Born weighing 14 lb, at Hatfield, King George V and Lady Patricia Ramsay stood sponsor (godparents), while Dr. Cosmo Lang, the 115th Archbishop of Canterbury, christened him. From then most of his childhood was spent at St. Lawrence Hall, near Ventnor on the Isle of Wight; at a Broadstairs (Kent) prep school; in London; and in New Zealand, where his father was governor-general between 1921 and 1924. He was educated at Winchester College, where he was styled and known of as Viscount Brocas, and at Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1936. BA, Modern History tripos 1939, but awarded 1966). He was chairman of the Pitt Club.
In October 1939 Jellicoe was part of RMC Sandhurst's first war intake. He joined the Coldstream Guards (23 March 1940), sailed (31 January 1941) to the Middle East with Colonel Bob Lacock'sLayforce, (with Evelyn Waugh, Randolph Churchill, Philip Dunne etal.) as part of No 8 (Guards) Commando (with Carol Mather,David Stirling etal.). Served with L Detachment (from April 1942) the nucleus of the SAS, and then the Special Boat Regiment Middle East as its commanding officer (Lieutenant-Colonel/acting Brigadier). Arriving by bicycle, Jellicoe was among the first Allied soldiers to enter German-occupied Athens, beating the communist-controlled guerrillas ELAS (Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos) to create a presence there. He was mentioned in despatches thrice, and wounded (bullet in shoulder) once whilst with the 3rd Battalion 22 Guards Brigade in the Western Desert in January 1941. He was awarded the MC in 1944, and the DSO in November 1942 for leading a raid that blew up more than 20 bombers on the German airport at Heraklion, Crete that June:
'His cool and resolute leadership, skill and courage throughout this very hazardous operation were mainly responsible for the high measure of success achieved. He ... placed charges on the enemy aircraft and brought off the survivors after the four Free French members of the party had been betrayed and killed or captured', (from the London Gazette of 5 November 1942, quoted from L. Windmill, p.49).
HM Foreign Service 1947-1958
Soon after the war Jellicoe joined Her Majesty's Foreign Service. He served in London (German political department, Third Secretary); Washington (Third Secretary, when Donald Maclean of the Cambridge five was Head of Chancery); Brussels (Head of Chancery); London (no. 2 in Northern department in charge of the Soviet Desk); and Baghdad (First Secretary and Deputy Secretary General of The Baghdad Pact Organisation). The Suez Crisis (from July 1956) wrecked everything the Pact was trying to achieve; Jellicoe was appalled by British policy and came close to resigning (L. Windmill p. 136).
Jellicoe eventually left the Foreign Office in March 1958, after marital difficulties (February 1958, Permanent Secretary Sir Derek Hoyar-Millar wrote; 'You have a choice of ceasing your relationship with this lady [Philippa Dunne] or changing your job') had caused an empasse, and became a director of the Cayzer dynasty's Clan Line Steamers (cargo ships), and Union Castle Steamship Co. (passengers). However, his mother's family's businesses were ultimately less conducive than the Palace of Westminster, where, back from Iraq, he Took the Oath in the Lords on 3 December 1957, in the Third Session of the UK's 41st parliament.
House of Lords & 1960s
Having first sat in parliament on 25 July1939, Jellicoe waited until 28 July1958 to make his maiden speech in the House of Lords during a debate The International Situation : The Middle East. He spoke from the Cross-Benches about the Baghdad Pact and Iraq:
'... Having lately lived for a year or so in Baghdad I confess that I have not been untouched by the charm of that ugly yet fascinating city, and, if I may say so, of the diverse peoples of Iraq... Like all your Lordships, I felt, and feel, a deep sense of shock, indeed revulsion, at the brutal butchery of the young King and his family, and of that great, and greatly human, statesman, Nuri Pasha. I have also been shocked by the tendency which one sees current at the moment to write off the Nuri regime as decadent, feudal and corrupt. That picture, in my view, is a travesty of the truth....As part of the admirable development programme which the Nuri regime was carrying through there was a large schools programme. These schools were built for the purpose your Lordships might expect-to educate Iraqis in. But the Iraqis did not believe that ; they thought-it was a very widespread belief which one could not eradicate-that these schools were camoflaged barracks intended for the British Army when they reoccupied Iraq. These are the sorts of ingrowing toenails in the Iraqi consciousness which I feel we must try to eradicate, to draw out... '
By October 1958 he had joined the Conservatives, in the Lords a natural home for such a distinctly pinkWhig, who gave him the honour of moving 'an humble Address in Reply to Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech':
' My Lords, I am acutely, indeed somewhat painfully, conscious of the great honour which the noble Earl [ Lord Home , aka Alec Douglas-Home] the Leader of the House has done me in inviting me to move the humble Address to Her Majesty. The last time that I addressed your Lordships' House was from the platonic sancity of the Cross-Benches. I then had the aesthetic pleasure of seeing your Lordships in profile : I now have the equal pleasure of seeing some of your Lordships full face. I do not know why I find myself in this particular hot spot this afternoon. I can only surmise that the noble Earl, fishing for a good large Tory trout, cast over the Cross-Benches for an ex-Ambassador and hooked an ex-First Secretary by mistake '.
