Colin Richard Keppel

Admiral Sir Colin Richard Keppel, (3 December 1862 – 6 July 1947) was a Royal Navy officer.

Background He was the son of Admiral Sir Henry Keppel, younger son of William Keppel, 4th Earl of Albemarle, and his second wife Jane Elizabeth West, daughter of Martin John West. His paternal uncles were Augustus Keppel, 5th Earl of Albemarle and George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle, his maternal uncle was Sir Algernon Edward West.

Naval career

Early years Keppel served on HMS Sultan in the British Mediterranean Fleet until 1878 and was then transferred as midshipman to HMS Black Prince, the world's second iron-hulled ship.

Keppel was slightly wounded in the successful but dangerous and arduous attempt to rescue Wilson and his men and get them back to the British base at Metemma; he was highly commended for his conduct and promoted to lieutenant. (Beresford : "I consider that we owe our safety on the steamer, as well as the safety of Sir C. Wilson and his party, who undoubtedly would have been killed if the steamer had been destroyed, to the untiring energy of Sub-Lieut. Keppel.")

A year later, Keppel was appointed equerry and flag lieutenant to Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until 1893 and was then transferred to HMS Pearl.

Keppel eventually commanded the entire Nile gunboat flotilla and played a major part in the successful British advance along the Nile, leading to the overwhelming victory at Omdurman and the occupation of Khartoum in September 1898. As a reward for his service with the gunboats, Keppel was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order and appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath.

At the end of the campaign which took Khartoum, Keppel was instrumental in helping to deal with the diplomatically tricky situation upriver at Fashoda, where a French expedition under Major J. B. Marchand had established itself on the Nile. The confrontation, the famous "Fashoda Crisis", briefly looked as if it might cause a war with France, but was successfully and amicably settled.

Admiral Apart from the decorations he received for his services in Sudan, Keppel received the thanks of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in June 1899 and became captain commanding HMS Wildfire. In 1905 he commanded the battleship HMS Implacable after being promoted to rear admiral in 1908, he was advanced to a Knight Commander. He became second in command of the British Atlantic Fleet in 1909 and was first on HMS Albemarle, later on HMS London. Keppel was promoted vice admiral in 1913, retiring a few days later. He was made a full admiral in 1917. Keppel received the 1st Class of the Russian Order of St Stanislaus and the 2nd Class of the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle. Keppel was nominated Equerry-in-Ordinary in 1913, fulfilling this office for two years until his relinquishment in 1915, when he was again appointed Extra Equerry. Subsequently, he held this post also to King Edward VIII and King George VI until 1937.

Keppel became Serjeant-at-Arms of the British House of Commons in 1915, resigning after twenty years. In 1929, he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

Family On 6 June 1889, he married Mary Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell, daughter of Major General Richard Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell, and had by her two daughters. Marie, the older, became the wife of Charles Marsham, 6th Earl of Romney, while her younger sister Melita married Maurice Hely-Hutchinson. Keppel died at his country residence, Grove Lodge, at Winkfield Row in Berkshire, aged 84 in 1947; his wife died ten years later.