George Willes

Admiral Sir George Ommanney Willes GCB (19 June 1823 – 18 February 1901) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.

For the English clergyman and cricketer, see George Willes (cricketer).

Sir George Willes
Born19 June 1823 (1823-06-19)
Died18 February 1901 (1901-02-19) (aged 77)
London
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service1838–1888
RankAdmiral
Commands heldHMS Chesapeake
HMS Impérieuse
HMS Prince Consort
China Station
Portsmouth Command
Battles/warsCrimean War
Second Opium War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Early life

Born at Hythe, Hampshire in 1823, Willes was the son of Captain George Willes, RN, by his wife Anne Lacon, daughter of Sir Edmund Lacon, Baronet.[1] He was educated at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, and joined the Royal Navy in 1838.[2]

Willes received his commission as Mate in 1842, and as Lieutenant in 1844,[1] his early career being uneventful until the outbreak of the Crimean War, when he took part in the bombardment of Odessa and of Fort Constantine at Sevastopol in 1854.[2] In April that year he was promoted Commander, and in May 1856 Captain.[1] He was given command of the frigate HMS Chesapeake in 1859,[3] and of HMS Impérieuse in 1861. In both cases as Flag Captain to the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.[2] In this capacity he took part in the Battle of the Taku Forts during the Second Opium War.[4]

In 1864 he was made Captain of the ironclad warship HMS Prince Consort.[2]

He became Admiral-Superintendent at Devonport in 1876 and Commander-in-chief, China Station in 1881.[2] His last post was as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in 1886.[2] He retired in 1888.[2]

Family

In 1855 he married Georgiana Matilda Josephine, daughter of William Joseph Lockwood and granddaughter of Sir Mark Wood, 1st Baronet. His younger brother was the cricketer Edmund Willes.[2][5][6]

See also
  • O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). "Willes, George Ommanney" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . John Murray – via Wikisource.

References
  1. "Obituary – Admiral Sir George Willes". The Times. No. 36382. London. 19 February 1901. p. 8.
  2. Sir George Willes at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  3. Memorials in Portsmouth Archived 16 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Sir George Ommanney Willes William Loney RN
  5. Burke's Landed Gentry, 18th Ed., 1969, vol. II, 'Willes formerly of Newbold Comyn' pedigree
  6. The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms, L. G. Pine, London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972, page 170
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