On 7 May1959 he asked a prescient starred question on the Planning of Motorways:
' ... Just as the Roman roads are with us to-day, so these great new roads may be with our successors 1,000 years hence. With this in mind, can my noble friend assure us, first, that the advice of the Advisory Committee [on the Landscape Treatment of Trunk Roads] to which he referred will in all cases in future be sought at a very early stage in the planning of these new roads ; and, secondly, that permanent professional advice will be enlisted from the outset at the planning, the reconnaissance stage, in order to ensure that these great new roads blend as harmoniously as possible with the land-scape through which they pass? '
On 20 July1959 he initiated a debate on Western Aid for Uncommitted Countries, and by January 1961 he was a Lord-in-Waiting to H.M. the Queen, a Government Whip, in Macmillan's administration. He was Joint Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Local Government June 1961–July 1962; Minister of State, Home Office July 1962–October 1963; First Lord of the Admiralty October 1963–April 1964; Minister of Defence for the Royal Navy April - October 1964; delegate to the Council of Europe and the Western European Union (WEU) 1965-1967; president of the National Federation of Housing Societies 1965-1970; a governor of the Centre for Environmental Studies 1967-1970; chairman of the British Advisory Committee on Oil Pollution at Sea 1968; chairman of the third International Conference on oil pollution of the sea 1968; an hon. vice-president of PEST (Pressure for Economic and Social Toryism); and deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lords 1967–1970. From April 1967 Lords Jellicoe and Carrington represented the Conservatives in the Lords on the Inter-Party conference group on Lords' reform, which came up with the unsuccessful Parliament (No.2) Bill (1968-1969). Leading the debate for the (Conservative) Opposition in November 1968 Jellicoe said:
' We hold that a grave constitutional change of this kind should ot be brought into effect in the dying years of a discredited Government...a viable Upper House has an essential part to play in our parliamentary structure. We now have a quite considerable constitutional prize in our grasp, the opportunity to build a really viable Upper House on the basis of a broad consensus of support from all Parties... ' (19 November1968, Hansard via L. Windmill).
Cabinet minister & resignation
Jellicoe: energy supremo
In Ted Heath'sadministration he was Minister in charge for the Civil Service Department (CSD), Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords from 20 June 1970 until 24 May1973 when he admitted, as he put it, "some casual affairs" with call girls (from Mayfair Escorts) and resigned (thus ending his third career in government service) in the wake of an unfortunate accidental confusion with Lord Lambton's different issue.
Earlier having re-established relations with the miners' union leaders in February 1972 Heath appointed Jellicoe "energy supremo" to restore power supplies around the time of the Three-Day Week and had him set up and chair a Civil Contingencies Unit, which was, when an internal crisis arose, to operate through "COBRA" (the Cabinet Office Briefing Room). In June 1972 Jellicoe was sent on Concorde's first sales expedition. As the Australian The Sun of 22 June1972 put it:
' There has probably never been a sales team quite like the aristocratic British contingent that is trying to sell the Anglo-French supersonic Concorde to Qantas... The Earl is an astute salesman who has obviously done his homework ... He has the stamina to address a couple of press conferences each day as well as make daily speeches... cultivate politicians, DCA personnel and Qantas bosses. At fifty-four, the Earl looks a rugged character. He has a strong broad chin and speaks with a directness that appeals to Australians...he has become known as Aeroplane Jellicoe ' (quoted from L. Windmill, p.183).
Jellicoe himself steered the European Communities Act (1972) through the Lords, allowing no amendments. The Industrial Relations Act was another legislative highlight.
After the resignation (over his marginal involvement in a minor indiscretion) Richard Crossman, writing in The Times, 30 May1973 (page 18), described Jellicoe as:
' ... among the bravest, ablest, most decent members of the Heath Government ...
