John Ernest Harper
Encyclopedia
John Ernest Troyte Harper (29 May 1874-27 May 1949) was a British Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy
. He was created MVO, 1913, and CB, 1926.
Harper was born in New Zealand
and educated there at Christ's College
. In 1888 he joined the Royal Navy, being promoted to Lieutenant
in 1896. He served in the South Africa
n war from 1899 to 1900 and the Ogaden
Somali
expedition from 1900-1901. In 1906 he achieved the rank of Commander
, and was navigating commander of the Royal Yacht
, HMY Victoria and Albert
between 1911 and 1914.
He became captain in 1913 and at the Naval Review
of July 1914 served as master of the fleet.
He came to the attention of the public in the aftermath of the Battle of Jutland
, when after World War I
was over, the admiralty decided to write an official account of the battle, and Harper was chosen to do this. The Harper Record was commissioned by First Sea lord Rosslyn Wemyss and was completed during his term of office in 1919. Harper, who was Director of Navigation, was to 'prepare a record, with plans, showing in chronological order what actually occurred in the battle'. The account was to be based solely on the written records available at the admiralty, without commentary on the merits of what had taken place. An official report had by now been long expected by the public; questions had been asked in Parliament
when it would be completed and it was known that Captain Harper was the author. The First lord, Walter Long advised the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 29 October 1919 that the record would be printed once it was ready. It was not finally published until 1927, the matter being raised in the House 22 times during that time.
Wemyss was replaced as First Sea Lord
by David Beatty
, who had commanded the detached battle cruiser Fleet at Jutland. Beatty shortly sought to make alterations to the record, initially by ordering that despatches made by himself, Scheer
(the German commander) and John Jellicoe
(commanding the main British Fleet) be added, together with a list of all signals made during the battle. He also requested removal of a passage discussing the part of the battle which most concerned the battle cruisers, and other alterations which Harper conceded to be minor. Beatty explained his reasoning, that the logs kept during battle had been inaccurate and consequently charts drawn up from them did not accord with the recollections of officers who had been present. In particular, Beatty objected to the record showing his own ship performing a complete circular turn, and insisted instead that it had manoeuvered through two 180 degree turns in an 's' shape. Beatty went so far as to produce a chart showing the turn as he described, signed by him and dated 1916. Inspection of the chart showed the signature to be similar to the form he customarily used in 1920, rather than the different form he used in 1916, while other testimony supported the claim that the ship had indeed turned a full circle.
Harper was unwilling to put his name to a document he could not agree with, unless ordered in writing to do so. The admiralty intended to publish much of the original source material, which would be available to others to judge the accuracy of his work. He requested confirmation from Chatfield
of the instructions to alter the record and received orders from Beatty to include them, 'in accordance with Board decision'. However, Harper records that First Lord Walter Long asked him what was causing delay in publication, and was then unaware that Beatty had ordered changes. Shortly afterward Beatty withdrew his objections and a final version was agreed for publication on 14 May 1920, though still containing alterations from the original.
Beatty continued objections, now addressing his requests for changes to Lord Long, and a preface was added as well as some more changes to the text. Jellicoe was invited to view the original version and the altered form, and produced his own objections to some of the alterations, going so far as to say he would not be able to take up his forthcoming appointment as Governor
of New Zealand unless the matter could be settled satisfactorily. He objected that the preface gave the impression that the main battle fleet under his command had arrived late and had little effect upon the battle. Negotiations continued, with Harper gaining the impression that Beatty's intent was simply to delay publication indefinitely. A final decision not to publish was taken by Long on the grounds that an official account of the whole naval war was anyway to be published by Sir Julian Corbett
. Corbett had been given a copy of the 'Harper record' to assist him in his task.
