page_title: Henry Keppel
section_title: Senior command
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Keppel / Senior command
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of admiral Henry Keppel. Caption read "Little Harry".
context_page_description: Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Keppel GCB, OM was a Royal Navy officer. His first command was largely spent off the coast of Spain, which was then in the midst of the First Carlist War. As commanding officer of the corvette HMS Dido on the East Indies and China Station he was deployed in operations during the First Opium War and in operations against Borneo pirates. He later served as commander of the naval brigade besieging Sebastopol during the Crimean War. After becoming second-in-command of the East Indies and China Station, he commanded the British squadron in the action with Chinese pirates at the Battle of Fatshan Creek when he sank around 100 enemy war-junks. He subsequently took part in the capture of Canton during the Second Opium War.
  Keppel went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station, then Commander-in-Chief, South East Coast of America Station, Commander-in-Chief, China Station and finally Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.
context_section_description: The prevalence of peace gave Keppel no further chance of active service. Promoted to rear admiral on 22 August 1857, he was appointed a Groom in Waiting to the Queen on 24 September 1859 and became Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station, with his flag in the frigate HMS Forte, in May 1860. During the sea passage out to this station he was accused of developing a relationship with Lady Grey, the wife of Sir George Grey, the Governor of Cape Colony, and was hastily transferred to become Commander-in-Chief, South East Coast of America Station instead.
  Promoted to vice admiral on 11 January 1864, Keppel went on to be Commander-in-Chief, China Station, with his flag in the second-rate HMS Rodney, in January 1867. Promoted to full admiral on 12 July 1869 and advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 20 May 1871, he took up his last command when he became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in November 1872.
  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. In 1883 he bought Grove Lodge, a property in Winkfield in Berkshire, and made it his home.
  He was among the original recipients of the Order of Merit (OM) 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.
caption: As depicted by James Tissot in Vanity Fair, 22 April 1876
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