The Promotion of David Beatty to Rear-Admiral

摘要

Simon Harley recently presented a detailed account of archival sources on the somewhat exceptional promotion of David Beatty to rear-admiral on 1 January 1910. He examined the extant documents that mainly relate to the administrative process related to this promotion, which took Beatty, lacking some months from the required six years’ sea service in peacetime, from the fourth place on the captains’ list to the first in late 1909.Harley was thus able to satisfactorily answer the question of how Beatty was promoted.1 He also speculates on the reasons why the Admiralty chose to promote Beatty in this exceptional manner, dismissing some existing explanations such as Beatty’s exceptional seamanship or even his leadership abilities. Interestingly, having found the then Fourth Sea Lord Vice- Admiral Sir Alfred Winsloe’s positive letter about Beatty’s promotion addressed to First Lord Reginald McKenna, Harley regarded Winsloe as Beatty’s (only) internal champion in the upper echelons of the British Admiralty.2 However, his answer to the ‘how’ question remains convincing. Harley lamented a lack of ‘confidential reports’ on Beatty in extant archives that would allow the tracing of the true actors and reasons behind the promotion. It is a widely known fact that Admiralty archives were fervidly thinned afterwards, and thus only a fraction of the original documents have survived.3 As to Beatty’s service record, the later Commander-in-Chief and First Sea Lord is also likely to have personally ordered some files to be removed later on. He was known to have an interest in manipulating the kind of image he wanted to leave about his leadership to future inquiry, especially in the light of the post-Jutland controversy between the supporters of the cautious Jellicoe and the more aggressive Beatty.4 However, an exact audit trail of documentation is not absolutely necessary to be able to make informed interpretations about why a certain organizational event such as this promot