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 Reginald Hugh Spencer Bacon, (6 September 1863 – 9 June 1947) was an officer in the

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 ...

noted for his technical abilities. He was described by the

First Sea Lord The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS) is the military head of the Royal Navy and Naval Service of the United Kingdom. The First Sea Lord is usually the highest ranking and most senior admiral to serve in the British Armed Fo ...

, Admiral Sir Jacky Fisher, as the man "acknowledged to be the cleverest officer in the Navy".

Family

Reginald was born at

Wiggonholt Wiggonholt is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is southeast of Pulborough on the A283 road. The village consists of a farm, a few houses and a small Church of England parish church. The RSPB Pulborough Brooks wil ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, the son of the parish rector, Rev. Thomas Bacon, and his wife, Lavinia Emma, the daughter of George Shaw of

Teignmouth Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at the ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

. Rev. Thomas was the nephew of the industrialist,

Anthony Bushby Bacon Anthony Bushby Bacon (also known as Anthony Bushby or Anthony Smith or, occasionally, Anthony Bacon II; and, as a child, William Addison) (1772 - 11 August 1827) was a British industrialist turned landed gentleman. Anthony was the eldest of the fi ...

of Elcot Park in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

and the grand-uncle of the historian,

Emma Elizabeth Thoyts Emma Elizabeth Thoyts (1860–1949), aka Mrs. John Hauntenville Cope, was an English palaeographer, amateur historian, and genealogist. Biography Emma Elizabeth Thoyts was born in Bryanston Square, Marylebone in Middlesex on 8 July 1860, the ...

, of Sulhamstead House, also in Berkshire.

Early career

Reginald entered the Navy in 1877, qualified as a torpedo lieutenant, and first came to wider notice as commander of a flotilla of

torpedo boats A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of s ...

in the British naval manoeuvres of 1896. In 1897 he served as a member of the British punitive expedition to

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

, and on his return from active service wrote the book ''Benin, the City of Blood'' (1897), describing the campaign. Promoted to captain in 1900, he left the Mediterranean Station and, was appointed to the new position of Inspecting Captain of Submarines and given the task of introducing and developing the Royal Navy's earliest submarine boats. In August 1901 came the accompanying appointment as captain of , which had recently been converted into the world's first submarine depot ship. He was the acknowledged possessor of a fine technical brain, and Fisher's enthusiasm for Bacon's intelligence hardly hindered his career. That the Admiralty shared Fisher's impression of Bacon is evident not only in its decision to appoint so junior a captain to a comparatively senior position, but also in the laudatory minutes that attached themselves to Bacon's official reports. In early 1901 he was appointed by King Edward to take part in a special diplomatic mission to announce the King's accession to the governments of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Technical ability and character

Bacon was well-qualified for his new work with submarines, having served in the torpedo branch of the navy throughout the 1890s. He had spent several years on the staff of

HMS Vernon Two ships and a training establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Vernon'', possibly after Admiral Edward Vernon: * was a 14-gun armed ship listed between 1781 and 1782. * was a 50-gun fourth rate launched in 1832. She becam ...

, Britain's main torpedo school, and his character was dominated by a pronounced flair for things mechanical. Later in his career Bacon made a significant contribution to the design of the revolutionary all-big-gun battleship ''Dreadnought'', developed siege guns for the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and mastered the technical complexities required to implement his proposal for a

North Sea Mine Barrage The North Sea Mine Barrage, also known as the Northern Barrage, was a large minefield laid easterly from the Orkney Islands to Norway by the United States Navy (assisted by the Royal Navy) during World War I. The objective was to inhibit the m ...

