Admiral Charles William de la Poer Beresford, 1st Baron Beresford, GCB, GCVO, FRSGS (10 February 1846 – 6 September 1919), styled Lord Charles Beresford between 1859 and 1916, was a British admiral and Member of Parliament.
Beresford was the second son of John Beresford, 4th Marquess of Waterford, thus despite his courtesy title as the younger son of a Marquess, he was still eligible to enter the House of Commons. He combined the two careers of the navy and a member of parliament, making a reputation as a hero in battle and champion of the navy in the House of Commons. He was a well-known and popular figure who courted publicity, widely known to the British public as "Charlie B". He was considered by many to be a personification of John Bull, indeed was normally accompanied by his trademark, a bulldog.
His later career was marked by a longstanding dispute with Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Fisher, over reforms championed by Fisher introducing new technology and sweeping away traditional practices. Fisher, slightly senior to Beresford and more successful, became a barrier to Beresford's rise to the highest office in the navy. Beresford rose to occupy the most senior sea commands, the Mediterranean and Channel fleets, but failed in his ambition to become First Sea Lord.
Military and Political Career
Beresford had been captivated by the sight of the Channel Fleet at age twelve, and joined the Royal Navy in 1859 aged 13, following preparatory education at Stubbington House School. He started his training as a cadet at the naval training academy HMS Britannia, successfully completing his passing-out examination in March 1861. He was immediately appointed a midshipman on the flagship of the Mediterranean fleet, the steam three-decker HMS Marlborough. Beresford described Marlborough as "the smartest and happiest ship that ever floated". Beresford left Marlborough in early 1863, and was appointed to HMS Defence in the summer of 1863. Defence was one of four new ironclads serving in the Channel Squadron; Beresford was unhappy in Defence, which he described as "a slovenly, unhandy tin kettle, which could not sail without steam...and which took minutes instead of seconds to cross topgallant yards". Beresford got into debt, his father consulted Admiral Eden, who arranged for Beresford's transfer in mid-1864 to the steam-corvette HMS Clio, where Beresford would be the senior midshipman, which it was hoped would develop his sense of responsibility.
On 9 April 1865 Clio visited the Kingdom of Hawaii (then known as the Sandwich Islands) to escort Dowager Queen Emma to Panama for her visit to London. On the evening of 21 April Beresford and two other midshipmen pulled a prank and stole a wooden American eagle sign from the gate of the legation of United States Minister to Hawaii James McBride. Following the sign's discovery by their superior officer Captain Nicolas Edward Brook Turnour and a formal diplomatic demand to return the sign by the American legation, they were ordered to apologize to the Americans, return and reinstall the sign the next day. The event was negatively reported in American newspapers including Harper's Weekly. Beresford later claimed he did it because of a bet from a fair lady in Honolulu. It was in Honolulu where Beresford first met Nancy Wahinekapu Sumner, one of Queen Emma's court ladies. Beresford and Sumner became friends, and continued their friendship through correspondence. Later in 1865, Beresford was transferred to the steam-corvette HMS Tribune, which was commanded by Lord Gilford and was one of the smartest ships in the navy at the time. Beresford was promoted to acting sub-lieutenant in January 1866. A month later Beresford was transferred to the steam-frigate HMS Sutlej, the flagship of the Pacific Squadron. Beresford passed his seamanship examination to qualify for lieutenant on board Sutlej, which he left later in 1866. Beresford did a gunnery course on Excellent (shore establishment), a hulk in Portsmouth harbour. Beresford broke a bone in his foot whilst dismounting a gun on Excellent, an injury that caused him pain for the rest of his life. Beresford joined HMS Research still as a sub-lieutenant in 1867, and then in the summer of 1868 was one of the sub-lieutenants on the royal yacht Victoria and Albert. Beresford joined the steam-frigate HMS Galatea, commanded by Queen Victoria's son the Duke of Edinburgh, and toured the world, witnessed executions in Japan and got tattooed. On a visit to the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1869, Beresford met Nancy Sumner again. He proposed to her, but she refused likely due to their social and racial differences.
He entered Parliament as a Conservative in 1874, representing County Waterford and retained his seat until 1880. Some difficulties arose with the Lords of the Admiralty, who objected to a junior officer debating the navy publicly in the House of Commons. Beresford's parliamentary career was saved by the intervention of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, who feared the loss of the seat to an opposition party, should Beresford be forced to resign. Whilst an MP he continued to serve in the navy, becoming a commander in 1875.
In 1874, Beresford was one of thirty-two aides chosen to accompany the Prince of Wales on a tour of India. Victoria objected, on the grounds of his bad reputation, but he remained at the Prince's insistence. The tour was a lively mixture of social engagements and animal hunts. The Prince insisted on dressing for dinner, even in the jungle, but allowed the concession of cutting off the tails of their evening coats, creating the dinner jacket. He was aide-de-camp to the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, from 1875 until 1876.
In 1891 Beresford's affair with Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick (i.e., Frances Brooke) resulted in a serious dispute with the Prince of Wales. A letter written by the Countess to Beresford came into the possession of Beresford's wife. She lodged the letter with solicitor George Lewis and threatened to use this to destroy the reputation of the Countess. The Prince of Wales, who had a special affection for the Countess, tried to have the letter destroyed but Lewis would not allow this. The Prince of Wales then took steps to exclude Lady Charles from his social circle. An angry Charles Beresford eventually extracted a written apology from the Prince. The Prince subsequently wrote to Lord Waterford (Beresford's brother) saying that he "can never forget, and shall never forgive, the conduct of your brother and his wife towards me"