DRIVEN TO A PAINFUL CONCLUSION

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 106, 31 October 1914, Page 7

DRIVEN TO A PAINFUL CONCLUSION

MR. CHURCHILL'S REPLY. LONDON, 30th October. Prince Louis of Battenberg, in a letter to, Mr. Churchill, First Lord of the M> miralty, states that he is driven to the painful conclusion that his birth and parentage are impairing in 6ome respects nis usefulness on the Board of the Admiralty. He therefore feels it his duty as a loyal subject to resign. Mr. Churchill, in replying, paid a warm tribute to Prince Louis' services. The present life-and-death struggle was exciting terrible racial^ passions, and Prince Louis' decision showed the same spirit as that with which his nephew Prihce Maurice had given up his life for England. [On Wednesday a cable message stated that "silly stories had been current for several weeks impugning the loyalty of Prince Louis. The Globe in an apologetic article stated that it had received numbers of letters from correspondents on the subject, and asked for an official statement." , Vice-Admiral H.S.H. Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, First Sea Lord at the Admiralty since 1912, and personal A.D.C. to the King, was born at Gratz (Austria) on 24th May, 1854. He is the eldest son of Prince Alexander of Hesse; he married, in 1884, his cousin Princess Victoria, daughter of Princess Alice, Queen Victoria's daughter, and has two sons and two daughters. He was naturalised a British subject, and entered the Royal Navy as a naval cadet in 1868; became sub-lieutenant in 1874 ; lieutenant, 1876, commander, 1885; captain, 1891. He served in the Egyptian War; Director of Naval Intelligence, 1902-1904; RearAdmiral, 1904; Commanding Second Cruiser Squadron, 1904-6; Second in Command Mediterranean, 1906-8; Com-mander-in-Chief Atlantic. 1908-10; Commanding 3rd and 4th Divisions Home Fleet, 1911; Second Sea Lord of the Admiralty, 1911. The Prijice has two sons in the Navy, one of them, Prince George, being a sub-lieutenant on the battle-cruiser New Zealand. A nephew, Prince Maurice of Battenberg, a lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, was reported on Thursday to have died of his wounds.] lord~fTsher REPORTED APPOINTMENT TO VACANT POSITION. (Received October 31, 9 a.m.) LONDON, 30th October. It is understood that Lord Fisher succeeds Prince Louis of BaUcnberg as First Sea Loid. OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. (Received October 31, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, 30th October. Admiral Lord Fisher hu, iit p offl-

cially announced, been appointed First Sea Lord. [Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Arbuthnot Fisher, first Baron of-Kilver-stone. was bom in January. 1841. ami from 1904 to 1910 was First Sea Lord. He entered the Navy in 1854. became a lieutenant in 1860" look part in the capture of the Canton and Peiho forts, served in the Crimean war, the China war, and the Egyptian war, was present at the bombardment of Alexandria. In turn he held the positions of Director of Naval Ordnance, Admiral Superintendent at Portsmouth Dockyard, Controller of the Navy, Lord of the Admiralty, Com-mander-in-Chief on the North American and West Indies Station, Commandcr-iu-Chief on the Mediterranean Station, Second Sea Lord. Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, and First Sea Lord. He acted as delegate to the Peace Conference at The Hague (1889), and was Chairman of the Royal Commission on Oil Fuel (1912). Admiral Fisher did much in the way of naval reorganisation.]