Sir Roger Backhouse

Sir Roger Backhouse
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Backhouse
Born	(1878-11-24)24 November 1878 Middleton Tyas, Yorkshire, England
Died	15 July 1939(1939-07-15) (aged 60) London, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1892–1939
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands held	First Sea Lord Home Fleet 1st Battle Squadron 3rd Battle Squadron HMS Malaya HMS Lion HMS Conquest
Battles/wars	First World War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Roland Charles Backhouse GCB, GCVO, CMG (24 November 1878 – 15 July 1939) was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the First World War as a cruiser commander and after the war became a battle squadron commander and later Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet. Becoming First Sea Lord in November 1938, his major contribution in that role was to abandon the official British policy of sending a major fleet to Singapore to deter Japanese aggression (the Singapore strategy), realising the immediate threat was closer to home (from Germany and Italy) and that such a policy was no longer viable. He died from a brain tumor in July 1939 just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Born the fourth son of Sir Jonathan Backhouse, 1st Baronet and Florence Backhouse (née Salusbury-Trelawny), Backhouse joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship HMS Britannia in 1892 and went to sea as a midshipman in the battleship HMS Repulse in the Channel Squadron in 1894.

Backhouse transferred to the corvette HMS Comus on the Pacific Station in October 1895 and, having been promoted to sub-lieutenant on 15 March 1898 and to lieutenant on 15 March 1899, he joined the battleship HMS Victorious in the Mediterranean Fleet in November 1899. After attending the gunnery school HMS Excellent, he was posted as gunnery officer to the battleship HMS Russell in the Mediterranean Fleet in February 1903 and then to the battleship HMS Queen in Mediterranean Fleet in April 1904, before returning to HMS Excellent to join the directing staff in July 1905. He became gunnery officer in the battleship HMS Dreadnought in the Channel Fleet in August 1907 and, having been promoted to commander on 31 December 1909, he rejoined the directing staff at HMS Excellent in February 1910. He became Flag Commander to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet first in HMS Neptune from March 1911 and then in HMS Iron Duke from March 1914.