Janus: The Papers of Reginald McKenna

Churchill/MCKN contains:
1	Personal
2	Public: Education Board
3	Public: Admiralty
4	Public: Home Office
5	Public: Exchequer
6	General: Fisher Correspondence
7	General: Later Career
8	Family correspondence
9	Personal and general correspondence
10	Elections
11	Photographs and cuttings
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More information

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The Papers of Reginald McKenna

Title	General: Fisher Correspondence
Reference	MCKN 6
Covering Dates	1908–1920
Extent and Medium	2.5 archive boxes

Content and context

Letters from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [1st Sea Lord, 1904-10 and 1914-15], mainly on Admiralty business, including the naval estimates, but also ranging over Fisher's more general concerns, including his feud with Admiral Lord Charles Beresford and his good and bad opinions of various other naval and political figures, comments on the political situation, his relations with Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty, his resignation during the Dardanelles Campaign and subsequent attempts to return to the Admiralty, as well as his rather flirtatious relationship with Pamela McKenna.

Further information

Churchill Archives Centre also holds the Fisher Papers, GBR/0014/FISR.

Index Terms

Cecil, James Edward Hubert Gascoyne - (1861-1947) 4th Marquess of Salisbury, politician

Fisher, John Arbuthnot (1841-1920) 1st Baron Fisher of Kilverstone, Admiral of the Fleet

Royal Navy

Churchill/MCKN 6 contains:

Letters to McKenna. Letter from Fisher assuring McKenna of his gratitude for his kindness and considering a time for his retirement. Also includes an advertisement for a public demonstration against the dismissal of Admiral Lord Charles Beresford [Commander-in-Chief, Channel Fleet].
1 file.

Feb 1908-Oct 1908

Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: removing ships from service; numbers of Dreadnoughts required in the naval estimates; a discussion with Winston Churchill [President of the Board of Trade] on Dreadnought numbers; information on German shipbuilding and the Krupps Works; German naval strategy; attacks against the Admiralty by Admiral Lord Charles Beresford [Commander-in-Chief, Channel Fleet] and the subsequent enquiry; Fisher's respect for McKenna; Japan buying oil from Burma [later Myanmar]; sending a warship to the Sudan with the Governor-General, General Sir [Francis] Reginald Wingate; Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson becoming a member of the Committee of Imperial Defence; Fisher being cited in a divorce case; the by-election at Portsmouth [Hampshire], Beresford's seat; Fisher's view of Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe [Controller of the Navy]; his concern that McKenna might resign; Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman [Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet]'s intention to resign went Fisher went. Other correspondents include: Admiral Beresford writing to 1st Lord Brassey on his dismissal; Ernest Pretyman on his disgust as press attacks against Fisher and a report that Japan was buying fuel oil from Burma; Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister [later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith] offering Fisher a peerage. Also includes memorandum on a proposed inquiry into Admiralty policy; a report on Germany's attitude to war and a crisis in Serbia; memorandum by Fisher on the need for an increase in the numbers of officers in the Fleet.
1 file.

Feb 1909-Dec 1909

Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: the retirement of Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson and his work for the coastguard service; Admiral Lord Charles Beresford's re-election campaign at Portsmouth [Hampshire]; Fisher's handover [as 1st Sea Lord] to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson; Fisher's comments on various commands, including his view that the career of Prince Louis of Battenberg [later 1st Lord Milford Haven] was finished and his regret that Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe was not going to the Atlantic; the birth of Michael McKenna; Beresford's influence over King Edward VII; Fisher's relations with the Royal Family; the origin of the Dreadnought type; the political situation, particularly among the Conservatives; a threatened campaign against McKenna over the Archer-Shee compensation case, inaugurated by Henry Massingham and Fabian Ware; naval estimates and a discussion with David Lloyd George [Chancellor of the Exchequer]; Fisher's irritation with Admiral Sir William May; an operation undergone by McKenna. . Other correspondents include: Lionel Yexley, passing on the gratitude of the service for all Fisher had done for the men of the lower deck and on Beresford's re-election campaign at Portsmouth.
1 file.

Jan 1910-Dec 1910

Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: Sir Marcus Samuel [later 1st Lord Bearsted]'s new oil company; Fisher's visit to Italy; stories from 2nd Lord Esher [earlier Reginald Brett] on the position of Herbert Asquith [Prime Minister, later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith]; Fisher urging McKenna to use Maurice Hankey to prepare the Admiralty case for the Imperial Conference; the naval estimates; McKenna's health; Fisher's relations with Winston Churchill [First Lord of the Admiralty]; schemes for compulsory service and increasing the army estimates. . Other correspondents include: Sir Marcus Samuel asking Fisher to be director of his new oil company in Sarawak [Malaya, later Malaysia].
1 file.

Jan 1911-Nov 1911

Letters to Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: Winston Churchill's respect for McKenna as his predecessor at the Admiralty and Fisher's disapproval of his naval appointments; the wrecking tactics of "Napoleon B" [1st Lord Haldane] and Fisher's allegation that Haldane interfered with the original draft of the Beresford Report; Fisher's satisfaction at the appointment of Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe [2nd Sea Lord]; Admiral Lord Charles Beresford's continuing attacks against Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson. Also includes a copy of Fisher's letter to Churchill on Dreadnought design and describing his appointments of Admiral Sir Hedworth Meux [Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, earlier Hedworth Lambton], Admiral Sir [Archibald] Berkeley Milne [Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean] and Admiral Sir Reginald Custance as a betrayal of the Navy.
1 file.

