sador's arrival in Berlin. Lascelles's personal relations with William II, who was at great pains to capture his confidence, were, however, singularly cordial and even intimate. In spite of the Emperor's not infrequent outbursts of angry temper when talking of British ministers and British policy, Lascelles was generally inclined to acquit him of any hostile designs against England, and he preferred to throw the blame on the sovereign's advisers, and especially on Prince Bülow, whom he greatly distrusted. He retired in 1908, and even after his retirement continued to use his influence for the restoration of Anglo-German amity right up to the outbreak of the European War of 1914. Lascelles was created K.C.M.G. (1886), G.C.M.G. (1892), G.C.B. (1897), G.C.V.O. (1904), and a privy councillor in 1892. He married in 1867 Mary Emma (died 1897), eldest daughter of Sir Joseph Francis Olliffe [q.v.], physician to the British embassy at Paris, and had two sons and one daughter, Florence, who married Sir Cecil Spring-Rice [q.v.]. He died in London 2 January 1920.
[Official records; private letters.]
LAUGHTON, Sir JOHN KNOX (1830–1915), naval historian, was the second son and youngest child of James Laughton, of Liverpool (1777–1859), who, like his ancestors, was in times of peace a master mariner and in times of war captain of a privateer. James Laughton married Ann Potts, who came of yeoman stock in Cumberland; and before the birth of his younger son forsook the sea and took to Calvinism. The future historian was born in Liverpool 23 April 1830. He was educated at the Royal Institution School in that city and later proceeded to Caius College, Cambridge, where in 1852 he sat for the mathematical tripos and graduated as a wrangler. Almost as soon as he had taken his degree the outbreak of war with Russia suggested a career; and entering the royal navy as a naval instructor, he joined his first ship, the Royal George, 27 December 1853, and proceeded to the Baltic. His service here extended over 1854 and 1855; and in 1856, as the Crimean War came to an end, he was transferred to the Calcutta, flagship of the commander-in-chief in the Far East. During the second Chinese War he was present at the capture of the Canton defences (1856), the battle of Fatshan Creek (1857), and the capture of the Taku forts (1858). In these engagements he distinguished himself by his gallantry; while at the same time in pursuit of his ordinary duties he was laying the foundations of his success as a teacher. ‘Sir John taught so well,’ wrote Admiral Sir Edward Seymour in later years, ‘that of his pupils (in the Calcutta) at least seventeen got on the active list of captains and eight to that of flag officers—which from one ship I believe to be a record.’ For his services in the Baltic Laughton received the Crimean medal, and for the Chinese War the medal with clasps—a remarkable achievement for one whose status was that of a civilian. In 1859 he was appointed to the Algiers, and, while in the Mediterranean, specialized in the geography of the Holy Land, collecting as large a library on the subject as his cabin would hold. But his war experiences were over; and after serving in one or two other ships he came ashore for good, and in 1866 was transferred to the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth.
Here Laughton's pupils were half-pay captains and commanders; and, the educational fashions of the sailing-epoch being still in vogue, the chief subject he had to teach was meteorology, though to this was added, inter alia, marine surveying. There were no suitable text-books, and Laughton in his thorough fashion set himself to produce what was wanted. In 1870 he published his Physical Geography in its relation to the Prevailing Winds and Currents, and two years later his Treatise on Nautical Surveying. These works attracted attention outside the service, and led to his long and valued connexion with the Royal Meteorological Society, of which he was elected a fellow in 1873 and president in 1882.
In 1873 the Admiralty decided to convert Greenwich Hospital, the primary object of which had by then ceased to exist, into a university for the navy; and Laughton was promoted from Portsmouth to take charge of the department of meteorology and marine surveying. In 1876 he obtained permission to lecture on naval history. The subject had been utterly neglected in the service, and seemed outside the scope of the Greenwich curriculum, which hitherto had been purely technical. But from this time onward Laughton transferred his allegiance almost wholly to his new study, which he attacked in all its applications with his accustomed vigour. In 1885 he reached the retiring age, and the navy lost one of its best servants; but he did not at once cease to lecture on naval history at Greenwich; and he became a regular contributor to the Edinburgh Review and to
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