Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Sir Archibald Lucius Douglas, (8 February 1842 – 12 March 1913) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer of the 19th century.

Naval career

Douglas was born in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

in pre-Confederation

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1842. Educated at the

Quebec High School Quebec High School (QHS) is a high school belonging to the Central Quebec School Board. The School is located in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, and is one of three English-language high schools that serve the Quebec city region (the others being S ...

, he joined the

as a

cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

in 1856.W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p. 229 He was selected to head the second British naval mission to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 1873, and served as a foreign advisor to the fledgling

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

until 1875. Douglas was based at the

Imperial Japanese Navy Academy The was a school established to train line officers for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was originally located in Nagasaki, moved to Yokohama in 1866, and was relocated to Tsukiji, Tokyo in 1869. It moved to Etajima, Hiroshima in 1888. Student ...

, then located at

Tsukiji Tsukiji (築地) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan. Literally meaning "reclaimed land", it lies near the Sumida River on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the 18th century during the Edo period. The eponymous Tsukiji fish market opened in 193 ...

in Tokyo, where he trained a class of 30 officers. During his tenure, his advice was called upon for the

Taiwan Expedition of 1874 The Japanese punitive expedition to Taiwan in 1874, referred to in Japan as the and in Taiwan and Mainland China as the Mudan incident (), was a punitive expedition launched by the Japanese in retaliation for the murder of 54 Ryukyuan sailo ...

, the first major overseas deployment for the Japanese navy. During his stay in Japan, he is also credited with having introduced the sport of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

to Japanese naval cadets. During the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histo ...

of 1877–1878, Douglas commanded on an intelligence gathering mission to Petropavlovsk in

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and wes ...

, which he found to have been abandoned by its Russian garrison. Douglas was appointed Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station in 1898 and

Second Naval Lord The second (symbol: s) is the unit of Time in physics, time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally t ...

in 1899. He was promoted to the rank of vice admiral on 15 June 1901, In June 1902 he was appointed Commander-in-chief of the

North America and West Indies Station The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956. The North American Station was separate from the Jamaica Station until 1830 when the t ...

, and he arrived in Halifax to take up the position on 15 July with his

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

, the cruiser HMS ''Ariadne''. He went on to be

Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. The commanders-in-chief were based at premises in High Street, Portsmouth from the 1790s until the end of Sir Thomas Williams's tenure, his succes ...

in 1904 and retired from the service in 1907. In 1910 he was made an honorary LL.D. of

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

; in 1902 he was created a KCB, in 1905 a

GCVO The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

, and in 1911 a GCB. Douglas died in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1913.

Family

Douglas married, in 1871, Constance Ellen Hawks, daughter of Rev. William Hawks. Mrs. Douglas (as she was known then) was godmother to HMS ''Lancaster'' in March 1902.
One of their sons Lt.-Cdr. David William Shafto Douglas R.N. (1883-1916) was KIA when his ship HMS Black Prince (1904) was lost with all hands at the battle of Jutland.

References

Bibliography

*Douglas, Archibald C. Life of Admiral Sir Archibald Lucius Douglas, G.C.B, G.C.V.O, Commander of the Legion of Honour, Order of the Rising Sun of Japan, Spanish Naval Order of Merit, by his son. Mortimer Bros (1938) ASIN B001CO3IT8 , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Archibald Lucius 1842 births 1913 deaths Canadian military personnel from Quebec Canadian Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Lords of the Admiralty People from Quebec City Royal Navy admirals Anglophone Quebec people Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-period Japan Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Canadian expatriates in Japan Canadian Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order