John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent

Admiral of the Fleet The Right Honourable The Earl of St Vincent GCB PC
The Earl of St Vincent, by Lemuel Francis Abbott, 1795, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery
Born	9 January 1735 Meaford Hall, Staffordshire, England
Died	13 March 1823(1823-03-13) (aged 88) Rochetts, Brentwood, Essex, England
Buried	Stone, Staffordshire
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1749–1823
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands	HMS Porcupine HMS Scorpion HMS Albany HMS Gosport HMS Alarm HMS Kent HMS Foudroyant Leeward Islands Station Mediterranean Fleet Channel Fleet First Lord of the Admiralty
Battles / wars	Seven Years' War Battle of Quebec American War of Independence First Battle of Ushant Third Battle of Ushant Battle of Cape Spartel French Revolutionary Wars Battle of Martinique Invasion of Guadeloupe Battle of Cape St. Vincent Napoleonic Wars

Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC^[1] (9 January 1735 – 13 March 1823) was a British Royal Navy officer, politician and peer. Jervis served throughout the latter half of the 18th century and into the 19th, and was an active commander during the Seven Years' War, American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is best known for his victory at the 1797 Battle of Cape St. Vincent, from which he earned his titles, and as a patron of Horatio Nelson.^[2][3]

Jervis was also recognised by both political and military contemporaries as a fine administrator and naval reformer.^[4] As Commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean, between 1795 and 1799 he introduced a series of severe standing orders to avert mutiny. He applied those orders to both seamen and officers alike, a policy that made him a controversial figure. He took his disciplinarian system of command with him when he took command of the Channel Fleet in 1799. In 1801, as First Lord of the Admiralty, he introduced a number of reforms that, though unpopular at the time, made the Navy more efficient and more self-sufficient. He introduced innovations, including block making machinery at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard. St Vincent was known for his generosity to officers he considered worthy of reward, and his swift and often harsh punishment of those he felt deserved it.

Jervis' entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by P. K. Crimmin describes his contribution to history: "His importance lies in his being the organiser of victories; the creator of well-equipped, highly efficient fleets; and in training a school of officers as professional, energetic, and devoted to the service as himself."^[5]