. After his retirement, he settled down to write books with titles such as ''A Simple Guide to Wireless for All Whose Knowledge of Electricity is Childlike''. Historian

Mike Dash Mike Dash is a Welsh writer, historian, and researcher. He has written books and articles about dramatic episodes in history. Biography Dash was born in London. He attended Peterhouse, a college at the University of Cambridge particularly noted ...

observes that while "there is no doubt that ismastery of the technology with which he dealt reinforced the independence of the submarine branch, he was a remote and stubborn centraliser who rarely admitted he needed help from anybody". Another trait which became increasingly significant in Bacon's naval career was "the unfortunate knack which edeveloped of polarising the opinions others held of him." He was not, like his nemesis

Roger Keyes Admiral of the Fleet Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes, (4 October 1872 – 26 December 1945) was a British naval officer. As a junior officer he served in a corvette operating from Zanzibar on slavery suppression missions. Ea ...

, who succeeded him as both ICS and commander of the Dover Patrol, a friend to all men. To

Maurice Hankey Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey, (1 April 1877 – 26 January 1963) was a British civil servant who gained prominence as the first Cabinet Secretary and later made the rare transition from the civil service to ministerial office. ...

, during the war, Bacon was "the one officer with offensive spirit"; to the notoriously offensive-minded

Reginald Tyrwhitt Admiral of the Fleet Sir Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, 1st Baronet, (; 10 May 1870 – 30 May 1951) was a Royal Navy officer. During the First World War he served as commander of the Harwich Force. He led a supporting naval force of 31 destroyers a ...

, commander of the

Harwich Force The Harwich Force originally called Harwich Striking Force was a squadron of the Royal Navy, formed during the First World War and based in Harwich. It played a significant role in the war. History After the outbreak of the First World War, a ...

, he was a worse enemy than the Germans, unwilling to take risks and "our bugbear... the Streaky One has obsessed everyone at the Admiralty and does exactly what he pleases with them... You will understand me when I say he is not a white man."

Inspecting Captain of Submarines

According to biographer Michael Dash, "None of these controversies... should be allowed to obscure Bacon's early achievements as ICS, which were very considerable. To Bacon goes the credit of developing the semi-autonomous submarine branch that consistently performed well in peace and war. Equally important, his determined caution ensured that the branch was developed along sensible lines". Bacon was acutely aware of the early shortcomings of underwater craft and "particularly emphasised" that he did not "commend rashness, in fact my life is spent in preaching caution... The only fear regarding the safety of the Boats is that familiarity may breed over-confidence". His philosophy was that "success belongs to the man who pays attention to infinite details". Bacon's chief contribution to the early development of the submarine was the design for HMS ''A1'', the first British-designed boat and a significant advance over the earlier Holland Class boats. ''A1'', developed by Bacon in conjunction with the naval architects of Messrs Vickers, Sons & Maxim, added a conning tower and a periscope to the pioneering design of the Irish-born American inventor John P. Holland, making her significantly more seaworthy and a more potent attacking threat. "While RN submarines retained Holland's ideas in outline... the specifics of the design from the A class onwards were essentially British", Dash writes. Bacon also played an important role in the design of the remainder of Britain's A-class submarines and worked out the first tactics for British boats.

First Captain of HMS ''Dreadnought''

Bacon was the first captain of the battleship . In June 1906 he commissioned her for her trials and took her on a special cruise to the West Indies. In August 1907 he was appointed to the position of Director of Naval Ordnance succeeding Jellicoe.

Coventry Ordnance Works

In July 1909 he was promoted Rear-Admiral, and in November 1909 he retired from the Active List as director of Naval Ordnance to take up the appointment of managing director of the

Coventry Ordnance Works Coventry Ordnance Works was a British manufacturer of heavy guns particularly naval artillery jointly owned by Cammell Laird & Co of Sheffield and Birkenhead, Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Glasgow and John Brown & Compa ...

(COW).The Director of Naval Ordnance. ''The Times'', Wednesday, 24 Nov 1909; pg. 9; Issue 39125 During his time there, the Coventry works manufactured the

QF 4.5-inch howitzer The Ordnance QF 4.5-inch howitzer was the standard British Empire field (or ‘light’) howitzer of the First World War era. It replaced the BL 5-inch howitzer and equipped some 25% of the field artillery. It entered service in 1910 and remai ...

