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 Charles Frederick Alexander Shadwell, (31 January 1814 – 1 March 1886) 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 who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, China Station.

Naval career

Born the fourth son of Sir Lancelot Shadwell, Charles Shadwell joined the

in 1827.William Loney RN
/ref> He was present during operations off

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in 1840.Charles Shadwell at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> In 1850 he became Commander in HMS ''Sphinx '' and took part in the Second Anglo-Burmese War. Promoted

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 ...

in 1853, he commanded HMS ''Highflyer'' from 1856 and took part in the capture of

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

and the Battle of Taku Forts during the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire#Britain's imperial ...

. He commanded HMS ''Aboukir'' from 1861 and HMS ''Hastings'' from 1862. He was appointed Captain-Superintendent of

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite ...

victualling-yard in 1864 and Commander-in-Chief, China Station in 1871. 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 mathemati ...

in 1861. In 1878 he was made President of the

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 ...

. He retired in 1879 and in retirement lived at Meadow Bank in Melksham in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. He died unmarried in 1886.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Shadwell, Charles 1814 births 1886 deaths Admiral presidents of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich Royal Navy admirals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the Royal Society

Naval career

See also

References