Nowell Salmon

File:Ruins of Residency Lucknow - 1880's.jpg

Salmon was the son of Reverend Henry Salmon, Rector of Swarraton and Emily Salmon (daughter of Admiral William Nowell), Salmon was educated at Marlborough College and joined the Royal Navy as cadet in May 1847.Heathcote, p. 224 Promoted to midshipman, he was appointed to the second-rate {{HMS|James Watt}} in the Baltic Sea in March 1854 and saw action during the Crimean War. Promoted to lieutenant on 5 January 1856, he joined the gunboat HMS Ant in March 1856 before transferring to the frigate {{HMS|Shannon|1855|6}} on the East Indies Station later that year. He served in the naval brigade and took part in the Siege of Lucknow in November 1857 during the Indian Mutiny. He was a member of the force defending the Residency when he volunteered to climb a tree near the wall of the Shah Nujeff mosque to observe the fall of shot, despite being under fire himself and wounded in the thigh. He and his colleague, Leading Seaman John Harrison, were awarded the Victoria Cross. His citation reads:

{{blockquote|Date of Act of Bravery, 16 November 1857

For conspicuous gallantry at Lucknow, on the 16 November 1857, in climbing up a tree, touching the angle of the Shah Nujjiff, to reply to the fire of the enemy, for which most dangerous service, the late Captain Peel, K.C.B., had called for volunteers.{{London Gazette|issue=22212|page=5512|date=24 December 1858}}}}

File:WilliamWalker.jpg

Salmon took part in the Recapture of Lucknow in March 1858 and was promoted to commander on 22 March 1858. He became commanding officer of the sloop {{HMS|Icarus|1858|6}} on the North America and West Indies Station in November 1859. In 1860, Salmon was dispatched from British Honduras (now Belize) to take custody of William Walker, an American citizen who had briefly been president of Nicaragua, but who was now attempting further conquests in Central America. The British Government regarded Walker as a menace to its own affairs in the region.Scroggs, pp. 72–4 Salmon captured Walker and delivered him to the authorities in Honduras, who promptly had him court-martialed and shot.

Promoted to captain on 12 December 1863, Salmon became commanding officer of the ironclad warship {{HMS|Defence|1861|6}} in the Mediterranean Fleet in March 1869 and then commanded the ironclad warship {{HMS|Valiant|1863|6}} under the Commander-in-Chief, Queenstown in Ireland in April 1874. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 29 May 1875 and made a naval aide-de-camp to the Queen on 12 December that same year,{{London Gazette|issue=24213|page=2852|date=29 May 1875}}{{London Gazette|issue=24282|page=57|date=7 January 1876}} before becoming commanding officer of the battleship {{HMS|Swiftsure|1870|6}} in the Mediterranean Fleet on 28 November 1877.Heathcote, p. 225

File:Imperieuse as commissioned.jpg HMS Imperieuse, Salmon's flagship as Commander-in-Chief, China]]

Promoted to rear admiral on 2 August 1879,{{London Gazette|issue=24749|page=4805|date=5 August 1879}} Salmon became Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station, with his flag in the corvette {{HMS|Boadicea|1875|6}}, in April 1882. Promoted to vice admiral on 1 July 1885,{{London Gazette|issue=25490|page=3240|date=14 July 1885}} he was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 21 June 1887.{{London Gazette|issue=25712|page=3362|date=21 June 1887}} He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, China Station, with his flag in the armoured cruiser {{HMS|Imperieuse|1883|6}}, in December 1887.

Salmon was promoted to full admiral on 10 September 1891,{{London Gazette|issue=26203|page=4987|date=22 September 1891}} and became Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in June 1894. He was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 22 June 1897,{{London Gazette|issue=26867|page=3567|date=25 June 1897}} and led Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Review at Spithead on 26 June.{{London Gazette|issue=26947|page=1618|date=14 March 1898}} He was appointed First and Principal Naval Aide-de-camp to the Queen on 23 August 1897.{{London Gazette|issue=26885|page=4726|date=24 August 1897}} Promoted to admiral of the fleet on 13 January 1899,{{London Gazette|issue=27043|page=298|date=17 January 1899}} he retired in February 1905,{{London Gazette|issue=27772|page=1845|date=7 March 1905}} died at his home in Southsea on 14 February 1912 and was buried at St Peter's Churchyard in Curdridge.

Salmon's Victoria Cross is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum in London.{{cite web|url=http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/ccroynav.htm|title=Location of Victoria Crosses|publisher=National Museum of the Royal Navy|accessdate=25 December 2014}}

In January 1866 Salmon married Emily Augusta Saunders; they had a son and a daughter.Heathcote, p. 225

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Heathcote|first=Tony|title=The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 – 1995|publisher=Pen & Sword Ltd |year=2002 |isbn=0-85052-835-6}}
• {{cite book|last=Scroggs|first=William O.|title=Filibusters and Financiers; the story of William Walker and his associates|year=1916|publisher=The Macmillan Company|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/filibustersfinan00scrorich}}

• {{DP-xlink|http://dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Nowell_Salmon}}
• [http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowBiog.php?id=1264 William Loney] Career History
• The Times Obituary of Sir Nowell Salmon (15 February 1912)

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{{s-mil}}

{{s-bef | before=Sir Frederick Richards}}

{{s-ttl | title=Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope Station | years=1882–1885}}

{{s-aft | after=Sir Walter Hunt-Grubbe}}

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{{Succession box| title=Commander-in-Chief, China Station | before=Sir Richard Hamilton | after=Sir Frederick Richards | years=1887–1890}}

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{{succession box | title=Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth | years=1894–1897 | before=The Earl of Clanwilliam | after=Sir Michael Culme-Seymour}}

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{{s-hon}}

{{s-bef | before=Sir Algernon Lyons}}

{{s-ttl | title=First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp | years=1897–1899}}

{{s-aft | after=Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, Bt.}}

{{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salmon, Nowell}}

Category:1835 births

Category:1912 deaths

Category:Burials in Hampshire

Category:People from the City of Winchester

Category:British recipients of the Victoria Cross

Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Category:Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross

Category:Royal Navy admirals of the fleet

Category:People educated at Marlborough College

Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War

Category:Royal Navy recipients of the Victoria Cross

Category:Military personnel from Winchester