Christopher Theodore
Jellicoe was the second son of the Reverend Thomas Harry Lee Jellicoe of St Peter’s Church, Chailey and Bethia Theodora Jellicoe (nee Boyd). His
uncle, Arthur Hamilton Boyd OBE MC TD, who was also a clergyman in civil life, would have a distinguished career in the army during the First World War.
Christopher was
born in 1903, his birth recorded at Lewes in the June quarter of that year. Chailey
Parish Magazine (edited by his father) certainly exhibited no favouritism during the war years. Christopher is mentioned in March 1917 as Jellicoe, C T, Cadet RN
and this information is then repeated monthly up to and including the final published roll call in July 1919.
Christopher’s
naval service records are currently closed to the public. He would have been
too young in the First World War to have contributed meaningfully (he was still only 15 when the Armistice was signed) but
he did lead a distinguished naval career during the Second World War. I am grateful
to Robert Lowe in New Zealand, a relative of the Chailey Jellicoes, for sending me details of Christopher's naval service
which I reproduce below:
Educated at RN colleges in Osborne and Dartmouth, he joined the Royal Navy in 1917. In 1931 he qualified as a Temporary
Lieutenant and in February 1939 he joined the Instructional Department, HMS Vernon, Portsmouth (torpedo school and
experimental establishment).
In June 1939 The Times newspaper noted that he had been promoted from lieutenant commander to commander and
on 6th July 1939
he was the Commanding Officer aboard the destroyer HMS Winchelsea. By December that year however, war having been
declared, he was back at the trawler base at Portsmouth (HMS Vernon II) for miscellaneous duties. His rank
was now ASDG.
Between September 1940 and February 1941, Christopher was stationed at the Royal Naval base on the Clyde, Glasgow (HMS
Spartiate) but by September that year he had been appointed the Commanding Officer aboard another destroyer, HMS
Southwold. He appears to have transferred to another destroyer - HMS Jackal - in 1941 or 1942 before taking
up another post, in July 1942, as Staff Officer (Operations) Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet. In this role he served aboard
HMS Duke of York and HMS King George V.
On 1st March 1944 Christopher Jellicoe was the Commanding Officer on HMS Colombo (a cruiser) before being appointed Deputy
Director of Operations (Home) at the Admirality in March 1945. He cointinued to serve with the Roayl Navy in the post
war years, commanding two more ships in the early 1950s and ending his career in 1956 as a Rear Admiral on the Admirality
Interview Board.
Christopher Jellicoe was highly decorated during his Naval career. On 23rd December 1939 he was awarded
the Distinguished Service Cross for successful action against submarines and in September 1942 he added the Distinguished
Service Order for his work on the Malta convoy in March that year. Two months later, on 17th November 1942 he was Mentioned
in Dispatches for his work on Operation MG2 (the interception of an Italian convoy to North Africa five months earlier).
In March 1944 Christopher was awarded a bar to his DSC for his work in
the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst in December 1943 and in June 1955 he was created a Companion of
the Bath (CB) in Her Majesty The Queen's birthday Honour's List.
At the time of
the award of his bar to the DSC he is noted as Commander (now Captain) Christopher Theodore JELLICOE DSO, DSC, Royal Navy
(Pulborough, Sussex). The citiation for his
award reads:
Staff Officer (Operations). He showed a quick and accurate
appreciation of events throughout the action which, combined with his sound judgement and careful planning of earlier movements,
was of very great assistance to me in bringing the enemy to action in an advantageous position.
Christopher
Jellicoe died in Sussex in 1977, his death reported in The Times.
The Times, 16 April, 1977
JELLICOE.-On
April 15th, 1977, suddenly and peacefully, at Storrington, Sussex. Rear Admiral Christopher Theodore Jellicoe. CB.. D.S.O..
D.S.C. Dearly loved husband of Mary and father of Christina. Requiem Mass on Wednesday. April 20th. at Storrington R.C. Church.
at 10.30 a.m. Family flowers only, please. to H.. D. Tribe Ltd.. Funeral Directors, 21 West Street. Storrington.
Chritopher’s
older brother John Basil Lee Jellicoe also served his King and Country during the First World War.
Sources and Acknowledgements
- England and Wales, Civil Registration Index: 1837-1983
- Chailey Parish Magazine
- The National Archives – ADM 1/16676 for Jellicoe’s WW2 citation
- The Times newspaper
- Thomson and Gale
- Fred Williams for his assistance with Christopher Jellicoe in particular and WW1
naval service records in general
- Robert Lowe in New Zealand for providing me with much useful information about
the Jellicoe brothers, Christopher and Basil, their father Thomas, and the Jellicoe family in general.
