Lord Walter Kerr

Admiral of the Fleet Lord Walter Talbot Kerr, (28 September 1839 – 12 May 1927) was a Royal Navy officer. After taking part in the Crimean War and then the Indian Mutiny, he supervised the handover of Ulcinj to Montenegro to allow Montenegro an outlet to the sea in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Berlin. He became Flag Captain to the Commander-in-Chief, Channel Squadron and then Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet. He went on to be Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, then Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Squadron and finally became First Naval Lord. In that capacity he presided over a period of continued re-armament in the face of German naval expansion but was unceasingly harassed by Admiral Sir John Fisher.

Early career Born the fourth son of John Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian and Lady Cecil Chetwynd Talbot. Kerr was educated at Radley College and joined the first-rate HMS Prince Regent as a naval cadet in August 1853. He saw action during the Crimean War serving in the first-rate HMS Neptune in March 1854 and then in the third-rate HMS Cornwallis in May 1855. but still took part in the capture of Lucknow in February 1858. and promoted to mate on 28 September 1858, he transferred to the royal yacht HMY Victoria and Albert in June 1859. and in 1866 helped to establish the first Rugby Football club in the country. Promoted to commander on 3 April 1868, he was posted to the ironclad battleship HMS Hercules in the Channel Squadron in November 1868 and was awarded the Royal Humane Society's silver medal for jumping overboard to rescue a man who had fallen from the rigging into the River Tagus. and while remaining Flag Captain to the Commander-in-Chief, Channel Squadron, he became Captain of the frigate HMS Agincourt in October 1874 and then Captain of the frigate HMS Minotaur in August 1875. He became Flag Captain to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet and Captain of the frigate HMS Inconstant in February 1880 and then, while remaining Flag Captain to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, he became Captain of the ironclad battleship HMS Alexandra in March 1880. He became Captain of the Medway Steam Reserve in December 1881 and naval private secretary to Lord George Hamilton, First Lord of the Admiralty in July 1885. he became Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Squadron, hoisting his flag in the battleship HMS Royal Sovereign in May 1895 and then in the battleship in December 1895.

Kerr became Second Naval Lord again in May 1899 before being made First Naval Lord in August 1899, Following the succession of King Edward VII, he was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902, and received the insignia in an investiture on board the royal yacht Victoria and Albert outside Cowes on 15 August 1902, the day before the fleet review held there to mark the coronation. He was then promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 16 June 1904. During his time as First Naval Lord Kerr presided over a period of continued re-armament in the face of German naval expansion but was unceasingly harassed by Admiral Sir John Fisher until he was replaced by Fisher in October 1904. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of the county on 26 January 1917 and died at Melbourne Hall on 12 May 1927. Ralph Francis (1874–1932), priest; Andrew William (1877–1929), married Marie Constance Kerr (a descendant of the 5th Marquess of Lothian) (1889–1929), had issue, including Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian; Mary Catherine (1878–1957), nun; Margaret Mary (1880–1943), unmarried; John David (1883–1954), married Annabel Mary Ward (d. 1974), no issue; Philip Walter (1886–1941), served as Rouge Croix Pursuivant, killed on active service as an RAF pilot officer: married Dorothy Lucy Cave (a descendant of the 6th Marquess of Lothian)

Ancestry