Sydney Dacres

File:Charles Edward Dixon HMS St Vincent 1815 Portsmouth Harbour.jpg, which Dacres commanded. Painted by Charles Dixon]]

Dacres was born in 1804, the son of Captain, later Vice-Admiral, Sir Richard Dacres and Martha Phillips Milligan.{{cite book |last=Tracy|title=Who's who in Nelson's Navy |page=109}}{{cite book |last=Burke |title=Annual Register |year=1841|page=139}} The Dacres had a long history of naval service, Sydney's uncle, James Richard Dacres, was a vice-admiral, while his cousins Barrington Dacres and James Richard Dacres would both serve in the navy, the former becoming a post-captain, the latter a vice-admiral.{{cite book |last=Tracy |title=Who's who in Nelson's Navy |page=108}} His father, Richard Dacres, had served with Sir Sidney Smith as his flag captain aboard {{HMS|Pompee|1793|6}} during his Mediterranean campaign, and under Captain Sir John Colpoys, while Colpoys was commander of {{HMS|Hannibal|1786|6}} and {{HMS|London|1766|6}}. His elder brother Sir Richard James Dacres was a field marshal in the British Army and was also awarded the GCB.

Sydney joined the Royal Navy in 1817 at the age of 12, and after serving for ten years, was promoted to lieutenant on 5 May 1827, initially aboard the 46-gun {{HMS|Blonde|1819|6}} under Captain Edmund Lyons.{{cite book |last=Eardley-Wilmot|title=Life of Vice-Admiral Edmund, Lord Lyons|page=37}} On 18 October Lieutenant Dacres was involved in an attack on the Turkish forces at Morea, during the Greek War of Independence. He and other lieutenants from Blonde, working in company with French naval forces, landed guns and helped to build batteries.{{cite book |last=Marshall|title=Royal Naval Biography|page=387}}

Dacres was promoted to commander on 28 August 1834, being appointed to his first command, the paddle sloop {{HMS|Salamander|1832|6}} on 16 August 1836.{{cite ODNB | last=Laughton |first=J. K.|editor-first1=Andrew |editor-last1=Lambert | chapter=Dacres, Sir Sydney Colpoys (1805–1884) | title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/6997 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6997?docPos=10|access-date=31 December 2012}} He was promoted to post-captain on 1 August 1840 and duly relinquished command of the Salamander on 15 September 1840. He was briefly appointed to command {{HMS|Avenger|1845|6}} in 1847,{{cite book |title=The Gentleman's Magazine |page=540|year=1847}} before taking over command of the 120-gun first rate {{HMS|St Vincent|1815|6}}, from 16 November 1847. The St Vincent was at that time the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Charles John Napier, commander of the Channel Fleet. Dacres took command of the 50-gun frigate {{HMS|Leander|1848|6}} on 28 September 1849, commissioning her at Portsmouth and joining a Squadron of Evolution. He commanded the Leander until 3 June 1852, when he was shifted to the screw-propelled second rate {{HMS|Sans Pareil|1851|6}}.{{cite book |last=The Admiralty |title=THE NEW NAVY LIST |page=246|year=1852}} He took command on 8 June 1852, commissioning her at Plymouth and sailing her to Lisbon. She spent 1853 as part of the Channel squadron, then with the outbreak of the Crimean War Dacres sailed to the Black Sea in 1854 to support operations.{{cite book |last=House of Commons|title=Parliamentary Papers|page=250}} Dacres remained in command until 22 November 1854, when he was succeeded by Acting-Captain Leopold George Heath.{{cite book |last=Lambert|title=The Crimean War|page=195}} He was appointed a Companion of the Bath on 5 July 1855,{{London Gazette|issue=21743|page=2654|date=10 July 1855}} and on 30 April 1857 he was among the British officers who fought in the Crimea who received permission from Queen Victoria to accept the award of Officer of the Legion of Honour.{{London Gazette|issue=21996|page=1573|date=1 May 1857}}

File:Haslar hospital - geograph.org.uk - 1517936.jpg where Dacres was Captain-Superintendent]]

Dacres then moved ashore, becoming Captain-Superintendent of the Royal Hospital Haslar and the Royal Clarence (Gosport) Victualling Yard in July 1855,{{cite book |last=The Admiralty |title=The Navy List |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_jwq4g8YT36gC |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_jwq4g8YT36gC/page/n208 199]|year=1856}} a post he held until 25 June 1858, the date he was promoted to rear-admiral.{{London Gazette|issue=22157|page=3090|date=29 June 1858}} He became Captain of the fleet aboard {{HMS|Marlborough|1855|6}} to the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet on 12 September 1859, serving under Vice-Admiral Arthur Fanshawe, and then Vice-Admiral William Fanshawe Martin. In April 1861 he flew his flag on HMS Caesar1861 Census of England then from 16 December 1861 Dacres became second in command in the Mediterranean, flying his flag aboard {{HMS|Edgar|1858|6}}. He then became commander in chief of the Channel Squadron on 24 April 1863, a post he held until June 1866 and during which he oversaw the integration of the new ironclads into the fleet.{{cite book |last=The Son of an Old Naval Officer|title=Captain Coles and the Admiralty|page=15}} He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Bath on 28 March 1865,{{London Gazette|issue=22952|page=1731|date=28 March 1865}} and promoted to vice-admiral on 17 November 1865, while in command of the Channel Squadron.{{London Gazette|issue=23042|page=5690|date=24 November 1865}}

