18 Facts About Henry Keppel

Henry Keppel later served as commander of the naval brigade besieging Sebastopol during the Crimean War.

Henry Keppel subsequently took part in the capture of Canton during the Second Opium War.

Henry Keppel joined the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth as a cadet in February 1822, and was appointed a midshipman in the sixth-rate HMS Tweed on the Cape of Good Hope Station.

Henry Keppel was deployed in operations in support of the liberal forces of Maria Christina, the Regent of Spain at the time of the minority of Isabella II, who had faced a revolt by Carlos, Count of Molina.

Henry Keppel was then engaged with the West Africa Squadron in operations to suppress the slave trade.

Henry Keppel went on to commanding officer of the fifth-rate HMS Maeander in November 1847 and was again deployed in operations against Borneo pirates.

Henry Keppel was the cause of a tense diplomatic stand-off between Portugal and Britain in 1849 when, as captain of HMS Maeander, his request to the Governor of Macao for the release of an English prisoner, James Summers, having been rebuffed, he led a rescue party to make an assault on the gaol where Summers was being held.

Henry Keppel became commanding officer of the steam line-of-battle ship HMS St Jean d'Acre in May 1853.

Henry Keppel swapped commands with the captain of the sailing line-of-battle ship HMS Rodney, whose crew were all ashore, in July 1855 and served as commander of the naval brigade besieging Sevastopol in August and September 1855.

Henry Keppel transferred to the command of the second-rate HMS Colossus in the Baltic Fleet in January 1856 and then assisted with the re-embarkation of the British troops in the Crimea.

HMS Raleigh was lost on an uncharted rock near Hong Kong, and, although Henry Keppel was court-martialed, he was honourably acquitted for the loss of the ship.

Henry Keppel then transferred his pennant to the sixth-rate HMS Alligator.

Henry Keppel took part in the capture of Canton in December 1857 during the Second Opium War.

Henry Keppel was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 5 August 1877, appointed First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Queen on 9 March 1878 and retired in June 1879.

Henry Keppel was among the original recipients of the Order of Merit in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902, and received the order from King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 8 August 1902.

Sir Henry Keppel died in London on 17 January 1904 and was buried at the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin in Winkfield.

On 25 February 1839 Henry Keppel married Katherine Louisa Crosbie, daughter of General Sir John Crosbie.

Henry Keppel married Jane Elizabeth West, daughter of Martin John West on 31 October 1861.