But need the Prime Minister have got rid of Lord Jellicoe in such peremptory style? Could he not have refused his resignation until all the facts were available? '
On return from the Whitsun recess fulsome tributes were paid in the Lords to their departed leader:
The (Labour Party) Opposition leader and Jellicoe's predecessor as Lord Privy Seal, Lord Shackleton said:
' Lord Jellicoe... has been as good a leader of this House as we have known [cheers].. I don't think we can let him go -though happily this is not an epitaph- without expressing our very deep sorrow to the House and to the country [cheers]...with immense thoroughness, patience and personal sensitivity Lord Jellicoe fulfilled his role as Leader of your Lordships House [cheers]... we [ Lords Byers and Shackleton ] found him an admirable open-minded and wise colleague; my Lords, I believe that we and the country have suffered a grievous loss... (Hansard, 5 June1973, and The Times 6 June 1973 for the cheers)
Lord Byers for the Liberal Party said:
' we regret bitterly his resignation... He was a reforming innovator and the House owes a great deal more than it probably knows to the interest he took in this House and to his initiatives ' (Hansard, 5 June1973)
' To some of us it had been a comfort to have had Lord Jellicoe as Leader. I doubt whether he realises how much we shall miss him. We have been deeply saddened by what has happened. The outstanding record of his achievements will not be dimmed; our warm regard for him will remain. ' (Hansard, 5 June1973)
William Kendall, general secretary of the Civil and Public Services Association said:
' In our union we respected him as a tough, capable and fair negotiator ' (quoted from the The Times, May 251973, page 2).
Business and post government public career
Tate & Lyle revived and retrenched by Jellicoe
Loss of government office soon seemed somewhat serendipitous. With no estates to distract him Jellicoe was free to re-join S. G. Warburg & Co. (1 October 1973), and he became a non-executive director of the sugar company Tate & Lyle 1973–1993. Thanks in the main to Sir Saxon Tate they made him their first non-family chairman 1978–1983. He was chairman of Tunnel Refineries to 1978, and later was chairman of Booker Tate, 1988-1991.
Other non-governmental jobs include: chairman of engineering plant company the Davy Corporation 1985–1990; director Sotheby's Holdings 1973–1993; Morgan Crucible 1974–88; Smiths Industries Ltd 1973–1986; S.G. Warburg & Co 1964–1970, 1973–1988. He was president of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry 1979-1982. From 1983 to 1986 he was chairman of the British Overseas Trade Board (BOTB), that was followed by chairmanship (1986-1990) and then the presidency (1990-1995) of the East European Trade Council (EETC). He was chairman of the Greek Fund Ltd 1988-1994 and of European Capital Ltd 1991-1995.
Lord Jellicoe was chairman of the council of King's College, London (KCL) 1974-1983; chairman of the Medical Research Council (MRC) 1982-1990; president of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) 1993–1997; president of the Anglo-Hellenic League 1978–1986; president of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust 1987-1994; president of the Crete Veterans Association 1991-2001; president of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) 1992-1995; chancellor of Southampton University 1984–1995, and has been closely associated with research and higher education. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990. In 1995 he helped found Hakluyt and Co, a secret commercial intelligence company based at 34 Upper Brook Street, Mayfair, for which he was a director 1996-2000. He was president of the SAS Regimental Association 1996–2000. Lord Jelicoe was a vice-president of the Byron Society and is a member of the World Innovation Fund (WIF) and an associate member of INEED.
Later state contributions
...I also believe that Ukrainian independence and prosperity are a measure of our determination to help to create a lasting and peaceful new intra-European matrix of relationships and that as such they merit our very particular attention.
Back in the Lords and affairs of state; he is a former chairman of the Select Committee on Committees and President of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee 1980-1983. In 1983 he was author of the Jellicoe Report which reviewed the Operation of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1976. The Times saw this appointment as the end of nine years penance in the political wilderness. Despite being a regular attender until early 2006
Jellicoe's last full speech in the Lords was made as part of the Address in Reply to Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech (the Queen's Speech debate) on 28 October1996, his subject was the Ukraine.
When the House of Lords Act 1999 removed his hereditary automatic entitlement to attend and sit in the House of Lords, he was created a life peer as Baron Jellicoe of Southampton, of Southampton in the County of Hampshire, so that he could continue to be summoned. The House of Lords Minutes of Proceedings for Die Martis 23° Novembris 1999 records:
1. Earl Jellicoe (Lord Jellicoe of Southampton)—The Rt Hon. George Patrick John Rushworth Earl Jellicoe, having been created Baron Jellicoe of Southampton, of Southampton in the County of Hampshire, for life by Letters Patent dated 6 o’clock in the forenoon of 17th November 1999, took and subscribed the oath pursuant to statute.
Earl Jellicoe remained an active member of the House of Lords for the rest of his life. He died on February 222007, six weeks short of his 90th birthday.
