Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Callaghan, George Astley
CALLAGHAN, Sir GEORGE ASTLEY (1852-1920), admiral, was born in London 21 December 1852, the third son of Captain Frederic Marcus Callaghan, J.P., of Lotabeg, co. Cork, by his wife, Georgina Frances, daughter of Captain James Hodgson, of the East India Company’s service. He entered the royal navy in January 1866 in H.M.S. Britannia, and was promoted sub-lieutenant in April 1872 and lieutenant in 1875. His first appointment as lieutenant was to the Ruby, East Indies station. During this commission one of the ship’s boats capsized in the Irrawady, and Callaghan earned the commendation of the Admiralty by his gallant behaviour, which saved the lives of several of the crew. In 1880 he returned home in order to qualify in gunnery, and was afterwards on the staff of the port gunnery schools. In 1885 he was again appointed to the Ruby, this time as first and gunnery lieutenant on the South-East coast of America station. He was promoted to commander in 1887, and in 1888 was appointed to the Bellerophon, the flagship on the North American station, in which ship he returned home in 1892. In the same year he was given the command of the Alacrity, yacht of the commander-in-chief, China station, and he received his promotion to captain in 1894.
From now onward Callaghan’s rise in the service was steady and rapid. He served for three years (1894-1897) as naval adviser to the inspector-general of fortifications at the War Office. In July 1897 he took command of the Hermione, at first in the Channel squadron and later on the China station, where he remained until 1901, having been given command of the Endymion, a first-class cruiser, in 1899. While he commanded the Endymion the Boxer rebellion broke out in 1900. Admiral Sir Edward Hobart Seymour was then commander-in-chief on the China station; and, on the decision of the powers to intervene, brigades were landed from various ships to endeavour to push through to the relief of the legations in Peking. This being found impracticable with the small force at his command, Admiral Seymour returned to Tientsin. In the following month a combined naval and military relief force was formed under Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Gaselee [q.v.]. Callaghan was given the command of the British naval brigade which, after severe fighting and much hardship from the heat, succeeded in entering Peking in time to relieve the legations. For this service he was specially mentioned in dispatches and received the C.B. (1900).
After commanding the Edgar in manœuvres as senior officer of the cruisers, Callaghan was appointed to the Caesar, first-class battleship, on the Mediterranean station, at the time when Sir John (afterwards Baron) Fisher [q.v.] was commander-in-chief. He returned in 1903 to be captain of Portsmouth dockyard. This shore service lasted only one year, as, by his own request, he was sent again to sea so that his last year as captain should be spent in familiarizing himself with the most recent developments in the fleet. He commanded the Prince of Wales in the Mediterranean during 1904-1905 and was at this time also made aide-de-camp to King Edward VII.
In July 1905 Callaghan was promoted to rear-admiral, and he hoisted his flag in H.M.S. Illustrious as rear-admiral in the Channel fleet in 1906. From this time he was in uninterrupted command afloat for eight years. The years immediately preceding the European War were a time of strenuous activity in the navy. Lord Fisher was urging and carrying out his reforms and redistributions, shifting the centre of power from the Mediterranean, and forming fresh divisions for defence and attack in home waters. In these schemes Callaghan was to bear an important part from the outset. In 1907 he was given the command of the new fifth cruiser squadron, the ‘tip of the spear’ as it was designated, hoisting his flag in the Leviathan, and afterwards transferring it to the newly built Shannon. Having spent eighteen very strenuous months in bringing his squadron up to a high pitch of efficiency, Callaghan hoisted his flag in the Duncan as second in command of the Mediterranean station (1908). During this command he received the K.C.V.O. (1909) and was also made grand officer of the Crown of Italy for his services in connexion with the Messina earthquake. He became vice-admiral in 1910 and, returning to home waters, immediately hoisted his flag in the King Edward VII, commanding the second division of the home fleet. The next year he was made commander-in-chief, home fleets, with the acting rank of admiral. This great command, of the largest naval fighting force which, up to that time, had ever acted under one flag, he held during the three years of incessant preparation prior to war, his appointment being extended in December 1913 for the further period of one year. His fleet flagships were successively Neptune, Hercules, and Iron Duke. He was awarded the G.C.V.O. after the inspection of the fleet by King George V at Weymouth in 1912, and the grand cordon of the legion of honour on President Poincaré’s official visit to the fleet in 1913.
In July 1914 Callaghan was in command of the mobilized naval forces at Portsmouth on the occasion of another royal inspection, when 460 ships assembled under his flag. This great fleet was about to disperse when the European situation became critical. Callaghan was summoned to the Admiralty, the fleet meanwhile leaving for Scapa Flow. At the Admiralty the disposition of the fleet and the plan of operations in the event of war were discussed with him. Sir John Rushworth (afterwards Earl) Jellicoe had already been appointed to succeed Callaghan in December when the latter’s extension of command would be fulfilled, and Callaghan welcomed the intimation that Sir John should immediately act as his second in command. But, after Callaghan had gone north, Mr. Winston Churchill and Prince Louis of Battenberg [q.v.], the first sea lord, came to the conclusion that, if war broke out, Jellicoe should at once take over the supreme command; they were doubtful if Callaghan’s physical strength would be equal to the immense strain. Sir John Jellicoe on leaving London for the fleet at Scapa Flow was given sealed instructions directing him to take over the command. Soon after midnight on 3-4 August, when war was certain, telegrams were sent to both admirals informing them of the decision and instructing Callaghan to haul down his flag and hand over the command. Much sympathy was felt throughout the fleet for Callaghan, and protests were made by all the principal admirals who had served under him, and by Sir John Jellicoe himself. It was a bitter disappointment to Callaghan not to command in war the fleet to which he had devoted his energies and abilities for so long, and he left amid the regret of all those under his command. Although it was not his fortune to wield the weapon which he had brought to so fine an edge, he could at least lay it down knowing it was ready and in place to meet, with a heavy reckoning, anything which the enemy could attempt. Callaghan was immediately appointed for special service at the Admiralty and also first and principal naval aide-de-camp to the King. This was followed on 1 January 1915 by his appointment as commander-in-chief at the Nore, a post which he held until March 1918. He received the G.C.B. in 1916, and in April 1917 he was promoted to the rank of admiral of the fleet and flew his flag as such for one year, a unique record in the annals of naval history.
When Callaghan hauled down his flag in March 1918 he had completed fifty-two years’ service, of which only eleven in all had been spent in shore billets; while for the last twelve years he had kept his flag flying continuously, except for the few months at the beginning of the War. He was thus essentially and primarily a seaman, with a remarkable knowledge, learnt by continual and exceptional experience, of tactics, of gunnery, and of cruiser and destroyer operations. His fairness, judgement, common sense, equable temperament, modesty, and charm of manner, apart from his great fleet knowledge, rendered him a fine commander-in-chief. His successor in command of the grand fleet, Sir John Jellicoe, on many public occasions testified handsomely to the high state of efficiency in which he found the fleet when Callaghan was so abruptly relieved by him. Callaghan’s naval service ended, he was in 1919 appointed by the King Bath King of Arms, and he officiated at the historic chapter of the Order of the Bath held in Westminster Abbey in the spring of 1920.
He died in London 23 November 1920 at the age of sixty-eight, and was accorded a public funeral in Westminster Abbey. He married in 1876 Edith Saumarez, daughter of the Rev. Frederick Grosvenor, rector of Dunkerton, Bath, and had one son and three daughters.
[Admiralty records; Sir Julian S. Corbett, (Official) History of the Great War. Naval Operations, vol. i, 1920.]