Admiral Charles Ramsay Drinkwater Bethune CB (27 December 1802 – 14 February 1884) was a British 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 ...

. He rose to the rank of Admiral during his career.

Early life

Born at Little Ealing,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, the son of Colonel John Drinkwater and Eleanor Congalton, he assumed the name of Bethune in 1837, when his mother inherited the estates of her brother, George Congalton-Bethune.

Military career

Bethune served with the Royal Navy from the age of 13 and commanded in Australasia and the Far East from 1836 to 1842. He reported the

Conway Reef Conway Reef, known since 1976 by its Fijian name Ceva-I-Ra Reef (pronounced ), is a coral reef of the atoll type. It is at , and it is 2.5 km long in an east–west direction. In the middle of the reef there is a small sand cay, 1.8 meters h ...

in 1838. He served in the First Opium War and 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 ...

in 1841 for his services. In 1845 he was sent to

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

to report on the best location for a British base against piracy. In the course of this mission he painted a number of watercolour views in

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

which were published in 1847 in James Augustus St. John's ''Views in the Eastern Archipelago''. CharlesBethuneBrompton01

In 1846 he joined the Council of the newly formed

Hakluyt Society The Hakluyt Society is a text publication society, founded in 1846 and based in London, England, which publishes scholarly editions of Primary source, primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. In addition to it ...

, for which he subsequently edited two volumes. (The first edited volume, written by

Sir John Hawkins Sir John Hawkins (also spelled Hawkyns) (1532 – 12 November 1595) was a pioneering English naval commander, naval administrator and privateer. He pioneered, and was an early promoter of, English involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. Hawk ...

, was published in 1847, and the second edited volume, written by Antonio Galvano, was published in 1862.) In 1851, on the death in India of his elder brother John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune, he became 24th Laird of Balfour. He was promoted Admiral 2 April 1866. He died in 1884 and is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...

, London.

Family

In 1846, he had married Frances Cecilia (1819–1888), only child of Henry Edward Staples, and they had six children. Of his sons, #1 Edward Cecil Bethune (1855–1930) became a Lieutenant-General in the British Army, #2 Henry Leonard Drinkwater Bethune (1858–1939) became a Captain in the Royal Navy, and #3 Francis John Brownlow Bethune (1860–1954) became a King's Counsel in Australia. His eldest daughter, Mary Frances Drinkwater Bethune (1847–1929), in 1867 married John George Frederick Hope-Wallace (1839–1900), son of the Honourable James Hope and his wife Lady Mary Frances Nugent. Mary Frances Drinkwater Bethune had seven children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bethune, Charles 1802 births 1884 deaths Royal Navy admirals Companions of the Order of the Bath Burials at Brompton Cemetery Royal Navy personnel of the First Opium War People from Ealing