Mar 1912-Dec 1912

Letters to Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: inviting her and McKenna to visit; meetings with Arthur Balfour; Fisher's belief that Winston Churchill [First Lord of the Admiralty] and "Napoleon B" [1st Lord Haldane, Lord Chancellor] were Conservatives at heart and a rumour that Haldane was dying.
1 file.

Jun 1913-Dec 1913

Letters to Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: John Seely [Secretary of State for War, later 1st Lord Mottistone] "blacking the King's boots" by adding King George V's view to what the Cabinet had already agreed; wishing that David Lloyd George [Chancellor of the Exchequer] would remove duty from tea, sugar and tobacco; numbers of Germans living in Britain; the unaltered war arrangements at the Admiralty since McKenna left; the popularity of the Government; Sir George Armstrong's appointment as Chief Naval Censor; German submarine torpedoes being much more powerful than British torpedoes; the military control of the German Fleet; Fisher's return to the Admiralty as 1st Sea Lord; altering navigation lights and buoys to control neutral trade and confuse German pilots; the likely chances of a raid on the north-east coast; Fisher's satisfaction at having sent HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible in time to join Vice-Admiral Sir (Frederick) Doveton Sturdee's squadron in the Falklands.
1 file.

Jan 1914-Dec 1914

Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: his decision to resign and his view that Winston Churchill [First Lord of the Admiralty] had always been thinking of the military side rather than that of the Navy; Fisher's determination to serve only with McKenna or with Andrew Bonar Law as First Lord; the appeal written by Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe [Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet] against Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson becoming 1st Sea Lord; Admiral Lord Charles Beresford being made a peer; Fisher's view that he had been out-manoeuvered with Churchill remaining in the Cabinet; Fisher's hope to return to the Admiralty as Arthur Balfour's 1st Sea Lord; Churchill's resentment at not being consulted when Fisher was made [Chairman of the board of invention and research]. Also includes a letter from Fisher to Churchill stating that he had been opposed to the Dardanelles Operation from the beginning and announcing his decision to resign.
1 file.

May 1915-Dec 1915

Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: his discontent at being out of the war; the unabated submarine menace; his hope that he might be back as 1st Sea Lord before Christmas 1916; the losses in France; the dismissal of Grand-Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz [Head of the German Admiralty]. Also includes: papers from Fisher's evidence before the Dardanelles Commission of Enquiry; copy of a letter from Rear-Admiral Cecil Lambert supporting Fisher's policy of building oil-fuelled battleships of the Dreadnought type.
1 file.

Apr 1916-Dec 1917

Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: the submarine menace; Fisher's evidence before the War Council of January 1916 on the Dardanelles; German naval activity in the Baltic. Also includes: a copy of Fisher's letter to Sir Maurice Hankey [Secretary to the Imperial War Cabinet] on Hankey's advice for him to see David Lloyd George [Prime Minister] about being reappointed as 1st Sea Lord and on dealing with the submarine menace; letter to Fisher from Admiral John Moresby on Fisher's legacy; letter from Hankey on Fisher's pre-war prophecy about the date of outbreak of war and of Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe becoming Commander-in-Chief; letters from Fisher to Lloyd George urging a joint naval and military attack on the German coast, higher numbers of aircraft, and making use of the superiority of numbers in the joint British and American fleets; memorandum by Fisher on the position of the Fleet and its policy of steady pressure, particularly in the Baltic (1914).
1 file.

Oct 1916-Jan 1918

Letters to Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: meetings with Sir Edward Carson and [James] Ramsay MacDonald. Also includes: a letter from Sir Frederick Treves on Fisher's health, comparing it with the state of the Government; copy of a letter from Fisher to 1st Lord Mersey [earlier John Bigham] with his views on conditions for an armistice.
1 file.

Mar 1918-Feb 1920

Letters to McKenna and Pamela McKenna. Letters from Fisher on subjects including: the chances of a General Election; the threat of food shortages due to submarine attacks and Fisher's conviction that he could defeat them if restored to the Admiralty; [?] King George V interfering in Army affairs; the autocratic behaviour of Winston Churchill [First Lord of the Admiralty] and the excuses of Rear-Admiral Henry Campbell [Rear-Admiral Home Fleets at The Nore] in sending HMS Cressy, HMS Aboukir and HMS Hogue out on patrol in the North Sea to be torpedoed; "Napoleon B" [1st Lord Haldane, Secretary of State for War] and his attempts to move to the Admiralty following insubordination among his generals; Admiral Sir William May's manoeuverings to become 1st Sea Lord; attacks by Winston Churchill [President of the Board of Trade] against the naval estimates with information provided by Sir William White; Admiral Lord Charles Beresford's campaign to become Admiral of the Fleet; suggestions that Fisher should write his memoirs.
1 file.

c 1910-c 1918