Signed portrait photograph with letter from Admiral John Jellicoe 1919

JELLICOE, John Rushworth, 1st Earl Jellicoe (1859-1935). Signed portrait photograph with covering letter from HMS New Zealand during the Naval Mission to India and the Dominions, Wellington, 20 August 1919.
 
Photographic portrait of Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Jellicoe in naval uniform, mounted within its original folding display folder, the mount signed in ink by Jellicoe beneath the portrait. Folder approximately 330 x 510 mm when fully extended. Accompanied by a typed letter on embossed “Naval Mission to India and the Dominions, 1919-1920” stationery, headed HMS New Zealand at Wellington and dated 20 August 1919, addressed to the New York collector Y. Minami.  The folder shows some handling wear and minor marks, the photograph with some surface wear and age-toning; the letter has the original folds and the envelope some expected postal wear. Overall very good.
 
A signed portrait of one of the principal British naval commanders of the First World War. Jellicoe commanded the Grand Fleet from 1914 to 1916 and led it at the Battle of Jutland. In 1919 he was sent on a year-long mission to India and the Dominions to advise on the future organisation and defence of the Empire’s naval forces. HMS New Zealand carried him to New Zealand, where he arrived on 20 August 1919 - the precise date of the accompanying letter. His resulting recommendations advocated a coordinated Far Eastern fleet and helped shape New Zealand’s subsequent naval organisation. A rare signed portrait with solid provenance.