John Charles Dalrymple Hay

“ I am to draw your attention to the clauses in the temporary provisions under which option of electing the new or old Regulations for Retirement and Pay may be given you; and I am to request that you will state, in writing, without any delay, whether you wish to be dealt with under former Regulations or to accept the terms offered by this Order in Council; also, whether you wish to be considered as a Candidate for Retirement, irrespective of age, in order to facilitate the reductions of the Active Lists. ”

“ Just sufficient Admirals were retired to give Sir Sydney Dacres his promotion to that rank, and the private secretary to the First Lord is now one of the junior Rear-admirals.
Sir John Hay is far from thinking that he has been more hardly treated than his brother officers, who have been similarly injured by a retrospective law.
He may have felt more acutely the disappointment which in the ordinary course of nature he, as the youngest of the sufferers on the flag list, may have longest to bear. ”

“ To qualify a Captain, whose seniority brings him in turn for advancement, for the Active List of Flag Officers, he must have commanded one or more of Her Majesty's Ships, as Captain, four complete years during War, or six complete years during Peace, or five complete years during War and Peace combined. ”

“ A Captain shall be allowed to reckon as time served at Sea, the period during which he may have been employed afloat in that capacity on surveying or other duties, provided that, during such period, he shall actually have had the charge and command of some Surveying Ship or other sea-going Vessel, or that he shall have been borne for full-pay on the books of one of Her Majesty's Ships in Commission. ”

“ He may be unable to persuade himself that the very sweeping and unexpected measure of compulsory retirement, which has been extended so as to include him, was not specially introduced, so as to oblige a political opponent to make his election between a forced retirement from the ranks of parliamentary opposition, or from his profession ”

“ This offer was declined, with some remarks as to the greater importance of his services at the Board of Admiralty and in Parliament in time of peace than any service he could render at sea. The present Board then took office, and Vice-Admiral Sir Sydney Dacres, who had been a member of the former Board of Admiralty with Sir John Hay, continued in the present Board as its chief naval adviser. ”

“ As he was only forty-five years of age when he became a flag officer, it was certain that if he lived he must attain the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, the object of ambition of every naval officer.
In June, 1866, he was requested to form one of the Board of Admiralty, and had various responsible duties entrusted to him, such as the armament of the Navy and the conduct of the naval part of the Abyssinian war. Feeling, however, that his superiors might desire him to serve afloat, he proposed to Mr. ”

“ Mr. Childers stated in the discussion on Lord Henry Lennox's motion on the 18th March, that this was only extending to the list of admirals a provision already existing in other ranks. This was not so: no such regulation exists with regard to the combined unemployed time of an officer in any other ranks in the Navy; and Mr. Gladstone further added to the inaccuracy by stating that the new retirement was entirely voluntary.
Sir John Hay to the Admiralty. ”

“ I trust that the determination to dismiss me from active service may result in obtaining younger Admirals than I am, for whatever may be the opinion of my professional knowledge, I venture to say that none of those who may replace me will be possessed with greater loyalty to the Throne or a more patriotic desire in war to serve the country.
I am, Sir,⁠
Your obedient servant,⁠
(Signed) J. C. D. HAY, Bart., M.P. To the Secretary of the Admiralty.
Sir John Hay's retirement having already been notified to him, Mr. Childers wrote the following note:—
Mr. ”

“ He had in 1859 fulfilled the time which the Queen's Regulations specified as necessary to qualify him for his flag on the active list. [1] He therefore had a positive certainty of rising, if he lived, to the highest ranks of his profession. On his return to England in 1859 he offered himself for employment. The Duke of Somerset, then First Lord of the Admiralty, requested him to serve as one of a Royal Commission to inquire into Greenwich Hospital—a duty which he concluded with Sir W. Hutt and Mr. ”

“ In confirmation of this I may instance the fact, that the services of almost all the men whose naval reputation is the greatest would have been lost to the State by this arrangement, before their greatest achievements had conferred lustre on the country ”

“ Sir L. Heath's period of service is up in June, and this will give you the usual time to make your preparations for going out in May.
Let me know your decision at your earliest convenience. Until the Queen's pleasure has been taken this should only be known by your personal friends and in strict confidence.
Believe me,⁠
Yours very sincerely,⁠
HUGH C. E. CHILDERS. Rear-Admiral Sir John Hay, Bart., M.P.
It was quite evident that, under the then existing circumstances, Sir John Hay could accept no command ”