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, ...

Mark Edward Frederic Kerr (26 September 1864 – 10 January 1944) 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 ...

and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

officer during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Kerr was the Commander-in-Chief of the

Royal Hellenic Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; el, Πολεμικό Ναυτικό, Polemikó Naftikó, War Navy, abbreviated ΠΝ) is the Navy, naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of ...

in the early part of the First World War, Commander-in-Chief of the British

Adriatic Squadron The British Adriatic Squadron, or simply the Adriatic Squadron and later known as the British Adriatic Force, was a military formation of the Mediterranean Fleet during World War I based at Taranto from 1915–19. History In May 1915 Italy entere ...

in 1916 and 1917 and was involved in the work to create the Royal Air Force in late 1917 and early 1918.

Life

Mark Edward Frederic Kerr was born on 26 September 1864, son of the Admiral Lord Frederic Kerr (1818–1896) and Emily Sophia Maitland, daughter of Gen. Sir

Peregrine Maitland General Sir Peregrine Maitland, GCB (6 July 1777 – 30 May 1854) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. He also was a first-class cricketer from 1798 to 1808 and an early advocate for the establishment of what would become the Canadi ...

. His father was the youngest son of

William Kerr, 6th Marquess of Lothian William Kerr, 6th Marquess of Lothian, (4 October 1763 – 27 April 1824), was a British soldier, landowner and politician. He was the son of William Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian. He served as a representative peer from 1817 to 1824. Life Ker ...

and his second wife, Lady Harriet Scott, daughter of the

Duke of Buccleuch Duke of Buccleuch (pronounced ), formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created twice on 20 April 1663, first for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and second suo jure for his wife Anne Scott, 4th Cou ...

. His cousin was the politician

John Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian John William Robert Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian (1 February 1794 – 14 November 1841), styled Lord Newbottle until 1815 and Earl of Ancram from 1815 to 1824, was a Tory politician. He served briefly as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard under ...

. Kerr joined the

in 1877 following education at

Stubbington House School Stubbington House School was founded in 1841 as a boys' preparatory school, originally located in the Hampshire village of Stubbington, around from the Solent. Stubbington House School was known by the sobriquet "the cradle of the Navy". The sc ...

.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> He served in the Naval Brigade during the

Egyptian War This is a list of wars involving the Arab Republic of Egypt and its predecessor states. Ayyubid dynasty, Ayyubid Sultanate (1174-1250) Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo), Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517) Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Egypt Eyalet, Eyalet o ...

of 1882 and in

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

in 1891. From April 1899 he held a series of commands on ships serving in the

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...

Instructional Flotilla. After initial command of the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

HMS ''Bittern'', he was appointed to the destroyer in November 1899, then transferred to the

torpedo boat destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in 1 ...

HMS ''Cheerful'' in March 1900. He was appointed Naval Attache in Italy, Austria, Turkey and Greece in 1903. In 1913, he succeeded Vice Admiral

Lionel Grant Tufnell Lionel Grant Tufnell (27 October 1857 – 11 August 1930) was an officer of the British Royal Navy, where he reached the rank of rear admiral. In 1911, while commandant of the Royal Naval Engineering College, he was chosen to head the British n ...

as head of the British Naval Mission to Greece, and as Commander-in-Chief of the

, a post he retained until 1915. As commander of the Greek Navy at the outbreak of the

, Kerr helped keep Greece out of the war. In 1914, while on leave from his duties as head of the Greek Navy, Kerr learned to fly, making him the first British

flag officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countr ...

to become a pilot. He was awarded his Aviator's Certificate no. 842 on 16 July 1914. Rear-admiral Mark Kerr, Cb, Mvo Art

In May 1916 Kerr was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British

which meant that he was unavailable to the Committee which was investigating the Dardanelles failure. Kerr returned to Great Britain in August 1917 and the Admiralty seconded him to the Air Board to assist in the formation of the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

and the

. In late 1917, when the Government were considering the recommendations of the

Smuts Report Smuts is an Afrikaans surname most commonly associated with Jan Smuts (1870–1950), a South African statesman, military leader and prime minister of the Union of South Africa. Other notable people with the surname include: *Barbara Smuts, American ...

, Kerr intervened in its favour. His "bombshell memorandum" correctly identified a new heavy bomber that the Germans had just brought into service, although the memorandum overstated its payload capability. Additionally, using information Kerr had gained from Italian sources, Kerr stated that the Germans were developing a fleet of 4,000 heavy bombers and would soon be able to destroy large areas of South-East England. To counter this threat, Kerr urged the creation of a bomber force consisting of no fewer than 2,000 aircraft which would be under the authority of an air ministry with its own executive powers. Kerr was granted the rank of

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

and served as

Deputy Chief of the Air Staff Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS) may refer to: * Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (Australia) * Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (India) * Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (Pakistan) * Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom) The Deputy Chief ...

at the

in the months before the RAF came into being. By Kerr's own testimony he found himself in disagreement on several matters of strategy with Sir Hugh Trenchard, the Chief of the Air Staff and on 1 April 1918, when the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

and the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

were merged to form the RAF, Kerr left the Air Council and was appointed General Officer Commanding No. 2 Area with his headquarters at

Chafyn Grove School Chafyn Grove School is a private co-educational day and boarding preparatory school situated on the edge of the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire, in England's West Country. Founded in 1879 by Mr. W. C. Bird as an all-boys' school, it became Chafy ...

in the

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

city of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

. In May 1918, with a renaming of the RAF's areas, Kerr was redesignated General Officer Commanding South Western Area. He retired from the RAF in October 1918. He later became a writer, dying at the age of 79 in 1944.

Family

Kerr married Rose Margaret Gough (1882–1944) on 10 July 1906. Rose was later to become a pioneer of the

Girl Guides Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

. Mark and Rose Kerr had two daughters: *

Alix Liddell Alix Kerr Liddell (10 May 1907 – 6 July 1981) was a British writer who contributed to the Guiding and Girl Scouting movement both in the United Kingdom and internationally. She wrote several books on the history of Guiding. Family Alix Lidde ...

(b. 10 May 1907 – d. 1981) *Louise Rosemary Kerr (b. 22 November 1908 – d.1986)

Deaths

Mark and Rose Kerr both died in 1944.

Bibliography

Nonfiction

* * * * *

Poetry

* * *

Footnotes

References

* *
Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Major-General M E F Kerr

External links

Mark Edward Frederic Kerr
at the Dreadnought Project , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Mark 1864 births 1944 deaths Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Order of the Bath Hellenic Navy admirals Royal Navy admirals of World War I Royal Air Force generals of World War I Aviation pioneers British military writers Place of birth missing Place of death missing Military history of Greece during World War I People educated at Stubbington House School