Biographical entry Fisher, Admiral Lord John 'Jacky' Arbuthnot (1841 - 1920)

Admiral of the Fleet, The Right Honourable, the Lord Fisher of Kilverstone, GCB, OM, GCVO

Born
25 January 1841
Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India
Died
10 July 1920
London, United Kingdom
Occupation
Admiral and Naval commander
Alternative Names
  • Jacky Fisher (Alternative name)

Summary

Lord John Fisher, often called Jacky Fisher was an innovative and influential Royal Navy Admiral. He was highly successful in battle but is most well known as a strategist who had a large hand in influencing Navy policy reforms.

Fisher was an early champion of the torpedo as an efficient weapon, becoming an expert in their use as early as the 1860s, and was responsible for ordering the first Whitehead torpedoes used by the Royal Navy.

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Chronology

? - 1877
Career position - Commander on HMS Hercules
1853 - 1856
Career position - Naval Cadet on HMS Calcutta and HMS Agamemnon
1856 - 1860
Career position - Midshipman on HMS Highflyer
1860 - 1861
Career position - Sub-lieutenant (mate) and occasional acting lieutenant on HMS Chesapeake, HMS Coromandel and HMS Furious
1861 - 1863
Career position - Lieutenant aboard HMS Excellent
1863
Career position - Gunnery Lieutenant on HMS Warrior
1864 - 1869
Career position - Gunnery isntructor on HMS Excellent
1869
Career position - Commander, posted as second-in-command on HMS Donegal
1870 - 1872
Career position - Commander, posted as second-in-command on HMS Ocean
1872 - 1874
Career position - Head of torpedo and mine training on the gunnery school Excellent
1876
Career event - Served on Admiralty Torpedo Committee
1876 - 1883
Career event - Promoted to Captain, Royal Navy
1881 - 1882
Career position - Captain of HMS Inflexible, served in Anglo-Egyptian War
1882
Award - Appointed Companion of Bath
1883 - 1885
Career position - Commander of HMS Excellent
1886 - 1890
Career position - Appointed Director of Naval Ordinance
1886 - 1891
Career position - Director of Naval Ordnance, Royal Navy
1890
Career event - Promoted to Admiral, Royal Navy
1891
Career position - Admiral Superintendent, Portsmouth, Royal Navy
1892 - 1897
Career position - Third Sea Lord and Controller, Royal Navy
1897 - 1899
Career position - Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Squadron, Royal Navy
1899
Career event - Delegate for the Royal Navy at Hague Peace Conference
1899 - 1902
Career position - Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, Royal Navy
1902
Award - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
1902 - 1903
Career position - Second Sea Lord, Royal Navy
1903 - 1904
Career position - Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, Royal Navy
1904 - 1910
Career position - First Sea Lord, Royal Navy
1908
Award - Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
1914 - 1915
Career position - Re-appointed First Sea Lord, Royal Navy
1915 - 1917
Career position - Chairman of the Board of Invention and Research
1917
Award - Japanese Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, Grand Cordon

Related entries

Related People

  • Watts, Sir Phillip (1846 - 1926)

    Admiral Jacky Fisher became First Sea Lord during Watts' time as director of naval construction. Fisher shared Watts' enthusiasm for a new class of battleship and approved the construction of the Dreadnought.

Related Vessels

Published resources

Journal Articles

  • Hoffman, F., 'What we can learn from Jackie Fisher', U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, vol. 130, no. 4, 38078, pp. 68-71. Details

Newspaper Articles

  • 'Naval and Military Intelligence', The Times, 16 October 1876, p. 6. Details
  • 'Naval and Military Intelligence', The Times (London), 18 March 1876, p. 7. Details

Resource Sections

Sources used to compile this entry: Paul G. Halpern, Fisher, John Arbuthnot, first Baron Fisher (1841-1920), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Also available at http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33143.

Prepared by: Rebecca Rigby