BEATTY, DAVID, 1ST EARL (1871-1936), British admiral of the fleet, was born on Jan. 17, 1871, second son of Captain David Longfield Beatty of County Wexford, Ireland. He entered the training ship "Britannia" as a naval cadet in 1884. As a young officer, from 1896-98, he saw service with the naval brigade in Egypt and the Sudan, for which he obtained the D.S.O. and early promotion to commander. In that rank he served in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, when he again distinguished himself and was promoted to captain at the early age of 29.
In 1911, as a rear-admiral, he became naval secretary to the first lord of the Admiralty, then Winston Churchill, and, on com pleting two years in that office, in 1913 he was appointed to com mand the Battle Cruiser Squadron.
Very soon after the outbreak of the World War in Aug. 1914, his naval force made a raid into the Heligoland bight (q.v.) and sank three cruisers and one destroyer without loss. A few months later he intercepted the German squadron under Admiral von Hipper in their third attempt on the English coastal towns. In a running fight, the rear German battle cruiser "Blucher" was sunk by the British gunfire. Further damage to the enemy would probably have been inflicted but for the fact that the flagship "Lion" was disabled just as Beatty had swung his ships away from the reported position of an enemy submarine and that his second in command misunderstood his signal to renew the engage ment, which was broken off. This action was known as the fight of the Dogger Bank (q.v.).
In the battle of Jutland (q.v.) on May 30, 1916, the battle cruiser fleet under Beatty was heavily engaged in a running fight with the German scouting force under von Hipper. Although Beatty's battle cruisers had the advantage of numbers, they were handicapped by conditions of light, and the ships themselves proved unable to sustain the superior gunfire of the German battle cruisers, with the result that the "Indefatigable," "Queen Mary" and "Invincible" were sunk. The Fifth Battle Squadron, which was also part of Beatty's command, having been stationed five miles on the opposite bearing to that on which the enemy was sighted, were unable to render the powerful support which they could have given during the early part of the engagement. Never theless, Beatty succeeded in his main object of drawing the corn bined High Sea Fleet to the northward, from whence Admiral Jellicoe, with the whole British Grand Fleet, was hastening to meet and engage it. In Dec. 1916, on Jellicoe being appointed first sea lord, Beatty became commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet. In this capacity he received the surrender of the greater part of the German navy after the Peace of Versailles.
From 1919 to 1927 he served with marked distinction and ability as first sea lord, having to deal with the exceptionally difficult problems connected with the reduction of the war fleet and the creation of a much smaller, modernized, but highly efficient peace time navy. In 1921 he was the British delegate at the Washington Conference on the limitation of armaments.
He received the K.C.B. in 1914. In 1919 he was raised to the Peerage as Earl Beatty, Viscount Borodale of Borodale, Baron Beatty of the North Sea and of Brooksby, and received I i oo,000 for services during the war. He was also awarded the G.C.B. and the O.M. and was the recipient of numerous other British and for eign honours and decorations. In May 1901 he married Ethel (d. Jan. 13, 1932), daughter of the late Marshall Field of Chicago, and had two sons. He died in London, March II, 1936. (E. A.)