Fred T. Jane

Who was Fred T. Jane?

John Fredrick Thomas Jane was the founding editor of reference books on warships and aircraft. He also once kidnapped Victor Grayson MP in a political stunt.

Jane was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, but worked most of his life in Portsmouth. His father was a vicar and he attended Exeter School. He first began to sketch warships in his teens, and was notable in the 1890s for illustrating scientific romances by George Griffith and other authors, as well as for his own novels such as To Venus in Five Seconds and The Violet Flame.

An avid miniatures wargamer, Jane first published All the World's Fighting Ships in 1898, which identified the warships operated by each country, their armaments, and other details, as a supplement to a game he designed. The book, now an annual series, is a standard reference work. In 1909, he created All the World's Aircraft. Jane later founded what is now Jane's Information Group.

Jane was also involved in politics, standing as an Independent candidate for Portsmouth in the 1906 general election. He was strongly opposed to the Liberal Party and when a left-wing Liberal candidate Edward Hemmerde was nominated in 1910, he arranged a stunt to disrupt their election campaign. At another public meeting, Jane arranged for a sailor to ask Hemmerde to insist on the supply of hammock ladders should he be elected: Hemmerde fell for this and gave the pledge. His Portsmouth home, on Southsea Common, now bears a plaque recording that he lived there.