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 Sydney Colpoys Dacres (9 January 1804 – 8 March 1884) was an officer of the

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 ...

who saw service during the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

, when he was involved in an attack on the Turkish forces at

Morea The Morea ( el, Μορέας or ) was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The name was used for the Byzantine province known as the Despotate of the Morea, by the Ottoman ...

, and later 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 de ...

. Born into a substantial naval dynasty during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, he eventually rose to the rank of

and became First Naval Lord. His only significant action as First Naval Lord was to press for the abolition of masts. He went on to be Visitor and Governor of Greenwich Hospital.

Early career

Charles Edward Dixon HMS St Vincent 1815 Portsmouth Harbour

Dacres was born in 1804, the son of Captain, later Vice-Admiral, Sir Richard Dacres and Martha Phillips Milligan. The Dacres had a long history of naval service, Sydney's uncle, James Richard Dacres, was a vice-admiral, while his cousins

Barrington Dacres Barrington Dacres (died 25 October 1806) was an officer of the Royal Navy, who saw service during the French Revolutionary War, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He eventually rose to the rank of Post-Captain. He did not see action in man ...

and James Richard Dacres would both serve in the navy, the former becoming a

post-captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) ...

, the latter a vice-admiral. His father, Richard Dacres, had served with

Sir Sidney Smith Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith (21 June 176426 May 1840) was a British naval and intelligence officer. Serving in the American and French revolutionary wars and Napoleonic Wars, he rose to the rank of Admiral. Smith was known for his of ...

as his

flag captain In the Royal Navy, a flag captain was the captain of an admiral's flagship. During the 18th and 19th centuries, this ship might also have a "captain of the fleet", who would be ranked between the admiral and the "flag captain" as the ship's "First ...

aboard HMS ''Pompee'' during his Mediterranean campaign, and under Captain Sir

John Colpoys Admiral Sir John Colpoys, (''c.'' 1742 – 4 April 1821) was an officer of the British Royal Navy who served in three wars but is most notable for being one of the catalysts of the Spithead Mutiny in 1797 after ordering his marines to fire o ...

, while Colpoys was commander of and . His elder brother Sir Richard James Dacres was a general in the British Army and was also awarded the GCB. Sydney joined the Royal Navy in 1817 at the age of 12, and after serving for ten years, was promoted to lieutenant on 5 May 1827, initially aboard the 46-gun under Captain Edmund Lyons. On 18 October Lieutenant Dacres was involved in an attack on the Turkish forces at

, during the

. He and other lieutenants from ''Blonde'', working in company with French naval forces, landed guns and helped to build batteries. Dacres was promoted to commander on 28 August 1834, being appointed to his first command, the paddle

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 ...

on 16 August 1836. He was promoted to

on 1 August 1840 and duly relinquished command of the ''Salamander'' on 15 September 1840. He was briefly appointed to command in 1847, before taking over command of the 120-gun

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 The Jacobean era was the period in English and Scot ...

, from 16 November 1847. The ''St Vincent'' was at that time the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of Rear-Admiral Sir

Charles John Napier Admiral Sir Charles John Napier KCB GOTE RN (6 March 1786Priscilla Napier (1995), who is not elsewhere free from error, gives the birth year as 1787 (p. 1, and book title), but provides no evidence. All other authorities agree on 1786. – 6 N ...

, commander of the

Channel Fleet The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915. History Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history the ...

. Dacres took command of the 50-gun

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 ...

on 28 September 1849, commissioning her 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 ...

and joining a

Squadron of Evolution The Squadron of Evolution—sometimes referred to as the "White Squadron"— was a transitional unit in the United States Navy during the late 19th century. It was probably inspired by the French "Escadre d'évolution" of the 18th and 19th centur ...

. He commanded the ''Leander'' until 3 June 1852, when he was shifted to the screw-propelled

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 ...

. He took command on 8 June 1852, commissioning her at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

and sailing her to

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 ...

