John Fullerton (Royal Navy officer)
Sir John Fullerton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 August 1840 Thrybergh, Yorkshire |
| Died | 29 June 1918 (aged 77) |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service |  Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1853–1904 |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Commands | HMS Sapphire (China Squadron) HMY Victoria and Albert |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Companion of the Order of the Bath |
Admiral Sir John Reginald Thomas Fullerton, GCVO, CB (10 August 1840 – 29 June 1918) was a Royal Navy officer and courtier.
Early life
[edit]Fullerton was born at Thrybergh in Yorkshire,[1] the only son of the Rev. Weston Fullerton, Rector of Thrybergh, a scion of the landed gentry.[2][3] His father died in 1843, and in 1853 Fullerton joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman.[3]
Naval career
[edit]In 1861 Fullerton was promoted lieutenant, and in 1862 he joined the almost new armoured frigate HMS Defence, a ship of the Channel Squadron. From 18 August to 14 December 1864 he was an Additional Lieutenant in HMS Bombay, an elderly 84-gun second rate ship of the line, cruising the coast of South America.[3] The ship was destroyed in an accidental fire during target practice near Flores Island in the River Plate, off Montevideo, with the loss of some ninety officers and men.[4]
In 1865 he joined HMS Narcissus, a wooden-hulled screw frigate, still on the South America station, and on 10 March 1870, still a Lieutenant, was posted to the new corvette Volage in the Channel Squadron.[3] At the end of 1870 Volage transferred to a Flying Squadron which circumnavigated the world and did not return to England until the end of 1872.[5] By an Order in Council dated 5 February 1872, Fullerton was promoted to the rank of commander.[6] In 1874 Volage took a group of astronomers to the Kerguelen Islands to observe a transit of Venus.[7]
In 1875 Fullerton joined the royal yacht HMY Victoria and Albert as second-in-command under Hugh Cambell, who died of typhoid fever on 12 February 1877.[3] He was promoted captain on 10 January 1878,[8] and on 18 January 1883 was posted as Captain to HMS Sapphire, an Amethyst-class wooden screw corvette of the China Squadron.[3] However, he was soon called home, as on 15 October 1884 he was given command of the royal yacht Victoria and Albert II,[9] a position he retained until 1901.[10] On 1 January 1893 Fullerton was promoted rear-admiral and an Honorary Aide-de-Camp to HM the Queen.[11] On 9 May 1899, at the time of Queen Victoria's visit to Cherbourg, he was knighted by being appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order[12] and on 13 July of the same year was promoted vice-admiral.[13] On 1 February 1901, the eve of the funeral of Queen Victoria, he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order,[14] and on 25 February was appointed an Honorary Naval Aide-de-Camp to the new King, Edward VII.[15] In early 1903 he received the First class of the Prussian Order of the Crown, with brilliants.[16]
On 15 March 1904, Fullerton retired the service with the rank of full admiral.[17]
Private life
[edit]On 18 June 1874 Fullerton married Ada Capell, a daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Samuel Capell,[2] who was a grandson of William Capell, 4th Earl of Essex.[18] Their children were a daughter, Judith, and a son, Admiral Sir Eric Fullerton (1878–1962). In 1901 Judith married Lieutenant Sidney Julius Meyrick (1879–1973), who later became Admiral Sir Sidney Meyrick.[citation needed] In 1908 Eric married Dorothy Sibyl Fisher, one of the daughters of Admiral John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher.[19]
Notes
[edit]- ^ John Doxey, The Fullerton Family, at johndoxey.100freemb.com, accessed 6 October 2013
- ^ a b Charles Mosley, ed., Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage (107th edition, 2003), vol. 1, p. 1,349
- ^ a b c d e f John Reginald Thomas Fullerton R.N. at pdavis.nl, accessed 6 October 2013
- ^ William Patrick Gossett, The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900 (Mansell, 1986, ISBN 0-7201-1816-6), p. 117
- ^ G. A. Ballard, "British Corvettes of 1875: The Volage, Active and Rover", in Mariner's Mirror, January 1937 (Cambridge: Society for Nautical Research), pp. 53–67
- ^ The London Gazette, issue no. 23826 dated 9 February 1872, p. 510
- ^ Ballard (1937), pp. 59–60
- ^ The London Gazette, issue no. 24541 dated 11 January 1878, p. 169
- ^ The Navy List (1891), p. 264
- ^ William Loney RN - Background: Victoria and Albert at pdavis.nl, accessed 6 October 2013
- ^ The London Gazette, issue no. 26359 dated 2 January 1893, p. 2; issue no. 26362, dated 10 January 1893, p. 138
- ^ The London Gazette, issue no. 27079 dated 12 May 1899, p. 3029
- ^ The London Gazette, issue no. 27100 dated 18 July 1899, p. 4,444
- ^ The London Gazette, issue no. 27282, dated 8 February 1901, p. 996
- ^ The London Gazette, issue no. 27289, 26 February 1901, p. 1,417
- ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36985. London. 23 January 1903. p. 4.
- ^ The London Gazette, issue no. 27659 (Supplement), dated 18 March 1904, p. 1,791
- ^ Mosley (2003), vol. 1, p. 1,348
- ^ Mosley (2003), vol. 1, p. 1,432