Henry Bradwardine JACKSON (1855-1929)

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Bradwardine Jackson (1855-1929) was a Royal Navy officer who was British First Sea Lord during part of the First World War.

Born at Barnsley on 21st January 1855, Henry Jackson entered the navy in 1868 and gained an early reputation as a pioneer of ship-to-ship radio technology.  In 1896 he became the first person to achieve ship-to-ship radio communications, and demonstrated continuous communication with another vessel up to three miles away.

He went on to be Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy, then Director of the Royal Naval War College and subsequently Chief of the Admiralty War Staff.  The arrival of the First World War in August 1914 enabled Jackson to work on the co-ordination of British attacks on Germany's colonial possessions.

In May 1915 Jackson was selected as the surprise successor to Admiral Lord Fisher upon the latter's spectacular resignation following the failure of the Gallipoli Campaign. He had a cordial working relationship with First Lord of the Admiralty (and former Prime Minister) Arthur Balfour, but largely concerned himself with administrative matters and his prestige suffered when German destroyers appeared in the Channel, as a result of which he was replaced in December 1916.

He died at Hayling Island on 14th December 1929.