. She spent 1853 as part of the Channel squadron, then with the outbreak of the

Dacres sailed to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

in 1854 to support operations. Dacres remained in command until 22 November 1854, when he was succeeded by Acting-Captain Leopold George Heath. He was appointed a

Companion 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 on ...

on 5 July 1855, and on 30 April 1857 he was among the British officers who fought in the Crimea who received permission from

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

to accept the award of Officer of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

Senior command

Dacres then moved ashore, becoming Captain-Superintendent of the

Royal Hospital Haslar The Royal Hospital Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire, was one of several hospitals serving the local area. It was converted into retirement flats between 2018 and 2020. The hospital itself is a Grade II listed building. History Formation and oper ...

and the Royal Clarence (Gosport) Victualling Yard in July 1855, a post he held until 25 June 1858, the date he was promoted to rear-admiral. He became

Captain of the fleet In the Royal Navy of the 18th and 19th centuries a captain of the fleet could be appointed to assist an admiral when the admiral had ten or more ships to command. The equivalent post was called fleet captain in the U.S. Navy of the 18th and 19th ...

aboard to the commander-in-chief of 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 ...

on 12 September 1859, serving under Vice-Admiral

Arthur Fanshawe Admiral Sir Arthur Fanshawe (5 February 1794 – 14 June 1864) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth. Naval career Born the son of Robert Fanshawe, Fanshawe joined the Royal Navy in 1804. Promoted to Cap ...

, and then Vice-Admiral

William Fanshawe Martin Admiral Sir William Fanshawe Martin, 4th Baronet, (5 December 180124 March 1895), was a Royal Navy officer. As a commander, he provided valuable support to British merchants at Callao in Peru in the early 1820s during the Peruvian War of Indepe ...

. In April 1861 he flew his flag on HMS ''Caesar'' then from 16 December 1861 Dacres became second in command in the Mediterranean, flying his flag aboard . He then became 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 ...

on 24 April 1863, a post he held until June 1866 and during which he oversaw the integration of the new

ironclads An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. Th ...

into the fleet. He was appointed a

Knight Commander 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 on ...

on 28 March 1865, and promoted to vice-admiral on 17 November 1865, while in command of the Channel Squadron. Dacres became a

Commissioner of the Admiralty This is a list of Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty (incomplete before the Restoration, 1660). The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were the members of The Board of Admiralty, which exercised the office of Lord High Admiral when it was ...

and

Second Naval Lord The second (symbol: s) is the unit of Time in physics, time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally t ...

on 12 July 1866, rising to be the First Naval Lord on 18 December 1868. He was promoted to admiral on 1 April 1870, and was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath on 20 May 1871. His only significant action as First Naval Lord was to press for the abolition of masts. He stepped down as First Naval Lord on 27 November 1872, becoming Visitor and Governor of Greenwich Hospital on 2 December that year. He was placed on the retired list on 10 January 1874.

Family and personal life

Dacres married Emma Lambert on 1 October 1840 at

St Pancras New Church St Pancras Church is a Greek Revival church in St Pancras, London, built in 1819–22 to the designs of William and Henry William Inwood. Location The church is on the northern boundary of Bloomsbury, on the south side of Euston Road, at the c ...

. She gave birth to a son at

Batheaston Batheaston is a village and civil parish east of the English city of Bath, on the north bank of the River Avon. The parish had a population of 2,735 in 2011. The northern area of the parish, on the road to St Catherine, is an area known as No ...

on 3 December 1845. This was followed by the birth of a daughter on 10 January 1849 at Bath. His daughter Minna Winifred married, as her second husband, Admiral Sir John Ommanney Hopkins. Sydney Dacres died on 8 March 1884.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dacres, Sydney Colpoys 1805 births 1884 deaths First Sea Lords and Chiefs of the Naval Staff Lords of the Admiralty Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Officiers of the Légion d'honneur

Early career

Senior command

Family and personal life

See also

Notes

References