Reading Jellicoe beyond heroes and scapegoats

John Rushworth Jellicoe is a difficult figure to assess because abundant writing coexists with strong personal and political perspectives. Nick Jellicoe preserves valuable family material, while Reginald Bacon supplies the view of a contemporary who knew and argued with him. Winston Churchill's influential account requires more caution because its accurate evidence is often arranged to justify Churchill's own decisions. Jellicoe was also an unusually candid wartime administrator. His refusal to declare the submarine campaign won before the evidence supported it made him politically vulnerable.