At his death, Earl Jellicoe was the longest serving member of the House of Lords, and arguably the longest serving parliamentarian in the world, having succeeded his father in 1935 and come of age and sat first in parliament on 25 July1939. Because he waited until 28 July1958 to make his maiden speech, a few peers (viz. Earl Ferrers and Lords Renton, Carrington and Healey) can be considered to have been active parliamentarians longer. Moreover, on the Privy Council only the Duke of Edinburgh (1951) and Lords Carrington (1959), Deedes and Renton (both 1962) had served longer.
Character
In May 1973, at the time of his resignation from the government, friends are quoted as saying:
' If he has a fault it is because he wears his weaknesses on his sleeve. He is too frank. I suppose though, that is no bad thing. He was not flamboyant but he was a hedonist. He is the sort of non-pompous person who does not try to hide his weaknesses ' (quoted from Christopher Sweeney's article, The Times, May 251973, page 2).
Hercules, known for his strength, courage and sexual prowess
In July 1970 he was banned from driving for a year and fined 75 pounds with 20 guineas costs for having consumed more than the permitted level of alcohol in Old Brompton Road at 4 a.m. on 21 March 1970. Luck saw to it that the case came after the General Election and the ban coincided with the arrival of his right to a full time government car.
In 2000 his friend the former UK Ambassador to Washington, Sir Nicholas Henderson, wrote:
George is a man of moods. He is not complicated but a many-sided character. There are in fact four Georges: there is George the First, the unabstemious, boisterous Lothario, with a leer like a roue in a Peter Arno cartoon, blessed with an iron constitution and athletic prowess that enabled him to have been on the verge of the British Olympic ski and sleigh teams; then we have Hero George, the dashing man of action, a leader who whether descending by parachute or commanding by sea, kept the enemy on tenterhooks in the Eastern Mediterranean throughout the war; thirdly, there is George the aesthete and sightseer, who, with little finger raised, will speak discerningly of paintings, mosaics and furniture, a great patron of the arts, his talent as a collector mangue only due to lack of funds, which has not prevented some bold purchases; and finally we have pensive George, scholar and public servant, concerned to promote the national interest, high-minded, cautious and conscientious'. ' A striking and irrepressible feature of that character has been his easy communion with members of the opposite sex, and this may have been prefigured by an early experience. He spent some time as a small boy in New Zealand where his father was Governor-General. George wanted to become a wolf cub, but no pack was available, so instead he joined the Brownies. He got on very well with them'. (Old Friends and Modern Instances, 2000)
Lord Jellicoe married twice, first in 1944 (2s, 2d) Patricia daughter of Jeremiah O'Kane, of Shanghai and then of Vancouver, and secondly in 1966 (1s, 2d) Philippa, daughter of Philip Dunne (1904-1965), M.C. (1943), M.F.H., Unionist M.P. for Stalybridge and Hyde (1935-37), of Gatley Park, Herefordshire, and had eight children, born between 1944 and 1984. He was a member of Brooks's, the Special Forces Club and was a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Mercers.
Lorna Windmill's biography termed Jellicoe a British Achilles on account of two of his careers derailing as a result of women: in the 1950s for love, and in the 1970s for escorts. Otherwise A British Odysseus might have served.
Honours
UK Life Peer (1999); KBE (1986); DSO (1942); MC (1944); PC (1963); FRS (1990); Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur (1945); Croix de Guerre (1945); Greek Order of Honour (1950); Greek War Cross (1950); Grand Commander Order of Honour (Greece, 1991); Freeman of the City of Athens; Hon. degrees from King's College, London (Fellow (FKC) 1979); Southampton University (LLD, 1985); Long Island University (1987); Hon. admiral in the Texas Navy (1988); 27 October 1988 was Lord Earl Jellicoe Day in the City of Houston; page of honour to the late King George VI at his coronation (12 May 1937).
References
Old Friends and Modern Instances, by Nicholas Henderson, Profile, 2001 (chapter nine, pages 105-116).
A British Achilles: The Story of George, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, by Lorna Almonds Windmill, Pen and Sword Books Ltd, Barnsley, 2006.
Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 2007.
Burke's Peerage, 107th edition, 2003.
Review of the Operation of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1976, by the Rt. Hon. Earl Jellicoe, DSO, MC., Command 8803, HMSO, February 1983.
The Boxer Rebellion, The Fifth Wellington Lecture, University of Southampton, by the Rt Hon the Earl Jellicoe, KBE, DSO, MC, LLD, FRS, PC, University of Southampton, 1993.
Special Boat Squadron, The Story of the SBS in the Mediterranean, by Barrie Pitt, Century Publishing, London, 1983.
The Life of John Rushworth, Earl Jellicoe, G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O, L.L.D., D.C.L., by Admiral Sir R. H. Bacon, K.C.B., K.C.V.O., D.S.O., Cassell, London, Toronto, Melbourne & Sydney, 1936.
