Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet ...

Sir Astley Cooper Key, (18 January 1821 – 3 March 1888) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado in November 1845 during the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata and took part at the

Battle of Bomarsund The Battle of Bomarsund, in August 1854, took place during the Åland War, which was part of the Crimean War, when an Anglo-French expeditionary force attacked a Russian fortress. It was the only major action of the war to take place at Bom ...

in August 1854 and the Bombardment of Sveaborg in August 1855 during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

. He also went ashore with the naval brigade to take part in the Battle of Canton in December 1857 during the Second Opium War. He later commanded a specially-formed Baltic Fleet created in February 1878 to intimidate Russia from entering

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

during the closing stages of the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histo ...

. He became First Naval Lord in August 1879 in which role he was primarily interested in administration and technology rather than strategy: he kept the cost of running the Navy within budgets, sanctioned the construction of six s and ensured the Navy was properly prepared for the

Panjdeh Incident The Panjdeh Incident (known in Russian historiography as the Battle of Kushka) was an armed engagement between the Emirate of Afghanistan and the Russian Empire in 1885 that led to a diplomatic crisis between the British Empire and the Russian ...

in 1885 when

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

forces seized Afghan territory at

Panjdeh The Panjdeh Incident (known in Russian historiography as the Battle of Kushka) was an armed engagement between the Emirate of Afghanistan and the Russian Empire in 1885 that led to a diplomatic crisis between the British Empire and the Russian ...

Early career

Astley Cooper Key was the son of Charles Aston Key, a well-known surgeon, and Anne Key (née Cooper). His father was a pupil of the pioneering surgeon

Astley Cooper Sir Astley Paston Cooper, 1st Baronet (23 August 176812 February 1841) was a British surgeon and anatomist, who made contributions to otology, vascular surgery, the anatomy and pathology of the mammary glands and testicles, and the patholog ...

. Key joined the

in August 1833. After initial training at the Royal Navy College at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, he spent his early career in the

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

in the Mediterranean Fleet and then, from 1839, in the sixth-rate on the

North America and West Indies Station The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956. The North American Station was separate from the Jamaica Station until 1830 when the ...

. Promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on 22 December 1842, Key was posted to the

fifth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal ...

on the South America Station. In February 1844 he transferred to the

steam frigate Steam frigates (including screw frigates) and the smaller steam corvettes, steam sloops, steam gunboats and steam schooners, were steam-powered warships that were not meant to stand in the line of battle. There were some exceptions like for exa ...

HMS ''Gorgon'' and was in acting command of the schooner HMS ''Fanny'' at the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado in November 1845 during the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata. Promoted to commander on 18 November 1845, he was given command of the paddle sloop in the Mediterranean Fleet in May 1847. Promoted to captain on 11 October 1850, he then took command of the

in November 1853 and saw service in the

. In May 1854, HMS ''Amphion'' and the steam screw frigate captured the town of

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice-f ...

, a town of some 10,000 inhabitants, in Latvia without a shot being fired. He also took part at the

in August 1854 and the Bombardment of Sveaborg in August 1855. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 5 July 1855. Key took command of the

second-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer gun ...

on the

East Indies and China Station The Commander-in-Chief, East Indies and China was a formation of the Royal Navy from 1831 to 1865. Its naval area of responsibility was the Indian Ocean and the coasts of China and its navigable rivers. The Commander-in-Chief was appointed in 183 ...

in January 1856 and went ashore with the naval brigade to take part in the Battle of Canton in December 1857 during the Second Opium War. He was appointed a member of the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom in August 1859, became captain of the steam reserve at Devonport in July 1860 and went on to be captain of and superintendent of the Royal Navy College at Portsmouth in July 1863.

Senior command

Key had a considerable share in advising as to the reorganization of naval administration. Promoted to rear admiral on 20 November 1866, Key was made Director of Naval Ordnance and became an expert on

muzzle-loading A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern (higher tech and harder to make) desig ...

guns, this being recognised when he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

on 4 June 1868. He went on to be Admiral Superintendent of

Portsmouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is l ...

in July 1869 and Admiral Superintendent of

Malta Dockyard Malta Dockyard was an important naval base in the Grand Harbour in Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. The infrastructure which is still in operation is now operated by Palumbo Shipyards. History Pre-1800 The Knights of Malta established dockyard ...

in June 1870 and subsequently second-in-command in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

. Key was made President-designate of the proposed

Royal Naval College, Greenwich The Royal Naval College, Greenwich, was a Royal Navy training establishment between 1873 and 1998, providing courses for naval officers. It was the home of the Royal Navy's staff college, which provided advanced training for officers. The equi ...

, which was established by him and which opened the following year. He was promoted to vice admiral on 30 April 1873 and advanced to

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as o ...

on 24 May 1873. He became Commander-in-Chief of the

in December 1875 and was then asked to command a specially-formed Baltic Fleet created in February 1878 to intimidate Russia from entering

during the closing stages of the

. Promoted to full admiral on 21 March 1878, he was appointed First and Principal Naval Aides-de-Camp to

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

on 15 June 1879. Key became First Naval Lord in August 1879 and advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 24 November 1882. As First Sea Lord he was primarily interested in administration and technology rather than strategy: he kept the cost of running the Navy within budgets, sanctioned the construction of six s and ensured the Navy was properly prepared for the

in 1885 when

forces seized Afghan territory at

. Having been made a member of the Privy Council on 11 August 1884, he retired in June 1885 and died at his home, Laggan House, in Maidenhead on 3 March 1888.

Family

On 28 April 1856 at Gonville,

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

, Key married Charlotte Lavinia McNeil,Colomb, p. 271 daughter of Edmund and Rose McNeil. Astley and Charlotte's daughter was artist and author

Rose Champion de Crespigny Rose Champion de Crespigny (born Annie Rose Charlotte Key; 9 November 1859 – 10 February 1935) was an English artist and author, who published many novels as Mrs Philip Champion de Crespigny. Rose was the daughter of Admiral Sir Astley Coope ...

.Montgomery-Massingberd, p. 899 Lady Charlotte died on 30 December 1874. In October 1877 at Halifax, Key married, secondly, Evelyn Bartolucci, niece of the Governor of Bermuda, Major General John Lefroy, the daughter of Vincenzo Bartolucci of Rome, and the granddaughter of General Luigi Bartolucci.Colomb, p. 406

References

Sources

*
William Loney RN
Career History * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Key, Astley Cooper 1821 births 1888 deaths Admiral presidents of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich Lords of the Admiralty Royal Navy admirals Fellows of the Royal Society Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom