William Milbourne James Admiral Sir William Milbourne James GCB ( 22 December 1881 – 17 August 1973 ) was a British Naval commander , politician and author , perhaps most notable for his activities in the Naval Intelligence Division in the First World War . Family . James was the son of Major WC James of the 16th Lancers and his wife Effie , daughter of the painter John Everett Millais . He was educated at Trinity College , Glenalmond and HMS " Britannia " . Bubbles . As a child , James sat as a subject for several paintings by his grandfather , Millais . The most well - known of these is " Bubbles " , in which the five year old William is shown gazing enraptured at a bubble he has just blown . When the painting was used in an advertisement for Pears soap , it became famous . The image dogged James throughout his life , and he was regularly nicknamed " Bubbles " . Naval career . James pursued a career in the Navy , rising to hold a number of important positions . Following his service on the training ship HMS " Britannia " , he was promoted to sub - lieutenant in 1901 and lieutenant in 1902 . He achieved the rank of commander in 1913 . He served as executive officer aboard the battlecruiser HMS " Queen Mary " . During the First World War he was flag - commander to Vice Admiral Sir Frederick Doveton Sturdee , commanding the 4th Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet in HMS " Benbow " from 1916 to 1917 . Later in the war he assisted William Reginald Hall , the Director of Naval Intelligence , eventually becoming deputy director . Hall and James worked together in " Room 40 " which decrypted a number of crucial enemy signals relating to the Battle of Jutland , the plans of Roger Casement and the Zimmerman Telegram . At one point James ran Room 40 on Hall ' s behalf . James related some of the events in his biography of Hall , published in 1955 . In the inter - war years , James first served in the China Station as commander of HMS " Curlew " and local chief of staff from 1921 to 1922 . From 1923 , he was Deputy Director at the Royal Naval College , Greenwich and Director in 1925 . In 1926 he returned as flag captain of HMS " Royal Sovereign " . He went on to be Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord in 1927 , Chief of Staff to the Commander - in - Chief , Atlantic Fleet in 1929 and Chief of Staff to the Commander - in - Chief , Mediterranean Fleet in 1930 . In 1932 he took command of the Battlecruiser Squadron , which he controlled from HMS " Hood " . He was made Vice Admiral in 1933 and from 1935 to 1938 he was Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty . He was honoured with a KCB . From 1938 James was a full Admiral . During World War II James served as Commander - in - Chief , Portsmouth from 1939 . In 1940 he commanded Operation Ariel , the evacuation of British troops from Brittany and Normandy , a parallel operation to the Dunkirk evacuation . In 1942 he was appointed as Chief of Naval Information , in charge of coordinating naval publicity . James was elected in 1943 as Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency of Portsmouth North , which he held until 1945 . He retired from the Navy in 1944 . Retirement . Following his retirement from public life , James was active in support for ventures relating to seafaring , supporting clubs such as the Elie and Earlsferry Sailing Club , which named their dinghy " Bubbles " in his honour . Most of his retirement was dedicated to his writings on aspects of British naval history . Writings . In addition to his biography of Hall , he published books and articles on other aspects of his wartime experiences , including an account of Winston Churchill ' s attitudes to naval affairs in " Churchill by His Contemporaries " . Other publications on naval matters included : " New battleship organisations and notes for Executive Officers " ( 1916 ) < br > " Songs of the sailor men " ( 1916 ) < br > " The British Navy in adversity : a study of the American War of Independence " ( 1926 ) < br > " Blue water and green fields " ( 1939 ) < br > " Admiral Sir William Fisher " ( 1943 ) < br > " The Portsmouth letters " ( 1946 ) < br > " The British Navies in the Second World War " ( 1946 ) < br > " The durable monument : Horatio Nelson " ( 1948 ) < br > " The influence of sea power on the history of the British people " ( 1948 ) < br > " Old oak : the life of Sir John Jervis , Earl of Vincent " ( 1950 ) < br > " The sky was always blue " ( 1951 ) < br > " The eyes of the navy : a biographical study of Admiral Sir Reginald Hall " ( 1955 ) < br > " A great seaman : the life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Oliver " ( 1956 ) His most notable non - Naval publication was " The Order of Release , the story of John Ruskin , Effie Gray and John Everett Millais told for the first time in their unpublished letters " ( 1947 ) , a collection of family letters detailing the romance between his grandparents . His grandmother Effie Gray had been married to John Ruskin when she fell in love with Millais . Her first marriage was annulled , due to non - consummation . James was the first to publish the full details of these events and to vindicate his grandmother , whose victimisation by the Ruskin family he documented . James ' s book has been the inspiration for at least two plays .