Henry Codrington

File:Bundesarchiv Bild134-B0335, Fregatte "Thetis" vor Anker.jpg under Codrington's command]]

Born the son of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington and Jane Hall. His great grandfather was Sir William Codrington, 1st Baronet of Dodington Park.{{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}}

Codrington joined the Royal Navy in February 1823.{{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}} He was initially appointed to the fifth-rate {{HMS|Apollo|1805|6}} at Portsmouth and then transferred to the fifth-rate HMS Sybille at Deptford in July 1824.Heathcote, p. 51 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. 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. During the battle he acted as signal midshipman and was wounded and, following the action during which the 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.

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 on 12 June 1829. 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 Squadron, for an experimental cruise in June 1831.Heathcote, p. 52

File:Royal George by Charles Fitzgerald.jpg

Promoted to commander on 20 October 1831, Codrington became commanding officer of the sloop {{HMS|Orestes|1824|6}} in the Mediterranean Fleet in June 1834. Promoted to 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 in November 1840 during the Egyptian–Ottoman War. For this service he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

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. 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.

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. Admiral Sir Charles Napier threatened to court-martial him for failing to achieve the required standards but the Admiralty refused to support this course of action. Promoted to commodore, he was given command of a squadron of gunboats with his broad pennant in the second-rate {{HMS|Algiers|1854|6}} in February 1856. The Admiralty envisaged that he would lead a mission to attack the naval base at Kronstadt but the War ended with the Treaty of Paris in March 1856 and the mission was abandoned.

Promoted to rear admiral on 19 March 1857,{{London Gazette|issue=21982|page=1136|date=27 March 1857}} Codrington became Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard, with his flag in the first-rate {{HMS|Hibernia|1804|6}}, in July 1858.Heathcote, p. 53 Promoted to vice admiral on 24 September 1863,{{London Gazette|issue=22776|page=4743|date=2 October 1863}} he was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 13 March 1867.{{London Gazette|issue=23230|page=1724|date=15 March 1867}} Promoted to full admiral on 18 October 1867,{{London Gazette|issue=23315|page=5666|date=10 June 1948}} he became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in November 1869. He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 22 January 1877{{London Gazette|issue=24411|page=436|date=30 January 1877}} and died at his home at Eaton Square in London on 4 August 1877.

File:109-112 Eaton Square (geograph 4751915).jpg in London; Codrington lived at No. 112]]

In April 1849 Codrington married Helen Jane Webb (1828–1876); they had two daughters. 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.{{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}} This notorious legal case, the Codrington Affair, was fictionalisd by Emma Donoghue in The Sealed Letter (2008).{{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}} The novel was joint winner of the 2009 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction.{{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}}

He married Catherine Aitchison (née Compton) in August 1869; they had one daughter.

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.{{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}}

Anne Codrington, his eldest daughter married 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.

• {{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Codrington, Henry John |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=John Murray}}

{{reflist}}

• {{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}}

• [http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowBiog.php?id=255 William Loney] Career History

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{{succession box | title=Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth | years=1869–1872 | before=Sir William Martin| after=Sir Henry Keppel}}

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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