manœuvres.

On 26 October, 1899, Warrender was appointed to command the battleship Barfleur, again on the China Station. When the Boxer Rebellion broke out in May, 1900, Warrender was serving as Flag Captain to Rear-Admiral James A. T. Bruce, second-in-command of the China Squadron. On 11 June, the day after the Commander-in-Chief, Vice-Admiral Edward Seymour, had led a relief force to Peking, a 150 man contingent under Warrender's executive officer, Commander David Beatty, went ashore to assist in the defence of the town of Tientsin. On 25 June, Warrender, then in command off the Taku forts, ordered the destroyer Fame under Lieutenant Roger Keyes to reconnoitre, who then proceeded to seize Hain Cheng fortress with 32 men. For his services during the Boxer Rebellion, Warrender was awarded a gratuity.

On return to Britain, Warrender took command of the cruiser Hawke on 21 May, 1903, and on 5 April, 1904 assumed command of the armoured cruiser Lancaster and superseded on 1 March, 1905. The Warrenders' third child, Harold John Warrender, had been born on 15 November, 1903. On 11 May, 1905 Warrender was appointed to Vivid to take commission the new armoured cruiser Carnarvon, which command he retained until 1 August, 1906. On 23 September, 1905 he was appointed to Excellent for a Gunnery Course, which he completed on 21 October. He was appointed to Vernon on 17 March, 1906 for a Torpedo Course. On 1 February, 1907 he was appointed to hoist his broad pennant in Hyacinth as Commodore, First Class in command of the East Indies Squadron. He was reappointed as Commander-in-Chief upon his promotion to Rear-Admiral on 2 July, 1908. He was superseded on 3 March, 1909.

On 29 November, 1910 Warrender was appointed Rear-Admiral Commanding the Second Cruiser Squadron. From 15 December, 1911 to 5 January, 12 he served as a member of a Gunnery Conference at the Admiralty, attached to H.M.S. President. He struck his flag in command of the Second Cruiser Squadron on 11 December. On 16 December, he was appointed to succeed Sir John Jellicoe in command of the Second Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet (formerly the Second Division), with the rank of Acting Vice-Admiral. He was confirmed in the rank on 4 June, 1913, vice Galloway, placed on the Retired List. When the Naval Society was formed in 1913 with the intent of publishing the independent journal, The Naval Review, Warrender offered financial help and was listed among those who were "very sympathetic." On 23 June, 1914 Warrender took the Second Battle Squadron to the German port of Kiel as a courtesy visit for the annual regatta. When the news of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination in Belgrade was announced, Warrender foretold, "This crime will mean war between Serbia and Austria. Russia will be drawn in and thus Germany and France cannot remain lookers-on." He hosted a final dinner on his flagship for German flag officers, von Tirpitz and von Ingenohl among others. When the squadron left on 30 May, he radioed his German hosts an optimistic salutation, "Friends in past and friends for ever."

Great War Service

Warrender's first and ultimately only opportunity for action came on 16 December. On 14 December Room 40 deduced from intercepted German messages that Scouting Group I would clear the Jade in the morning of the 15th and attack Harwich and the Humber on the 16th. To counter this force, Warrender was despatched with his Second Battle Squadron, Beatty's First Battle Cruiser Squadron and William C. Pakenham's Fourth Cruiser Squadron, William Goodenough's First Light Cruiser Squadron. The Admiralty denied Jellicoe's request to put to sea with the entire Grand Fleet, but he retained strategic command of Warrender's forces, directing him to a gap in the German minefields.

On 16 June, Jellicoe confided to Sir Henry Jackson that, "My Vice-Admirals are always a little shaky. Warrender gets awfully deaf at times [a complaint Jellicoe himself suffered from] and is inclined to be absent-minded, but on the other hand he has had unique experience in command and is excellent as a squadron admiral in peace. I am not always quite happy about him."

Jellicoe wrote to Beatty on 23 November, "George Warrender is relieved by Jerram 16th December. I shall feel his departure most keenly. He is the soul of his squadron and the most loyal of comrades." Warrender struck his flag on 16 December and assumed the position of Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth on 20 March, 1916. On 11 November he was granted six weeks leave after an attack of Pleurisy. On the 30th he was found unfit for further service, and on 3 December he was asked whether he wanted to retire. On 5 December, 1916 he was superseded in the Plymouth command and went on the Retired List at his own request the following day.

Warrender died on 8 January, 1917, at his home in London, 23 Great Cumberland Place. He was cremated at Golders Green on 12 January, and his ashes were interred at the church of the Annunciation, Bryanston Street, London. His eldest son, Victor Alexander Anthony George Warrender, succeeded to the title as Eighth Baronet.

Editor's Assessment

Halpern, in his overview of Warrender's life, concludes: "Warrender remains one of the prime examples of a naval leader who, whatever his personal qualities and distinguished record in time of peace, did not rise to the very different demands of war." By Halpern's own admission, of the mistakes made on 16 December, 1914, "the most egregious probably were not made by Warrender". Beatty, Goodenough and other flag officers were given second chances to prove themselves. Through no fault of his own, Warrender never received his second chance, being relieved of command afloat six months before the Battle of Jutland, when in all probability he would have led the British line of battle. Gordon slates Jellicoe's defence of Warrender, "excellent as a squadron admiral in peace", as "incredible grounds" for keeping him in post. This editor is not convinced that Gordon has satisfactorily identified the pre-requisites for command of a Battle Squadron in war, let alone in peace, a criticism which can also be leveled at Halpern. No doubt Gordon would have preferred a Beatty, "apt to be rash in conclusion", rather than someone perceived to be a reliable stalwart like Warrender, with "an imperturbability that no circumstances could ruffle."
— SIMON HARLEY, Co-editor.

Bibliography

• "Death of Sir George Warrender" (Obituaries). The Times. Tuesday, 9 January, 1917. Issue 41371, col B, pg. 8.
• Template:BibBaconJellicoe
• Bell, A. C. (1927). Dictionary of National Biography. Third Supplement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Clowes, William Laird (1903). The Royal Navy: A History From the Earliest Times to the Present. Vol. VII. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Company.
• Goodenough, Admiral Sir William Edmund (1943). A Rough Record. London: Hutchinson & Co..
• Template:BibGordonRules2005
• Template:BibHaseKielJutland
• Hawkins, Nigel (2002). The Starvation Blockades: Naval Blockades of WW1. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 9780850529081.
• Template:BibHoughGreatWar
• Jellicoe, Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth, First Earl Jellicoe (1966). Patterson, Arthur Temple. ed. The Jellicoe Papers. Volume I. London: Navy Records Society.
• Jellicoe, Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth, First Earl Jellicoe (1968). Patterson, Arthur Temple. ed. The Jellicoe Papers. Volume II. London: Navy Records Society.
• Jones, Mary (1999). The Making of the Royal Naval Officer Corps 1860-1914. Unpublished PhD Thesis. Exeter: University of Exeter.
• Warrender, Lady Maud Ashley (1933). My First Sixty Years. London: Cassell and Company Ltd..

Service Record

• ADM 196/39
• ADM 196/20

Naval Office
Preceded by Sir John Jellicoe	Vice-Admiral Commanding, Second Battle Squadron 1912 – 1915	Succeeded by Sir Martyn Jerram
Preceded by Sir George Egerton	Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth 1916	Succeeded by Sir Alexander Bethell