Admiral Sir John Reginald Thomas Fullerton, (10 August 1840 – 29 June 1918) was a Royal Navy officer and courtier.
Early life Fullerton was born at Thrybergh in Yorkshire,John Doxey, The Fullerton Family, at johndoxey.100freemb.com, accessed 6 October 2013 the only son of the Rev. Weston Fullerton, Rector of Thrybergh, a scion of the landed gentry.John Reginald Thomas Fullerton R.N. at pdavis.nl, accessed 6 October 2013 His father died in 1843, and in 1853 Fullerton joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman.
Naval career In 1861 Fullerton was promoted lieutenant, and in 1862 he joined the almost new armoured frigate HMS Defence, a ship of the Channel Squadron. From 18 August to 14 December 1864 he was an Additional Lieutenant in HMS Bombay, an elderly 84-gun second rate ship of the line, cruising the coast of South America. The ship was destroyed in an accidental fire during target practice near Flores Island in the River Plate, off Montevideo, with the loss of some ninety officers and men.William Patrick Gossett, The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900 (Mansell, 1986, ), p. 117
In 1865 he joined HMS Narcissus, a wooden-hulled screw frigate, still on the South America station, and on 10 March 1870, still a Lieutenant, was posted to the new corvette Volage in the Channel Squadron. At the end of 1870 Volage transferred to a Flying Squadron which circumnavigated the world and did not return to England until the end of 1872.G. A. Ballard, "British Corvettes of 1875: The Volage, Active and Rover", in Mariner's Mirror, January 1937 (Cambridge: Society for Nautical Research), pp. 53–67 By an Order in Council dated 5 February 1872, Fullerton was promoted to the rank of commander.The London Gazette, issue no. 23826 dated 9 February 1872, p. 510 In 1874 Volage took a group of astronomers to the Kerguelen Islands to observe a transit of Venus.Ballard (1937), pp. 59–60
In 1875 Fullerton joined the royal yacht HMY Victoria and Albert as second-in-command under Hugh Cambell, who died of typhoid fever on 12 February 1877. He was promoted captain on 10 January 1878,The London Gazette, issue no. 24541 dated 11 January 1878, p. 169 and on 18 January 1883 was posted as Captain to HMS Sapphire, an Amethyst-class wooden screw corvette of the China Squadron. However, he was soon called home, and on 15 October 1884 he was given command of the royal yacht Victoria and Albert II,The Navy List (1891), p. 264 a position he retained until 1901.William Loney RN - Background: Victoria and Albert at pdavis.nl, accessed 6 October 2013 On 1 January 1893 Fullerton was promoted rear-admiral and an Honorary Aide-de-Camp to HM the Queen,The London Gazette, issue no. 26359 dated 2 January 1893, p. 2; issue no. 26362, dated 10 January 1893, p. 138 and in 1896 was made a companion in the civil division of the Order of the Bath. On 9 May 1899, at the time of Queen Victoria's visit to Cherbourg, he was knighted by being appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian OrderThe London Gazette, issue no. 27079 dated 12 May 1899, p. 3029 and on 13 July of the same year was promoted vice-admiral.The London Gazette, issue no. 27100 dated 18 July 1899, p. 4,444 On 1 February 1901, the eve of the funeral of Queen Victoria, he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order,The London Gazette, issue no. 27282, dated 8 February 1901, p. 996 and on 25 February was appointed an Honorary Naval Aide-de-Camp to the new King, Edward VII.The London Gazette, issue no. 27289, 26 February 1901, p. 1,417 In early 1903 he received the first class of the Prussian Order of the Crown, with brilliants, and was also a recipient of the Russian Order of St Anne, first class.
On 15 March 1904, Fullerton retired the service with the rank of full admiral.The London Gazette, issue no. 27659 (Supplement), dated 18 March 1904, p. 1,791
There is a memorial to his memory in St Andrew's Church, Hamble-le-Rice, Hampshire.Memorial in St Andrew's Church, Hambleː Admiral Sir John Fullerton
Private life On 18 June 1874 Fullerton married Ada Capell, a daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Samuel Capell,Charles Mosley, ed., Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage (107th edition, 2003), vol. 1, p. 1,349 who was a grandson of William Capell, 4th Earl of Essex.Mosley (2003), vol. 1, p. 1,348 Their children were a daughter, Judith, and a son, Admiral Sir Eric Fullerton (1878–1962). In 1901 Judith married Lieutenant Sidney Julius Meyrick (1879–1973), who later became Admiral Sir Sidney Meyrick. In 1908 Eric married Dorothy Sibyl Fisher, one of the daughters of Admiral John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher.Mosley (2003), vol. 1, p. 1,432
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