John Jellicoe was an English sailor and politician who served In the Navy of the Union from 1872 until 1944, and in various political positions ranging from
President of the East India Company to his tenure as the
Prime Minister of Britannia. Born to a wealthy family with a history of sea-faring traditions, Jellicoe from an early age expressed his eagerness to join the service. In 1872 he was commissioned as a watchman onboard the coiler
Pemberton. Following a tour of duty around the Mediterranean sea, he was ordered off the
China station, being promoted to Commodore in early 1886. Following the
bombardment of Foochow, China, he found himself appointed as the "executive council" for gunnery operations in southern Asia. Throughout 1888 until 1900 he was steadily promoted from commodore to Rear Admiral with service in fighting against northern shore batteries in the
bombardment of New York in the
Third War of Northern Aggression. With the signing of the
Treaty of Baltimore in 1894, hostilities between the
Union of Scotland and England and the
Yankee Empire came to a close.
Beloved by his crew onboard the Pre-dreadnought Iron Duke, he was formally elected as a Member of the House of Commonwealth from the
HMS Iron Duke on June 30, 1892.
However, matters in North America soon came up, with the
succession crisis regarding the Lords Sharp and Roosevelt, with either side laying claim to the Presidency. With the normal apparatus of the
Council of Ministers deadlocked on a nomination, Roosevelt asked the motherland for help. Prime Minister
Joseph Chamberlain then ordered Jellicoe to
"take the best course of action you deem necessary, and we shall support you in your endeavor's." Jellicoe reluctantly sailed for Boston Harbor with the
Harbor Squadron in a case of careful gunboat diplomacy. Able to calm both sides down, he appointed himself as
President of the Council of Ministers, serving as an administrative role that was praised for it's sudden stability back to the chaotic American political system of
Conservatives and
Socialists. Following almost four years of a stable system, Jellicoe then passed the system back to southern conservative Lord Sharp in 1903, much to the chagrin of the northern socialists Roosevelt and
Eugene V. Debs.
Upon the removal of Ghandi from the
Presidency of the East India Company for alleged corruption and illegal polygamy, Jellicoe took the helm of the Indian Subcontinent, taking an interest for the first time in the well-being of his citizens and not just focused on profits. He bolstered the sanitation systems, upgraded the railways and helped begin the process of streamlining the rampant food shortages in the countryside by importing grain. He was careful not to promote either major religions with the country, keeping the company secular in it's overall mission and rule over the subcontinent. His action in appointing Ghandi to the
Board of Directors for War Profiteering is seen as one of his smartest policy decisions as President of the Company. However, internal politics and disagreements with Edward of Canada prompted him to retire from affairs on the subcontinent. He was recalled back to the motherland (buoyed with a promotion to Admiral of the Fleet) to take part in the
First Weltkrieg, engaging the High Seas Fleet in the
Battle of Narvik, loosing 5 Battlecruisers compared to the German's loss of 2 capital ships. Although a german victory, the outcome was more a draw in the fact that neither side gained the decisive upper hand or initiative in the conflict.
The war at sea mattered little in the end, as it was the blood and sacrifice of the Prussian musketeers and tanks that brought the French, and the British to their knees. Following the instability at Home, Jellicoe took an interest in the
1919 Revolution, which saw the removal of longtime Prime Minister Joseph Chamberlain and the establishment of a
National Council, which was the real political power under former Viscount
Phillip Snowden. Snowden, however, opted to place Jellicoe on as his Prime Minister, purely a political move dedicated to placate the powerful naval faction that had developed after the First Weltkrieg. While he held little constitutional power, he remained an active voice for the interests of the sailors and warriors that had been under his command, pushing through increased war pensions at the protest of more fiscally minded pacifist
socialists and
syndicalists.
Fully aware of his limited political power, he considered his tenure as Prime Minister of
Britannia to be his "retirement years", working on his memoirs and occasionally voting on tied legislation within Parliament whenever it came up. ( As the Prime Minister and as a sitting Member of the
House of Commonwealth, he was the only member entitled to two separate votes, where he often voted in the affirmative as an MP and negatively as the PM to retain some semblance of 'canceling out each vote' he was entitled to.) Eventually, his eyesight and hearing grew worse with age, and he took the opportunity of the 1930 general election to officially retire as Prime Minister, still running for (and winning) his
electoral constituency of HMS Iron Duke until the ship was sunk in an
air-raid over Scapa Flow in 1944. He passed away in 1945 at the age of 85.
Mahatma Ghandi, normally titled as the Viscount Ghandi, was an British-Indian politician, author and soldier who served multiple tenures as the
President of the East India Company and held office as the
President of the Council of Ministers in America. Born poor in Company controlled India, he grew up under the teachings of commercialism and mercantilism, sailing to London for more advanced learning than what was available to him in India. However, although in his autobiography he states he was "pressed into service to fight in Africa", the recruitment records of British Malay state that he volunteered to die for "company, crown and country". It also neglects to mention that he didn't fight in Africa until the 1890s with the start of the
Boer War. Initially as a scout/war journalist, he frequently found himself in combat, and was able to survive multiple encounters with Boer militants. Wounded by some Boer shrapnel during the siege of Ladysmith, he was awarded the campaign medal for having participated in lifting the siege.
Following his wartime service, he returned to his political career and finished up his studies at
University College. A rising star in the Indian conservative movement, he argued for "unquestionable loyalty to the company." His fierce
debates against pro-independence Indians garnered the eyes of
Bombay, he was encouraged to run for
President of the Company. Garnering the support of the more conservative but less racist board members, he was elected 15 to 6 as the President. In doing so, he became the
first non-white member elected President of the Company. His tenure was marked with a smooth relationship with John Jellicoe until a
massacre of peasants that had been protesting the implementation of confusing taxes forced him to be removed by the board. Returning as a member that specialized in
war-profiteering, or in better words, downgrading to the position, he then traveled to America in 1902, eventually settling down in California until his surprise request by John Sharp to succeed him as
President of the North American Council. However, when he got to
Baltimore, he was met with fierce pushback from the southerners and even many northerners who loathed the idea of an Indian "non-white" being a member. In order to get along smoothly with such opposition, he joined in the rhetoric, railing against the african-americans and advocating segregationist policies, positions he defiantly maintained even on his death bed. In this, he was able to convince the southerners that he was a friend of the white man, and a firm proponent of what
Ellison D. Smith proclaimed
"Cotton Up and the Negro Down". He began a lengthy penmanship and professional relationship with the south carolinian, even coming to his funeral in late 1944.
During his 1918 to 1920 tenure of the East India Company, he was met with stiff internal divides and uproar over his proposal to
segregate the various religions and ethnic groups. Seeing as there was a friendly conservative majority on the board of directors and without as much as a second glance by the Union Prime Minister, he went ahead with the segregation plan, nicknamed
"Ghandization." He accelerated the export of cotton to the markets of Asia, agreeing with Smith to allow the southern colonies to supply the motherland and much of Europe with her own white gold for shirts and tablecloths. In 1920, he was forced out by
Victor Bulwer-Lytton before coming back as the President of the Company for a final time from 1924 until 1934. By this time his age was begining to catch up with him, and his general forgetfulness in eating owing to his busy work schedule as President forced him to finally retire. Opting to embark on a global tour to spread the word of
Mormonism following an emotional April night in 1928 that convinced him to convert, Ghandi sadly died in
an aerial accident in Port Morseby.
