Frederick Grey

Sir Frederick Grey
Sir Frederick Grey
Born	23 August 1805; Howick, Northumberland
Died	2 May 1878 (aged 72); Sunningdale, Berkshire
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1819–1866
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	HMS Actaeon; HMS Jupiter; HMS Endymion; HMS Hannibal; Cape of Good Hope Station
Battles/wars	First Opium War; Crimean War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Admiral The Hon. Sir Frederick William Grey GCB (23 August 1805 – 2 May 1878) was a Royal Navy officer. As a captain he saw action in the First Opium War and was deployed as principal agent of transports during the Crimean War. He became First Naval Lord in the Second Palmerston ministry in June 1861 and subsequently published a pamphlet Admiralty Administration, 1861–1866 describing his reforms which included, inter alia, the notion that all senior naval promotions and appointments should be non-political and should be discussed and agreed by the Naval Members of the Admiralty Board on a collective basis before recommendations were made to the First Lord of the Admiralty.

Early career

The fifth-rate HMS Endymion which Grey commanded during the First Opium War

Born the son of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (who served as Prime Minister in the 1830s), and Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby (daughter of William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby), Grey joined the Royal Navy in January 1819.[1] He initially joined the fifth-rate HMS Naiad in the Mediterranean Fleet as a midshipman and saw action against pirates off Cap Bon in Tunisia in 1824.[2] Promoted to lieutenant on 7 April 1825, he transferred to the fifth-rate HMS Sybille in the Mediterranean Fleet that month and then to the sixth-rate HMS Volage on the South America Station in September 1825.[3] Promoted to commander on 17 April 1827, he was posted to the sloop HMS Heron on the South America Station that same month.[3]

Promoted to captain on 19 April 1828, Grey was given command successively of the sixth-rate HMS Actaeon in the Mediterranean Fleet in November 1830, of the fourth-rate HMS Jupiter on the East Indies and China Station in August 1835 and then of the fifth-rate HMS Endymion also on the East Indies and China Station in October 1840.[3] In HMS Endymion he saw action in the First Opium War and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 24 December 1842.[4]

Grey took command of the second-rate HMS Hannibal in March 1854 and conveyed 10,000 French troops to Åland off Finland before proceeding to the Bosphorus where he was deployed as principal agent of transports during the Crimean War.[3]

Senior command

The second-rate HMS Hannibal which Grey commanded during the Crimean War

Promoted to rear-admiral on 22 January 1855,[5] and having been advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 2 January 1857,[6] Grey became Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope & West Coast of Africa Station, hoisting his flag in the third-rate HMS Boscawen, in April 1857.[3]

Promoted to vice-admiral on 5 August 1861,[7] Grey became First Naval Lord in the Second Palmerston ministry in June 1861.[3] In this role he did not seek a seat as a Member of Parliament and instead sought to make the role professional rather than political.[1] He published a pamphlet Admiralty Administration, 1861–1866 describing his reforms which included, inter alia, the notion that all senior naval promotions and appointments should be non-political and should be discussed and agreed by the Naval Members of the Admiralty Board on a collective basis before recommendations were made to the First Lord of the Admiralty.[8] Having been promoted to full admiral on 24 April 1865[9] and advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 28 March 1865,[10] he resigned his post when the second Russell ministry fell from power in July 1866.[3]

Grey lived at Lynwood House in Sunningdale in Berkshire and died there on 2 May 1878.[1]

Family

Barbarina Charlotte (née Sullivan), Lady Grey, 1861, by Camille Silvy

He married, in 1846, Barbarina Charlotte Sullivan, daughter of Rev. Frederick Sullivan and Arabella Wilmont, and sister of Admiral Sir Francis Sullivan, 6th Baronet. They had no issue.[1] Lady Grey died at her residence Fairmile House, Cobham, on 23 March 1902.[11]