Dacres became a Commissioner of the Admiralty and Second Naval Lord on 12 July 1866,{{London Gazette|issue=23137|page=3985|date=13 July 1866}} rising to be the First Naval Lord on 18 December 1868. He was promoted to admiral on 1 April 1870,{{London Gazette|issue=23603|page=2006|date=1 April 1870}} and was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath on 20 May 1871.{{London Gazette|issue=23739|page=2473|date=20 May 1871}} His only significant action as First Naval Lord was to press for the abolition of masts. He stepped down as First Naval Lord on 27 November 1872, becoming Visitor and Governor of Greenwich Hospital on 2 December that year.{{London Gazette|issue=23925|page=6104|date=3 December 1872}} He was placed on the retired list on 10 January 1874.{{London Gazette|issue=24053|page=136|date=13 January 1874}}

Dacres married Emma Lambert on 1 October 1840 at St Pancras New Church. She gave birth to a son at Batheaston on 3 December 1845.{{cite book |last=Dodsley |title=Annual Register |page=210|year=1846}} This was followed by the birth of a daughter on 10 January 1849 at Bath. His daughter Minna Winifred married, as her second husband, Admiral Sir John Ommanney Hopkins.{{cite book |title= Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Burke, Sir Bernard |editor-link=Bernard Burke |edition=76th |year= 1914 |page= 2349 |ref=Burke }}{{cite book |title=The Gentleman's Magazine |page=198|year=1849}} Sydney Dacres died on 8 March 1884.{{London Gazette|issue=25372|page=3027|date=1 July 1884}}

• {{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Dacres, Sidney Colpoys |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=John Murray}}
• List of British recipients of the Légion d'Honneur for the Crimean War

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{Cite ODNB | first=J. K. | last=Laughton | author-link = John Knox Laughton | chapter=Dacres, Sir Sydney Colpoys (1805–1884) | editor=rev. Andrew Lambert | title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | year=2004 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/6997 | url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6997 | access-date=2007-09-21}}
• {{Cite book |first=Nicholas|last=Tracy|title=Who's who in Nelson's Navy: 200 Naval Heroes|year=2006|publisher=Chatham Publishing|location=London|isbn=1-86176-244-5}}
• {{Cite book |last=Lambert|first=Andrew D.|title=The Crimean War: British Grand Strategy, 1853-56|year=1991|publisher=Manchester University Press ND|isbn=0-7190-3564-3}}
• {{Cite book | editor=Edmund Burke | editor-link=Edmund Burke | title=Annual Register | publisher=F. J. F. & J. Rivington|location=London| year=1841 |volume=82}}
• {{Cite book |first=James|last=Dodsley | title=Annual Register | publisher=F. & J. Rivington|location=London| year=1846 |volume=87}}
• {{Cite book |first=Sylvanus |last=Urban | title=Gentleman's Magazine | publisher=F. Jefferies|location=London| year=1847 |volume=182}}
• {{Cite book |first=Sylvanus |last=Urban | title=Gentleman's Magazine | publisher=F. Jefferies|location=London| year=1849 |volume=1856}}
• {{Cite book |first=Joseph|last=Allen| title=The New Navy List and General Record of the Service of Officers of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines| publisher=Parker, Furnivall and Parker|location=London| year=1852}}
• {{Cite book | title=The Navy List | publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|location=London| year=1856 |volume=186}}
• {{Cite book |last=The Son of an Old Naval Officer|title=Captain Coles and the Admiralty: With an Inquiry into the Origin and Qualities of the Turret System of Armour-Clad War Vessels|year=1866|publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co}}
• {{Cite book |last=House of Commons|title=Parliamentary Papers|year=1855|publisher=HMSO|volume=9, pt. 2}}
• {{Cite book |first=John|last=Marshall|title=Royal Naval Biography, Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-officers, Superannuated Rear-admirals, Retired-captains, Post-captains, and Commanders, Whose Names Appeared on the Admiralty List of Sea Officers at the Commencement of the Present Year, Or who Have Since Been Promoted|year=1829|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green}}

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{{succession box | title=Commander-in-Chief, Channel Fleet | before=Sir Robert Smart | after=Sir Hastings Yelverton| years=1863–1866}}

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{{Succession box|title=Second Naval Lord|before=Sir Charles Eden|after=Vacant
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{{s-ttl|title=Governor, Greenwich Hospital|years=1872–1884}}

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• {{NPG name|85769|Sir Sidney Colpoys Dacres}}

{{First Sea Lord}}

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Category:1804 births

Category:1884 deaths

Category:First Sea Lords and Chiefs of the Naval Staff

Category:Lords of the Admiralty

Category:Royal Navy admirals

Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War

Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour

Category:Military personnel from Devon