, the BL 5.5-inch Mark I naval gun and the Army's biggest gun to date, the

BL 9.2-inch howitzer The Ordnance BL 9.2-inch howitzer was a heavy siege howitzer that formed the principal counter-battery equipment of British forces in France in World War I. It equipped a substantial number of siege batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery. It r ...

. On the outbreak of war, prompted by the German army's bombardment of the Liège forts, the Coventry factory privately designed the

BL 15-inch howitzer The Ordnance BL 15-inch howitzer was developed by the Coventry Ordnance Works late in 1914 in response to the success of its design of the 9.2-inch siege howitzer. The howitzer was cumbersome to deploy, since it was transported in several secti ...

, designed to be road transportable by three 105 hp Daimler-Foster Artillery tractors. The Army was unimpressed by its lack of range and didn't adopt the weapon, but

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

, as

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

, formed the Howitzer Brigade of the

Royal Marine Artillery The history of the Royal Marines began on 28 October 1664 with the formation of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot soon becoming known as the Admiral's Regiment. During the War of the Spanish Succession the most historic achi ...

with the twelve guns. The first howitzer was shipped to France in February 1915 and Bacon was given a temporary commission in the Royal Marine Artillery as an extra Colonel 2nd Commandant. In April 1915 he was called to the Admiralty, where Churchill and Jackie Fisher were keen to send a single 15-inch howitzer to

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

. He arranged for the howitzer (no. 3) to be transported, and a few days later was in Paris ready to start for the Dardanelles, when he was recalled to London by Churchill and made Commander-in-Chief, Dover, replacing

Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Horace Hood Rear Admiral Sir Horace Lambert Alexander Hood, (2 October 1870 – 31 May 1916) was a Royal Navy admiral of the First World War, whose lengthy and distinguished service saw him engaged in operations around the world, frequently participating i ...

Commander of the Dover Patrol

Peyton and Bacon at Calais 1917 IWM Q 2491

Bacon became commander of the

Dover Patrol The Dover Patrol and later known as the Dover Patrol Force was a Royal Navy command of the First World War, notable for its involvement in the Zeebrugge Raid on 22 April 1918. The Dover Patrol formed a discrete unit of the Royal Navy based at Dove ...

in April 1915. Seeking to recapture the German occupied ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge, Bacon assisted in the planning of naval landings on the Belgian coastline. Bacon's plan for an amphibious assault eventually came to form the third phase of Field Marshal Douglas Haig's 1917 Flanders Offensive. The plan was for the British 1st Division to land just behind the German lines at

Middelkerke Middelkerke () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders, on the North Sea, west of Ostend. The municipality comprises the villages of Leffinge, Lombardsijde, Mannekensvere, Middelkerke proper, Schore, Sint-Pieters-Kapel ...

while the XV Corp under Henry Rawlinson assaulted from Allied lines at Nieuport. Although specialized landing craft and amphibious tanks were constructed, the failure of Haig's offensive to break out of the

Ypres Salient The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War. Ypres district Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee. ...

led to the postponement and eventual cancellation of the landing. For further information, see

Operation Hush Operation Hush was a British plan to make amphibious landings on the Belgian coast in 1917 during the First World War, supported by an attack from Nieuwpoort and the Yser bridgehead, positions which were a legacy of the Battle of the Yser in ...

. Bacon was later involved in the development of the

. Bacon spent some time considering and planning the

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zee ...

and Ostend raids, but he felt that crucial details of his plan were altered or omitted due to inexperience. In his book 'Room 40: British Naval Intelligence, 1914–1918,' Patrick Beesly was not complimentary of Bacon suggesting that his brilliance may have been marred by his fixation on a correct way of doing things, and of 'being convinced that he was the only man in the regiment who was marching in step.' Bacon insisted that the Dover Barrage was an effective block to German U-boats breaking out into the Atlantic despite reports from Naval Intelligence that U-boats were regularly passing through it under cover of darkness. After repeated refusals to illuminate the barrage at night, Bacon was instructed to do so by

Rosslyn Wemyss Admiral of the Fleet Rosslyn Erskine Wemyss, 1st Baron Wester Wemyss, (12 April 1864 – 24 May 1933), known as Sir Rosslyn Wemyss between 1916 and 1919, was a Royal Navy officer. During the First World War he served as commander of the 12th C ...

following his replacement of

Sir John Jellicoe Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, (5 December 1859 – 20 November 1935) was a Royal Navy officer. He fought in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion and commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutla ...

