Geoffrey Hornby Admiral of the Fleet Sir Geoffrey Thomas Phipps Hornby GCB ( 10 February 1825 – 3 March 1895 ) , was a British naval officer . Early life . He was the son of Admiral Sir Phipps Hornby , elder brother of James John Hornby , the first cousin and brother - in - law of Edward Stanley , 13th Earl of Derby , by a daughter of Lieutenant - General Burgoyne , commonly distinguished as " Saratoga " Burgoyne . At the age of twelve he was sent to sea in the flagship of Sir Robert Stopford , with whom he saw the capture of Acre in November 1840 . He afterwards served in the flagship of Rear - Admiral Josceline Percy at the Cape of Good Hope , was flag - lieutenant to his father in the Pacific , and came home as a commander . When the ministry of Edward Smith - Stanley , 14th Earl of Derby , fell in December 1852 , young Hornby was promoted to be captain . Early in 1853 he married , and as the Derby connexion put him out of favour with ministry of George Hamilton - Gordon , 4th Earl of Aberdeen , and especially with Sir James Graham , the First Lord of the Admiralty , he settled down in Sussex as manager of his father ' s property . Captain and Commodore . He had no appointment in the Royal Navy until 1858 , when he was sent out to China to take command of the " Tribune " frigate and convey a body of marines to Vancouver Island , where the dispute with the United States about the San Juan Islands was threatening to become very bitter . As senior naval officer there Hornby ' s moderation , temper and tact did much to smooth over matters , and a temporary arrangement for joint occupation of the island was concluded . He afterwards commanded the " Neptune " in the Mediterranean under Sir William Fanshawe Martin , was flag - captain to Rear - Admiral Sydney Dacres in the Channel , was commodore of the squadron on the west coast of Africa , and , being promoted to rear - admiral in January 1869 , commanded the flying squadron for a couple of years . Admiral . In 1871 he appointed to command the Channel Fleet and in 1874 he was made Second Naval Lord . It was early in 1877 that he was appointed Commander - in - Chief , Mediterranean Fleet , where his skill in manoeuvring the fleet , his power as a disciplinarian , and the tact and determination with which he conducted the foreign relations at the time of the Russian advance on Constantinople , won for him the distinction of Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath . He returned home in 1880 with the character of being perhaps the most able commander on the active list of the navy . His later appointments were as President of the Royal Naval College , Greenwich in 1881 and as Commander - in - Chief , Portsmouth in 1882 . On hauling down his flag he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath , and in May 1888 was promoted to be admiral of the fleet . From 1886 he was principal naval " aide - de - camp " to Queen Victoria , and in that capacity , and as an admiral of the fleet , was appointed to the staff of the German emperor Wilhelm II during his visits to England in 1889 and 1890 . He died , after a short illness , on 3 March 1895 . Children and Reputation . By his wife , who predeceased him , he left several children , daughters and sons , one of whom , a major in the artillery , won the Victoria Cross in South Africa in 1900 . His life was written by his daughter , Mrs Fred . Egerton , ( 1896 ) . Although almost his entire career was spent in peacetime , Hornby was regarded as not only an able administrator but also a brilliant handler of ships who did most to evolve new tactics as the navy finally abandoned sail for steam power , turret ships , and the threat of the torpedo . Sir John Fisher , who served under him in the Mediterranean , wrote that he was ' the finest Admiral afloat since Nelson . [ . . . ] There never lived a more noble character or a greater seaman . He was incomparable ' . He was also regarded as an intellectual among naval officers , very widely read . The naval historian Sir William Laird Clowes , who knew him well , wrote that ' . . . he was a natural diplomatist , and an unrivalled tactician ; and , to a singular independence and uprightness of character , he added a mastery of technical detail , and a familiarity with contemporary thought and progress that were unusual in those days among officers of his standing ' .