{{Short description|Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet (1808–1877)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = [[Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)|Admiral of the Fleet]] | name = Sir Henry Codrington | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB}} | birth_date = {{birth date|1808|08|17|df=y}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1877|08|04|1808|08|17|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_place = [[Eaton Square]], [[London]] | image = Rear-Admiral Henry John Codrington (1808-1877), by Cato Lowes Dickinson.jpg | caption = Rear-Admiral Henry John Codrington ([[Lowes Cato Dickinson]]) | nickname = | allegiance = {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom | service_years = 1823–1872 | rank = [[Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)|Admiral of the Fleet]] | commands = {{HMS|Orestes|1824|6}}<br>{{HMS|Talbot|1824|6}}<br>{{HMS|Queen|1839|6}}<br>{{HMS|St Vincent|1815|6}}<br>{{HMS|Thetis|1846|6}}<br>{{HMS|Royal George|1827|6}}<br>[[Malta Dockyard]]<br>[[Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth|Plymouth Command]] | branch = {{navy|UK}} | unit = | battles = [[Greek War of Independence]]<br>[[Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–41)|Egyptian–Ottoman War]]<br>[[Crimean War]] | awards = [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] | other_work = }} [[Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)|Admiral of the Fleet]] '''Sir Henry John Codrington''' [[Order of the Bath|KCB]] (17 October 1808 – 4 August 1877) was a [[Royal Navy]] officer. As a junior officer, he saw action during the [[Greek War of Independence]] and was present at the [[Battle of Navarino]]. He later undertook a survey of enemy positions prior to the bombardment of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] during the [[Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–41)|Egyptian–Ottoman War]].
As a [[Captain (Royal Navy)|captain]], Codrington provided refuge on board ship for [[Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany]] and his family who were fleeing from revolutionary forces and then commanded {{HMS|Royal George|1827|6}} in the [[Baltic Sea]] during the [[Crimean War]]. He went on to be Admiral superintendent of [[Malta Dockyard]] and then [[Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth]].
==Early career== [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild134-B0335, Fregatte "Thetis" vor Anker.jpg|thumb|left|The fifth-rate {{HMS|Thetis|1846|6}}, refuge to [[Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany]] under Codrington's command]] Born the son of [[Edward Codrington|Admiral Sir Edward Codrington]] and Jane Hall. His great grandfather was [[Sir William Codrington, 1st Baronet]] of [[Dodington Park]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ve8_AQAAMAAJ&dq=anne+jane+codrington+winchilsea&pg=PA299 |title=Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage |date=1885 |publisher=Burke's Peerage Limited. |language=en}}</ref>
Codrington joined the [[Royal Navy]] in February 1823.<ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5797|title=Sir Henry Codrington|date=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/5797 |accessdate=1 February 2015}}</ref> He was initially appointed to the [[fifth-rate]] {{HMS|Apollo|1805|6}} at [[Portsmouth]] and then transferred to the fifth-rate [[French frigate Sibylle (1791)|HMS ''Sybille'']] at [[Deptford]] in July 1824.<ref name="heath51">Heathcote, p. 51</ref> Promoted to [[midshipman]], he transferred to the fifth-rate {{HMS|Naiad|1797|6}} in August 1824 and took park in operations against pirates later in the year, supporting the blockade of [[Algiers]] by British forces; he then served in the British squadron off Greece, during the [[Greek War of Independence]].<ref name="heath51" /> He transferred to the [[second-rate]] {{HMS|Asia|1824|6}}, flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, [[Mediterranean Fleet]], in October 1826 and was present at the [[Battle of Navarino]] in October 1827.<ref name="heath51" /> During the battle he acted as signal midshipman and was wounded and, following the action during which the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] fleet was destroyed, he was awarded the Russian [[Order of St. Vladimir]], the French [[Legion of Honour]] and the Greek [[Order of the Redeemer]] for his services.<ref name="heath51" />
After serving briefly in the [[third-rate]] {{HMS|Warspite|1807|6}} and then in the fifth-rate {{HMS|Madagascar|1822|6}}, Codrington was promoted to [[Lieutenant (navy)|lieutenant]] on 12 June 1829.<ref name=heath51/> He was appointed to the [[first-rate]] {{HMS|Victory}}, [[flagship]] of the [[Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth]], in June 1829 and then transferred to the first-rate {{HMS|Prince Regent|1823|6}}, flagship of the [[Commander-in-Chief, The Nore]], in August 1829, to the fifth-rate {{HMS|Briton|1812|6}} for "particular service" in April 1830 and to the first-rate {{HMS|Caledonia|1808|6}}, flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, [[Channel Fleet|Channel Squadron]], for an experimental cruise in June 1831.<ref name=heath52>Heathcote, p. 52</ref>
[[File:Royal George by Charles Fitzgerald.jpg|thumb|left|The first-rate {{HMS|Royal George|1827|6}}, commanded by Codrington during the Crimean War]] Promoted to [[Commander (Royal Navy)|commander]] on 20 October 1831, Codrington became commanding officer of the [[sloop-of-war|sloop]] {{HMS|Orestes|1824|6}} in the Mediterranean Fleet in June 1834.<ref name=heath52/> Promoted to [[Captain (Royal Navy)|captain]] on 20 January 1836, he became commanding officer of the [[sixth-rate]] {{HMS|Talbot|1824|6}} in March 1838 and in that capacity undertook a survey of enemy positions prior to the bombardment of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] in November 1840 during the [[Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–41)|Egyptian–Ottoman War]].<ref name=heath52/> For this service he was appointed a [[Order of the Bath|Companion of the Order of the Bath]].<ref name=odnb/>
