Henry L Gates, Fl.1920 -1943 Portrait of Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty Gcb, Om, Gcvo, Dso, Pc (1871-1936)

Henry L Gates, fl.1920 -1943

Portrait of Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO, PC (1871-1936)

Signed/Inscribed:

lower right

oil on canvas

76 x 61 cm. (30 x 25 in.)

David Beatty, first Earl Beatty (1871–1936), naval officer, was born on 17 January 1871 at Howbeck Lodge, Stapeley, Nantwich, Cheshire, the second of four sons of Captain David Longfield Beatty (1841–1904), of the 4th hussars, and his first wife, Katherine Edith (d. 1896), daughter of Nicholas Sadleirof Dunboyne Castle, co. Meath, Ireland.

David's brothers all served in the army, and his one sister, Kathleen, known as Trot, married Colonel Miles Courage, of the brewing family, who became master of the Hampshire hunt. David inherited his family's love of hunting, horsemanship, and all country sports, but as a young boy showed such interest in ships and the sea that his parents had him prepared for the navy. In January 1884, at thirteen, the normal age for officer entry, he passed into the Britannia, the training establishment on the Dart, tenth out of ninety-nine candidates. He passed out in January 1886, eighteenth of his term of thirty-three. He was not amenable to the punitive discipline and rigid routine of Britannia, the training ship, and so was never chosen as a cadet captain. He described himself as 'essentially Irish', and perhaps his high spirits and generally attractive personality were seen as redeeming features. On the other hand he had ‘interest’, that established factor in furthering a successful naval career. His mother, relying on their shared Irishness, personally appealed to Charles Beresford and had his original appointment to the China station changed to one on Alexandra, the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, where the commander-in-chief, Queen Victoria's second son, the duke of Edinburgh, gained a sound professional reputation.

Such a ship attracted an unusual number of officers who subsequently achieved high rank, among them Colin Keppel and Stanley Colville, who could provide valuable role models for the cadets and midshipmen. Beatty's companions in the gun room included Walter Cowan, Richard Phillimore, and Reginald Tyrwhitt, who later served under him as flag officers in the North Sea. Others of his seniors became influential in court circles during the reigns of Queen Victoria's successors. In the meantime his manners, cheerfulness, and good looks made him popular with the royal and other highly placed visitors to the flagship, while his skills as a horseman gained him additional friends and admirers. Alexandra was typical of the capital ships of the day: fully rigged for sail, but equipped for steam propulsion and strongly armoured, it mounted heavy, muzzle loading guns and carried Whitehead torpedoes.

Beatty was rated midshipman on 15 May 1886, was promoted sub-lieutenant on 14 May 1890, and began scientific and technical courses at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and specialist establishments in Portsmouth in September. In contrast to these he had three periods of sea service under sail in the corvette Ruby. The last of these followed his promotion to lieutenant on 25 August 1892; he had not been attracted by the six months' accelerated advancement gained by high performance in the courses and achieved a first-class pass only in torpedoes.

More directly relevant to the newer navy was Beatty's appointment to the battleship Camperdown in October 1893, when he entered the world of steam tactics. In 1895 he joined the battleship Trafalgar, whose executive officer Stanley Colville had formed a high opinion of his potential during their time in Alexandra. This led to promotion and distinction, which enabled Beatty to out-distance his contemporaries for the rest of his career. When Colville was appointed to command the gunboats supporting General Sir Herbert Kitchene