Harper was director of navigation at the admiralty from 1919 to 1921 and member of the Anglo-American Arbitration board from 1921 to 1922. The minutes of a Board of Admiralty meeting in March 1923, chaired by Beatty, noted that he should only be retained in the service if he received a favourable report from his commander in chief. He was naval aide de camp to King George V
from 1923 to 1924, becoming Rear-Admiral in August 1924. In 1926 he was advised that he would probably be appointed commander of a dockyard, but the newly appointed Controller of the Navy, Chatfield, decided against the appointment. He was placed on the retired list in February 1927, though promoted to Vice Admiral
in retirement in 1929. From 1934 to 1946 he was nautical assessor to the House of Lords
After his retirement, Harper published another account of the battle The truth about Jutland, in his own name. In this he commented about the battlecruiser engagement commanded by Beatty "it is an indisputable fact that, in the first phase of this battle, a British squadron, greatly superior in numbers and gun-power, not only failed to defeat a weaker enemy who made no effort to avoid action, but, in the space of 50 minutes suffered what can only be described as a partial defeat."
Harper died 27 May 1949 and the funeral took place at All Saint's church, Hawkhurst, Kent.
His son, also John Harper, also became a commander in the Royal Navy.
His papers were donated to the Churchill archive centre.
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. He was created MVO, 1913, and CB, 1926.
Harper was born in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and educated there at Christ's College
Christ's College, Canterbury
Christ's College, Christchurch is an independent, Anglican, secondary, day and boarding school for boys, located in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand....
. In 1888 he joined the Royal Navy, being promoted to Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in 1896. He served in the South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n war from 1899 to 1900 and the Ogaden
Ogaden
Ogaden is the name of a territory comprising the southeastern portion of the Somali Regional State in Ethiopia. The inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Somali and Muslim. The title "Somali Galbeed", which means "Western Somalia," is often preferred by Somali irredentists.The region, which is...
Somali
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
expedition from 1900-1901. In 1906 he achieved the rank of Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
, and was navigating commander of the Royal Yacht
Royal Yacht
A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head...
, HMY Victoria and Albert
HMY Victoria and Albert
HMY Victoria and Albert was a twin paddle steamer launched 25 April 1843. It functioned as a Royal Yacht of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, owned and operated by the Royal Navy. She laid down in 1842 at Pembroke Dock and was designed by Symonds...
between 1911 and 1914.
He became captain in 1913 and at the Naval Review
Naval Review
A Naval Review is an event, where the whole of the US Navy is paraded to be reviewed by the president or the Secretary of the Navy. It often includes delegates from other national navies. It is more regular and frequent than its British equivalent, the Fleet Review, and often occurs on a Navy...
of July 1914 served as master of the fleet.
He came to the attention of the public in the aftermath of the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
, when after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
was over, the admiralty decided to write an official account of the battle, and Harper was chosen to do this. The Harper Record was commissioned by First Sea lord Rosslyn Wemyss and was completed during his term of office in 1919. Harper, who was Director of Navigation, was to 'prepare a record, with plans, showing in chronological order what actually occurred in the battle'. The account was to be based solely on the written records available at the admiralty, without commentary on the merits of what had taken place. An official report had by now been long expected by the public; questions had been asked in Parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
when it would be completed and it was known that Captain Harper was the author. The First lord, Walter Long advised the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 29 October 1919 that the record would be printed once it was ready. It was not finally published until 1927, the matter being raised in the House 22 times during that time.
Wemyss was replaced as First Sea Lord
First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...
by David Beatty
David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty
Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO was an admiral in the Royal Navy...
, who had commanded the detached battle cruiser Fleet at Jutland. Beatty shortly sought to make alterations to the record, initially by ordering that despatches made by himself, Scheer
Reinhard Scheer
Reinhard Scheer was an Admiral in the German Kaiserliche Marine. Scheer joined the navy in 1879 as an officer cadet; he progressed through the ranks, commanding cruisers and battleships, as well as major staff positions on land. At the outbreak of World War I, Scheer was the commander of the II...
