Admiral The Hon. Sir Frederick William Grey GCB (23 August 1805 – 2 May 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 ...

officer. As a captain he saw action in the First Opium War and was deployed as principal agent of transports 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 became First Naval Lord in the Second Palmerston ministry in June 1861 and subsequently published a pamphlet ''Admiralty Administration, 1861–1866'' describing his reforms which included, inter alia, the notion that all senior naval promotions and appointments should be non-political and should be discussed and agreed by the Naval Members of the

Admiralty Board The Admiralty Board is the body established under the Defence Council of the United Kingdom for the administration of the Naval Service of the United Kingdom. It meets formally only once a year, and the day-to-day running of the Royal Navy is ...

on a collective basis before recommendations were made to the

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 ...

Early career

Born the son of

Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (13 March 1764 – 17 July 1845), known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was a British Whig politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1830 to 1834. He was a member of the no ...

(who served as Prime Minister in the 1830s), and Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby (daughter of

William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby William Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby (of Imokilly), PC (Ire) (15 September 17445 November 1806) was a leading Irish Whig politician, being a member of the Irish House of Commons, and, after 1800, of the United Kingdom parliament. Pon ...

), Grey joined the

in January 1819. He initially joined 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 ...

HMS ''Naiad'' in the Mediterranean Fleet as a midshipman and saw action against pirates off

Cap Bon Cape Bon ("Good Cape") is a peninsula in far northeastern Tunisia, also known as Ras at-Taib ( ar, الرأس الطيب), Sharīk Peninsula, or Watan el Kibli; Cape Bon is also the name of the northernmost point on the peninsula, also known as ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

in 1824. Promoted to lieutenant on 7 April 1825, he transferred to the fifth-rate HMS ''Sybille'' in the Mediterranean Fleet that month and then to the sixth-rate HMS ''Volage'' on the South America Station in September 1825. Promoted to commander on 17 April 1827, he was posted to the sloop HMS ''Heron'' on the South America Station that same month. Promoted to captain on 19 April 1828, Grey was given command successively of the sixth-rate HMS ''Actaeon'' in the Mediterranean Fleet in November 1830, of the fourth-rate HMS ''Jupiter'' 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 August 1835 and then of the fifth-rate HMS ''Endymion'' also on the East Indies and China Station in October 1840. In HMS Endymion he saw action in the First Opium War and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 24 December 1842. Grey took command of the second-rate HMS ''Hannibal'' in March 1854 and conveyed 10,000 French troops to

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populat ...

off

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

before proceeding to the Bosphorus where he was deployed as principal agent of transports during the

Senior command

Promoted to

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 22 January 1855, and having been 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 2 January 1857, Grey became Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope & West Coast of Africa Station, hoisting his flag in the third-rate HMS ''Boscawen'', in April 1857. Promoted to vice-admiral on 5 August 1861, Grey became First Naval Lord in the Second Palmerston ministry in June 1861. In this role he did not seek a seat as a Member of Parliament and instead sought to make the role professional rather than political. He published a pamphlet ''Admiralty Administration, 1861–1866'' describing his reforms which included, inter alia, the notion that all senior naval promotions and appointments should be non-political and should be discussed and agreed by the Naval Members of the

on a collective basis before recommendations were made to the

. Having been promoted to full admiral on 24 April 1865 and advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 28 March 1865, he resigned his post when the second Russell ministry fell from power in July 1866. Grey lived at Lynwood House in

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a large village with a retail area and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England. It has a railway station on the (London) Waterloo to Reading ...

in Berkshire and died there on 2 May 1878.

Family

He married, in 1846, Barbarina Charlotte Sullivan, daughter of Rev. Frederick Sullivan and Arabella Wilmont, and sister of Admiral

Sir Francis Sullivan, 6th Baronet Admiral Sir Francis William Sullivan, 6th Baronet KCB CMG (31 May 1834 – 13 May 1906)Date of death from his obituary in ''The Times'', 16 May 1906, p. 12, col. D. was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hop ...

. They had no issue. Lady Grey died at her residence Fairmile House, Cobham, on 23 March 1902.

Early career

Senior command

Family

References

Further reading