. The discovery and destruction of a U-boat transiting the barrage took place the next night, and Bacon was sacked by

Eric Campbell Geddes Sir Eric Campbell Geddes (26 September 1875 – 22 June 1937) was a British businessman and Conservative politician. With a background in railways, he served as head of Military Transportation on the Western Front, with the rank of major-ge ...

from command of the Dover Patrol, replaced by

, shortly thereafter.

Family and retirement

Bacon retired again shortly after leaving the Dover Patrol. He wrote numerous books, including biographies of

John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, (5 December 1859 – 20 November 1935) was a Royal Navy officer. He fought in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion and commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland ...

and his old mentor Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher. He married Cicely Surtees of Darlington,

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

in 1897. They had a daughter and two sons, both of whom died young, one as a soldier during the First World War and the other from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

as a naval cadet in 1919. Bacon died on 9 June 1947 at home in Romsey,

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 ...

Published works

* Bacon, R. H. S. ''Benin: City of Blood''. London: Edward Arnold, 1897. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''The Dover Patrol''. London, 2 volumes: Hutchinson, 1919. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''The Jutland Scandal''. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1925. 2nd ed. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''A Naval Scrap-Book. First part, 1877–1900''. London: Hutchinson, 1925. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''The Stolen Submarine: a Story of Woman's Pluck''. London: E. Nash & Greyson, 1926. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''A Social Sinner''. London: E. Nash & Greyson, 1926. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''The Motor-Car And How It Works''. London:

Mills & Boon Mills & Boon is a romance imprint of British publisher Harlequin UK Ltd. It was founded in 1908 by Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon as a general publisher. The company moved towards escapist fiction for women in the 1930s. In 1971, the ...

, 1927. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''A Simple Guide To Wireless, For All Whose Knowledge of Electricity is Childlike''. London: Mills & Boon, 1930. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''The Concise Story of the Dover Patrol''. London: Hutchinson, 1932. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''The Life of John Rusworth, Lord Jellicoe''. London: Cassell & Co., 1936. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''From 1900 Onward''. London: Hutchinson, 1940. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''Modern Naval Strategy''. London: Frederick Muller, 1941. * Bacon, R. H. S. ''Britain's Glorious Navy''. London: Odhams, 1942. * Bacon, R. H. S. with J. F. C. Fuller and

Patrick Playfair Air Marshal Sir Patrick Henry Lyon Playfair, (22 November 1889 – 23 November 1974) was a commander in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War and a senior commander in the Royal Air Force until his retirement during the Second World ...

. ''Warfare Today. How Modern Battles are Planned and Fought on Land, at Sea, and in the Air.'' London: Odhams Press, 1944. * Bacon, R. H. ''The Life of Lord Fisher of Kilverstone VOL 1'' New York (1929): Doubleday. Facsimile edition (2007): * Bacon, R. H. ''The Life of Lord Fisher of Kilverstone VOL 2'' New York (1929): Doubleday. Facsimile edition (2007):

References

Bibliography

* &nbs
Vol. 1
�
Vol. 2
* * * *

External links

The Dreadnought Project – Reginald Hugh Spencer Bacon

at firstworldwar.com
Extract on Benin (PDF)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, Reginald 1863 births 1947 deaths Royal Navy admirals of World War I Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order English biographers Military personnel from Sussex People from Horsham District British military personnel of the Benin Expedition of 1897