(the German commander) and John Jellicoe
John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe
Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, GCB, OM, GCVO was a British Royal Navy admiral who commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in World War I...
(commanding the main British Fleet) be added, together with a list of all signals made during the battle. He also requested removal of a passage discussing the part of the battle which most concerned the battle cruisers, and other alterations which Harper conceded to be minor. Beatty explained his reasoning, that the logs kept during battle had been inaccurate and consequently charts drawn up from them did not accord with the recollections of officers who had been present. In particular, Beatty objected to the record showing his own ship performing a complete circular turn, and insisted instead that it had manoeuvered through two 180 degree turns in an 's' shape. Beatty went so far as to produce a chart showing the turn as he described, signed by him and dated 1916. Inspection of the chart showed the signature to be similar to the form he customarily used in 1920, rather than the different form he used in 1916, while other testimony supported the claim that the ship had indeed turned a full circle.
Harper was unwilling to put his name to a document he could not agree with, unless ordered in writing to do so. The admiralty intended to publish much of the original source material, which would be available to others to judge the accuracy of his work. He requested confirmation from Chatfield
Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield
Admiral of the Fleet The Rt Hon. Sir Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield, GCB, OM, KCMG, CVO, PC was a Royal Navy officer and held the position of First Sea Lord from 1933 to 1939...
of the instructions to alter the record and received orders from Beatty to include them, 'in accordance with Board decision'. However, Harper records that First Lord Walter Long asked him what was causing delay in publication, and was then unaware that Beatty had ordered changes. Shortly afterward Beatty withdrew his objections and a final version was agreed for publication on 14 May 1920, though still containing alterations from the original.
Beatty continued objections, now addressing his requests for changes to Lord Long, and a preface was added as well as some more changes to the text. Jellicoe was invited to view the original version and the altered form, and produced his own objections to some of the alterations, going so far as to say he would not be able to take up his forthcoming appointment as Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of New Zealand unless the matter could be settled satisfactorily. He objected that the preface gave the impression that the main battle fleet under his command had arrived late and had little effect upon the battle. Negotiations continued, with Harper gaining the impression that Beatty's intent was simply to delay publication indefinitely. A final decision not to publish was taken by Long on the grounds that an official account of the whole naval war was anyway to be published by Sir Julian Corbett
Julian Corbett
Sir Julian Stafford Corbett was a prominent British naval historian and geostrategist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whose works helped shape the Royal Navy's reforms of that era...
. Corbett had been given a copy of the 'Harper record' to assist him in his task.
Harper was director of navigation at the admiralty from 1919 to 1921 and member of the Anglo-American Arbitration board from 1921 to 1922. The minutes of a Board of Admiralty meeting in March 1923, chaired by Beatty, noted that he should only be retained in the service if he received a favourable report from his commander in chief. He was naval aide de camp to King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
from 1923 to 1924, becoming Rear-Admiral in August 1924. In 1926 he was advised that he would probably be appointed commander of a dockyard, but the newly appointed Controller of the Navy, Chatfield, decided against the appointment. He was placed on the retired list in February 1927, though promoted to Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
in retirement in 1929. From 1934 to 1946 he was nautical assessor to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
After his retirement, Harper published another account of the battle The truth about Jutland, in his own name. In this he commented about the battlecruiser engagement commanded by Beatty "it is an indisputable fact that, in the first phase of this battle, a British squadron, greatly superior in numbers and gun-power, not only failed to defeat a weaker enemy who made no effort to avoid action, but, in the space of 50 minutes suffered what can only be described as a partial defeat."
Harper died 27 May 1949 and the funeral took place at All Saint's church, Hawkhurst, Kent.
His son, also John Harper, also became a commander in the Royal Navy.
Publications
- "The Truth About Jutland" (1927)
- "The Riddle of Jutland" (1934) (with Langhorne Gibson)
- "The Royal Navy at War" (1941)
His papers were donated to the Churchill archive centre.