Colin Richard Keppel

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Admiral

Sir Colin Richard Keppel
Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Order of Saint Stanislaus, 1st Class (Russia)
Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd Class
(Prussian Empire) Grand Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Kingdom of Italy)
Spouse(s)Mary Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell

Extra Equerry
to four kings.

Background

He was the son of Admiral

Sir Algernon Edward West.[1] He was educated at Temple Grove and entered the Royal Navy as cadet on the training ship HMS Britannia in 1875.[3]

Naval career

Keppel caricatured by Spy for Vanity Fair, 1909

Early years

Keppel served on

British Mediterranean Fleet until 1878 and was then transferred as midshipman to HMS Black Prince, the world's second ship with an iron hull.[3] He was aboard on HMS Wolverine in Sydney in the next year and was with HMS Inconstant in Asia until 1882.[3]
Keppel served as midshipman on HMS Inconstant during the 1882 Egypt campaign.

At the time of the outbreak of the Mahdist War, he moved to HMS Duke of Wellington, the Commander-in-Chief's flagship in Portsmouth, then to HMS Iris, one of the first all steel ships, until 1884.[3]

In December 1884 Keppel was appointed to the 2nd Division of the Naval Brigade under Sir Charles Beresford serving on the Nile for the relief of Khartoum. As such, he was with Beresford on the Nile paddle gunboat Safia which had to run upriver to rescue Sir Charles Wilson and the men with him from the wrecked gunboat Talahawijeh and the Bordein, the latter having grounded on Mernat island during its return run (under fire) from Khartoum. It was during this journey that Wilson had established that Khartoum had fallen to the Mahdi and that, in all probability, Gordon was already dead.[4]

Keppel was slightly wounded in the successful but dangerous and arduous attempt to rescue Wilson and his men and get them back to the British base at Metemma; he was highly commended for his conduct and promoted to lieutenant. (Beresford : "I consider that we owe our safety on the steamer, as well as the safety of Sir C. Wilson and his party, who undoubtedly would have been killed if the steamer had been destroyed, to the untiring energy of Sub-Lieut. Keppel.")[5]

A year later, Keppel was appointed equerry and flag lieutenant to Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until 1893 and was then transferred to HMS Pearl.[3] He was with HMY Royal George in Portsmouth until 1895, became afterwards commander and sailed with HMS Skipjack to Gibraltar and with the torpedo gunboat HMS Harrier to Crete in 1897.[3]

On the Nile Again

In October 1897, on loan to the Egyptian Government, Keppel commanded three gunboats on the Nile, which were despatched from the town of

Herbert Kitchener, south to attack Metemmeh on the Nile, which was held by Dervishes.[6] At dawn on 16 October the ships attacked enemy troops at Shendi, before shelling three forts on the bank of the Nile near Metammeh, capturing some ships loaded with grain and then retiring.[6] They returned the following day to discover the defences had been reinforced with more artillery, but continued the bombardment from beyond range of the enemy guns.[6] Estimated Arab losses were 500 men, with one Soudanese soldier being killed on one of the gunboats.[6]

Keppel eventually commanded the entire Nile gunboat flotilla and played a major part in the successful British advance along the Nile, leading to the overwhelming victory at Omdurman and the occupation of Khartoum in September 1898. As a reward for his service with the gunboats, Keppel was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order and appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath.[7]

At the end of the campaign (which took Khartoum in September 1898), Keppel was instrumental in helping to deal with the diplomatically tricky situation upriver at Fashoda, where a French expedition under Major J. B. Marchand had established itself on the Nile. The confrontation, the famous "Fashoda Crisis", briefly looked as if it might cause a war with France, but was successfully and amicably settled.

Admiral

Apart from the decorations he received for his services in

Order of St Stanislaus and the 2nd Class of the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle.[2]

Further career

Keppel served as

King George VI until 1937.[22]

Keppel became

Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.[25]

Family

On 6 June 1889, he married Mary Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell, daughter of Major General Richard Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell, and had by her two daughters.[2] Marie, the older, became the wife of Charles Marsham, 6th Earl of Romney, while her younger sister Melita married Maurice Hely-Hutchinson.[7] Keppel died at his country residence, Grove Lodge, at Winkfield Row in Berkshire, aged 84 in 1947; his wife died ten years later.

References

  1. ^ a b c "ThePeerage: Admiral Sir Colin Richard Keppel". Retrieved 16 December 2006.
  2. ^ a b c Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1929). Armorial Families. Vol. II. London: Hurst & Blackett. p. 1092.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "AIM25 – KEPPEL, Adm Sir Colin (Richard) (1862–1947)". Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  4. ^ Official History; Sir Charles Wilson "Korti to Khartoum"
  5. ^ Official History; Sir Charles Wilson "Korti to Khartoum".
  6. ^ a b c d Winston Churchill (1899). The River War (Volume 1). London: Longmans Green and Co. pp. 347–350.
  7. ^ a b c Whitaker's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companioage. J. Whitaker & Sons. 1923. p. 460.
  8. ^ Who is Who 1947. London: Adam & Charles Black Ltd. 1947. p. 1518.
  9. ^ "No. 27087". The London Gazette. 6 June 1899. p. 3588.
  10. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36638. London. 14 December 1901. p. 12.
  11. ^ "No. 27918". The London Gazette. 1 June 1906. p. 3843.
  12. ^ "No. 28164". The London Gazette. 4 August 1908. p. 5731.
  13. ^ "No. 28151". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 June 1908. p. 4644.
  14. ^ "No. 28559". The London Gazette. 8 December 1911. p. 9631.
  15. ^ "No. 28780". The London Gazette. 9 December 1913. p. 9083.
  16. ^ "No. 28783". The London Gazette. 19 December 1913. p. 9338.
  17. ^ "No. 30037". The London Gazette. 27 April 1917. p. 3955.
  18. ^ "No. 28383". The London Gazette. 10 June 1910. p. 4075.
  19. ^ "No. 28678". The London Gazette. 3 January 1913. p. 37.
  20. ^ "No. 29177". The London Gazette. 1 June 1915. p. 5205.
  21. ^ "No. 34306". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 July 1936. p. 4664.
  22. ^ "No. 34376". The London Gazette. 2 March 1937. p. 1406.
  23. ^ "No. 29133". The London Gazette. 16 April 1915. p. 3718.
  24. ^ "No. 34203". The London Gazette. 1 October 1935. p. 6136.
  25. ^ "No. 33566". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1929. p. 6.
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