Astley Cooper Key

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sir

Astley Key
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Panjdeh Incident in 1885 when Russian forces seized Afghan territory at Panjdeh
.

Early career

As a junior officer Astley Key was present at The Bombardment of Sveaborg in August 1855

Astley Cooper Key was the son of Charles Aston Key, a well-known surgeon, and Anne Key (née Cooper). His father was a pupil of the pioneering surgeon Astley Cooper.[1] Key joined the Royal Navy in August 1833.[2] After initial training at the Royal Navy College at Portsmouth, he spent his early career in the third-rate HMS Russell in the Mediterranean Fleet and then, from 1839, in the sixth-rate HMS Cleopatra on the North America and West Indies Station.[3]

Promoted to

Companion of the Order of the Bath on 5 July 1855.[7]

Key took command of the

naval brigade to take part in the Battle of Canton in December 1857 during the Second Opium War.[4] He was appointed a member of the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom in August 1859,[8] became captain of the steam reserve at Devonport in July 1860 and went on to be captain of HMS Excellent and superintendent of the Royal Navy College at Portsmouth in July 1863.[4]

Senior command

The Royal Naval College, Greenwich of which Key was president

Key had a considerable share in advising as to the reorganization of naval administration.

Director of Naval Ordnance and became an expert on muzzle-loading guns, this being recognised when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 4 June 1868.[11] He went on to be Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard in July 1869 and Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard in June 1870[4] and subsequently second-in-command in the Mediterranean.[1]

Key was made President-designate of the proposed

Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies Station in December 1875 and was then asked to command a specially-formed Baltic Fleet created in February 1878 to intimidate Russia from entering Constantinople during the closing stages of the Russo-Turkish War.[4] Promoted to full admiral on 21 March 1878,[14] he was appointed First and Principal Naval Aides-de-Camp to the Queen on 15 June 1879.[4]

Key became

Privy Council on 11 August 1884,[16] he retired in June 1885 and died at his home, Laggan House, in Maidenhead on 3 March 1888.[2]

Family

On 28 April 1856 at Gonville, Jersey, Key married Charlotte Lavinia McNeil,[17] daughter of Edmund and Rose McNeil. Astley and Charlotte's daughter was artist and author Rose Champion de Crespigny.[18] Lady Charlotte died on 30 December 1874.[18]

In October 1877 at Halifax, Key married, secondly, Evelyn Bartolucci, niece of the Governor of Bermuda, Major General John Lefroy, the daughter of Vincenzo Bartolucci of Rome, and the granddaughter of General Luigi Bartolucci.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b Chisholm 1911.
  2. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15494. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  3. ^ "St Luke's Forgotten Admiral" (PDF). St Luke’s Church, Maidenhead. Summer 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "William Loney RN". Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  5. ^ "No. 20581". The London Gazette. 6 March 1846. p. 861.
  6. ISBN 978-1402185199
    . Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  7. ^ "No. 21743". The London Gazette. 10 July 1855. p. 2654.
  8. ^ "No. 22301". The London Gazette. 26 August 1859. p. 3203.
  9. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Key, Sir Astley Cooper". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 767.
  10. ^ "No. 23187". The London Gazette. 20 November 1866. p. 6158.
  11. ^ "Lists of Royal Society Fellows". Archived from the original on 22 January 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2006.
  12. ^ "No. 23973". The London Gazette. 6 May 1873. p. 2288.
  13. ^ "No. 23979". The London Gazette. 24 May 1873. p. 2583.
  14. ^ "No. 24566". The London Gazette. 26 March 1878. p. 2189.
  15. ^ "No. 25173". The London Gazette. 1 December 1882. p. 6070.
  16. ^ "No. 25386". The London Gazette. 12 August 1884. p. 3617.
  17. ^ Colomb, p. 271
  18. ^ a b Montgomery-Massingberd, p. 899
  19. ^ Colomb, p. 406

Sources

  • Colomb, Vice-Admiral P. H. (1898). Memoirs of Admiral the Right Honourable Sir Astley Cooper Key, G.C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S. London: Methuen & Co.
  • William Loney RN Career History
  • Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (1976). Burke's Irish Family Records. London: Burke's Peerage Limited.
    ISBN 978-0850110180
    .
Military offices
Preceded by Admiral Superintendent, Malta Dockyard
1870–1872 		Succeeded by
New office President, Royal Naval College, Greenwich
1873–1875 		Succeeded by
Sir Edward Fanshawe
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station
1875–1878 		Succeeded by
Sir Edward Inglefield
First Naval Lord

1879–1885 		Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp
1879–1886 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Astley_Cooper_Key&oldid=1190305450"