References

Lambert, Andrew (2004). "Grey, Sir Frederick William (1805–1878)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50204. Retrieved 31 December 2012. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
"No. 18054". The London Gazette. 17 August 1824. p. 1354.
"William Loney RN". Retrieved 31 December 2012.
"No. 20181". The London Gazette. 27 December 1842. p. 3864.
"No. 21654". The London Gazette. 26 January 1855. p. 308.
"No. 21955". The London Gazette. 2 January 1857. p. 12.
"No. 22537". The London Gazette. 9 August 1861. p. 3317.
"Navy — Constitution of the Board of Admiralty — Resolution. vol 208 cc1019-61". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 7 August 1871. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
"No. 22964". The London Gazette. 2 May 1865. p. 2314.
"No. 22952". The London Gazette. 28 March 1865. p. 1730.
"Obituary". The Times. No. 36725. London. 26 March 1902. p. 10.

First Sea Lords of the Royal Navy
Senior Naval Lords (1689–1771)	Arthur Herbert Sir John Chicheley Edward Russell Henry Priestman Earl of Orford Sir George Rooke Sir John Leake Sir George Byng Sir John Leake Sir George Byng Matthew Aylmer Sir George Byng Sir John Jennings Sir John Norris Sir Charles Wager Lord Archibald Hamilton Lord Harry Powlett Lord Archibald Hamilton Lord Vere Beauclerk Lord Anson Sir William Rowley Edward Boscawen Sir William Rowley Edward Boscawen John Forbes Earl Howe Sir Charles Saunders Augustus Keppel Sir Peircy Brett Sir Francis Holburne
First Naval Lords (1771–1904)	Augustus Hervey Sir Hugh Palliser Robert Man George Darby Sir Robert Harland Sir Hugh Pigot John Leveson-Gower Lord Hood Sir Charles Middleton James Gambier Sir Thomas Troubridge James Gambier John Markham James Gambier Sir Richard Bickerton William Domett Sir Joseph Yorke Sir Graham Moore Sir William Johnstone Hope Sir George Cockburn Sir Thomas Hardy The Hon. George Dundas Charles Adam Sir George Cockburn Sir Charles Adam Sir George Cockburn Sir William Parker Sir Charles Adam Sir James Dundas The Hon. Maurice Berkeley Hyde Parker The Hon. Maurice Berkeley The Hon. Sir Richard Dundas William Martin The Hon. Sir Richard Dundas The Hon. Sir Frederick Grey Sir Alexander Milne Sir Sydney Dacres Sir Alexander Milne Sir Hastings Yelverton Sir George Wellesley Sir Astley Key Sir Arthur Hood Lord John Hay Sir Arthur Hood Sir Richard Hamilton Sir Anthony Hoskins Sir Frederick Richards Lord Walter Kerr
First Sea Lords (1904–present)	Sir John Fisher Sir Arthur Wilson Sir Francis Bridgeman Prince Louis of Battenberg The Lord Fisher Sir Henry Jackson Sir John Jellicoe Sir Rosslyn Wemyss The Earl Beatty Sir Charles Madden, Bt Sir Frederick Field The Lord Chatfield Sir Roger Backhouse Sir Dudley Pound The Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope Sir John Cunningham The Lord Fraser of North Cape Sir Rhoderick McGrigor The Earl Mountbatten of Burma Sir Charles Lambe Sir Caspar John Sir David Luce Sir Varyl Begg Sir Michael Le Fanu Sir Peter Hill-Norton Sir Michael Pollock Sir Edward Ashmore Sir Terence Lewin Sir Henry Leach Sir John Fieldhouse Sir William Staveley Sir Julian Oswald Sir Benjamin Bathurst Sir Jock Slater Sir Michael Boyce Sir Nigel Essenhigh Sir Alan West Sir Jonathon Band Sir Mark Stanhope Sir George Zambellas Sir Philip Jones Sir Antony Radakin Sir Ben Key

Frederick Grey

Early career

Senior command

Family

References

Further reading