Codrington went on to command the first-rate {{HMS|Queen|1839|6}}, his father's flagship as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, in March 1841 and then to command the first-rate {{HMS|St Vincent|1815|6}}, his father's next flagship as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, in October 1841.<ref name=heath52/> He became commanding officer of the fifth-rate {{HMS|Thetis|1846|6}} in the Mediterranean Fleet in October 1846 and provided refuge on board ship for [[Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany]] and his family who were fleeing from revolutionary forces in 1848.<ref name=heath52/>
Codrington became commanding officer of the first-rate {{HMS|Royal George|1827|6}} in the [[Baltic Sea]] in October 1853 and took part in naval operations during the [[Crimean War]].<ref name=heath52/> Admiral [[Charles Napier (Royal Navy officer)|Sir Charles Napier]] threatened to court-martial him for failing to achieve the required standards but the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] refused to support this course of action.<ref name=heath52/> Promoted to [[Commodore (Royal Navy)|commodore]], he was given command of a squadron of [[gunboat]]s with his [[broad pennant]] in the second-rate {{HMS|Algiers|1854|6}} in February 1856.<ref name=heath52/> The Admiralty envisaged that he would lead a mission to attack the naval base at [[Kronstadt]] but the War ended with the [[Congress of Paris (1856)|Treaty of Paris]] in March 1856 and the mission was abandoned.<ref name=heath52/>
==Senior command== Promoted to [[Rear admiral (Royal Navy)|rear admiral]] on 19 March 1857,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=21982|page=1136|date=27 March 1857}}</ref> Codrington became Admiral Superintendent of [[Malta Dockyard]], with his flag in the first-rate {{HMS|Hibernia|1804|6}}, in July 1858.<ref name=heath53>Heathcote, p. 53</ref> Promoted to [[Vice admiral (Royal Navy)|vice admiral]] on 24 September 1863,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22776|page=4743|date=2 October 1863}}</ref> he was advanced to [[Order of the Bath|Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] on 13 March 1867.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23230|page=1724|date=15 March 1867}}</ref> Promoted to full [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|admiral]] on 18 October 1867,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23315|page=5666|date=10 June 1948}}</ref> he became [[Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth]] in November 1869.<ref name=heath53/> He was promoted to [[Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)|Admiral of the Fleet]] on 22 January 1877<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24411|page=436|date=30 January 1877}}</ref> and died at his home at [[Eaton Square]] in [[London]] on 4 August 1877.<ref name=heath53/>
==Family== [[File:109-112 Eaton Square (geograph 4751915).jpg|thumb|The South side of [[Eaton Square]] in London; Codrington lived at No. 112]] In April 1849 Codrington married Helen Jane Webb (1828–1876); they had two daughters.<ref name=heath52/> They had a much publicised divorce in 1864 in which the Admiral accused her of having a close relationship with the women's rights activist [[Emily Faithfull]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gerald-massey.org.uk/faithfull/index.htm|title=Emily Faithfull|accessdate=1 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904094946/http://gerald-massey.org.uk/faithfull/index.htm|archive-date=4 September 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> This notorious legal case, the Codrington Affair, was fictionalisd by [[Emma Donoghue]] in ''The Sealed Letter'' (2008).<ref>{{cite web|last1=Donoghue|first1=Emma|title=The Sealed Letter: Author's Note|url=http://www.picador.com/blog/october-2011/the-sealed-letter-author-s-note|website=Picador|access-date=21 November 2014}}</ref> The novel was joint winner of the [[2009 Lambda Literary Awards|2009 Lambda Literary Award]] for Lesbian Fiction.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Cerna|first1=Antonio Gonzalez|title=21st Annual Lambda Literary Awards|url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/02/18/lambda-literary-awards-2008-2/|website=Lambda Literary|date=18 February 2010}}</ref>
He married Catherine Aitchison (née Compton) in August 1869; they had one daughter.<ref name=heath53/>
Ellen Codrington, the younger of the two daughters from Henry Codrington's first marriage, married in 1878 John Roche Dasent, the eldest son of [[George Webbe Dasent]], the translator of Norse mythology.<ref>{{cite book|title=Popular tales from the Norse by Sir George Webbe Dasent, with a memoir by Arthur Irwin Dasent|year=1903|page=xli|url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x002150168;view=1up;seq=47}}</ref>
Anne Codrington, his eldest daughter married [[Henry Finch-Hatton, 13th Earl of Winchilsea|Henry Finch-Hatton, later 13th Earl of Winchilsea]] in 1882, had issues include [[Guy Finch-Hatton, 14th Earl of Winchilsea]], who married wealthy American heiress and the big-game hunter [[Denys Finch Hatton|Denys Finch-Hatton]].<ref name=":0" />
==See also== * {{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Codrington, Henry John |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book|last=Heathcote|first=Tony|title=The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734–1995|publisher=Pen & Sword|year=2002 |isbn=0-85052-835-6}}
==External links== * [http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowBiog.php?id=255 William Loney] Career History
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=[[Montagu Stopford (Royal Navy officer)|Montagu Stopford]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Malta Dockyard|Admiral Superintendent, Malta Dockyard]]|years=1858–1863}} {{s-aft|after=[[Horatio Thomas Austin|Horatio Austin]]}} |- {{succession box | title=[[Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth]] | years=1869–1872 | before=[[Sir William Martin, 4th Baronet|Sir William Martin]]| after=[[Henry Keppel|Sir Henry Keppel]]}} {{end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Codrington, Henry}} [[Category:1808 births]] [[Category:1877 deaths]] [[Category:Royal Navy admirals of the fleet]] [[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]] [[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Greek War of Independence]] [[Category:Codrington family|Henry]] [[Category:19th-century owners of plantations]]