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 Hastings Reginald Yelverton, (born Hastings Reginald Henry; 21 March 1808 – 24 July 1878) 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 F ...

officer. As a junior officer he took part in a major action against pirates off Candia in June 1826 and was involved in protecting British interests during the

Portuguese Civil War The Liberal Wars (), also known as the Portuguese Civil War (), the War of the Two Brothers () or Miguelite War (), was a war between liberal constitutionalists and conservative absolutists in Portugal over royal succession that lasted from 1 ...

during the early 1830s. He saw action in 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 de ...

as Captain of one of the two ships that captured a Russian

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Som ...

beneath the batteries at Ekenäs in Finland in May 1854. Then in July 1873 he took part in the suppression of the

Cantonal Revolution The Cantonal rebellion was a cantonalist insurrection that took place during the First Spanish Republic between July 1873 and January 1874. Its protagonists were the "intransigent" federal Republicans, who wanted to establish immediately the F ...

in Cartagena. He became First Naval Lord in September 1876 and in that role implemented a series of economies demanded by the Disraeli ministry but was also involved in ordering the small, cheap and thoroughly unsuccessful ironclad ''Ajax''-class battleships.

Early career

Born the son of John Joseph Henry (of

Straffan Straffan (variously ''Teach Srafáin'', ''Strafáin'' or ''An Cluanini'' in Irish) is a village in County Kildare, Ireland, situated on the banks of the River Liffey, 25 km upstream of the Irish capital Dublin. As of the 2016 census, the vi ...

) and Lady Emily Elizabeth FitzGerald (daughter of

William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster William Robert FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster, KP, PC (Ire) (12/13 March 1749 – 20 October 1804) was an Irish liberal politician and landowner. He was born in London. Career FitzGerald made his Grand Tour between 1768 and 1769. During th ...

), Hastings Henry, as he then was, entered the

as a first-class volunteer aboard the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

HMS ''Sybulle'' in the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...

in 1823. He took part in a major action against pirates off Candia in June 1826 and subsequently served as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

and

mate Mate may refer to: Science * Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in: ** Mate choice, intersexual selection ** Mating * Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins Person or title * Friendship ...

in the

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

HMS ''Columbine'', the

HMS ''Undaunted'' and then the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

HMS ''St Vincent'' in home waters. Promoted lieutenant on 18 December 1830, Henry was posted to 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 guns ...

HMS ''Asia'', flagship of Sir William Parker, in September 1831. HMS ''Asia'' was then based at

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, protecting British interests during the

. He joined the

sixth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works and ...

HMS ''Rattlesnake'' on the

East Indies Station The East Indies Station was a formation and command of the British Royal Navy. Created in 1744 by the Admiralty, it was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies. Even in official documents, the term ''East Indies Station'' was ...

in December 1834. Promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

on 28 June 1838, he joined the

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

HMS ''Styx'' at

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town ...

in August 1841 and then took command of the sloop ''Devastation'' in the

in September 1841. He became acting captain of the

first-rate In the rating system of the British Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a first rate was the designation for the largest ships of the line. Originating in the Jacobean era with the designation of Ships Royal capable of carrying at ...

HMS ''Queen'' in the Mediterranean Fleet in May 1842 and acting captain of the fifth-rate HMS ''Aigle'' also in the Mediterranean Fleet in April 1843. He was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 5 September 1843 and, following his marriage to

Barbara Rawdon-Hastings, Marchioness of Hastings Barbara Rawdon-Hastings, Marchioness of Hastings, 20th Baroness Grey de Ruthyn (''née'' Yelverton; 20 May 1810 – 18 November 1858) was a fossil collector and geological author. Early life Born at Brandon House in Brandon, Warwickshire, Barba ...

(born Barbara Yelverton), assumed the surname of Yelverton on 3 January 1849.

Crimean service

Yelverton was given command of the steam screw frigate HMS ''Arrogant'' in October 1853 and saw service in the

. In May 1854, HMS ''Arrogant'' and the steam screw frigate HMS ''Hecla'' captured a Russian

beneath the batteries at Ekenäs in Finland. Throughout much on 1855, Yelverton with HMS ''Arrogant'' and HMS ''Magicienne'' operated independently destroying

Ruotsinsalmi sea fortress Ruotsinsalmi sea fortress ( fi, Ruotsinsalmen merilinnoitus, sv, Svensksund, russian: Морская крепость Руотсинсальми; both names meaning ''Swedish Strait'') is a fortification system in Kotka, Finland. It is part ...

and

Svartholm fortress The Svartholm fortress ( fi, Svartholman merilinnoitus; sv, Svartholms fästning) was built between 1749 and 1764 outside Loviisa in Southern Finland by Augustin Ehrensvärd. The fortress, which lies at the mouth of the Bay of Loviisa, along wi ...

, and was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

for his services on 5 July 1855. In December 1856, he took command of the second-rate HMS ''Brunswick'' and a gunboat flotilla for further operations but the Crimean War ended before he saw any action. He went on to be Captain of the first-rate HMS ''Conqueror'' in the Mediterranean Fleet in July 1856 and

comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executi ...

-general of the coastguard in July 1859.

Higher command

HMS Lord Warden (1865) from Army and Navy Illustrated

Promoted

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

on 30 January 1863, Yelverton became second-in-command of the Mediterranean Station, hoisting his flag in the second-rate HMS ''Revenge'' in June 1863 and then, from May 1865, in the broadside ironclad HMS ''Caledonia''. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief of the

Channel Squadron Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...

in June 1866, and having been promoted to vice admiral on 29 May 1869, he was appointed by

Hugh Childers Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (25 June 1827 – 29 January 1896) was a British Liberal statesman of the nineteenth century. He is perhaps best known for his reform efforts at the Admiralty and the War Office. Later in his career, as Chancellor ...

, then

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

, to a committee to consider the new turret ship design. He was elevated 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 of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

on 2 June 1869. He was again given command of the Channel Squadron in July 1870 and then became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, hoisting his flag in the battleship HMS ''Lord Warden'', in October 1870. In July 1873, he took part in the suppression of the

in Cartagena. He was advanced to

Knight Grand Cross 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 one ...

on 29 May 1875 and promoted to full

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, ...

on 30 July 1875. Yelverton, by now suffering from

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

ness, became First Naval Lord in September 1876 after Sir Geoffrey Hornby refused the post. In that role Yelverton implemented a series of economies demanded by the Disraeli ministry but was also involved in ordering the small, cheap and thoroughly unsuccessful ironclad ''Ajax''-class battleships. Due to failing health, Yelverton resigned in November 1877 and died at the Grand Pump Hotel in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

on 24 July 1878.

Family

Yelverton married the widowed

, ''suo jure'' Barbara Yelverton, 20th Baroness Grey de Ruthyn (d. 1858) on 9 April 1845; their only child was born shortly thereafter - Hon. Barbara Yelverton (12 January 1849 – 1 October 1924), who married the

John Yarde-Buller, 2nd Baron Churston John Yarde-Buller, 2nd Baron Churston (26 October 1846 – 19 April 1910) was a British peer and soldier. The elder son of the Hon. John Yarde-Buller (eldest son of John Yarde-Buller, 1st Baron Churston) and of Charlotte, a daughter of Edward Sac ...

References

Sources