Hastings Yelverton

Admiral Sir Hastings Reginald Yelverton, (born Hastings Reginald Henry; 21 March 1808 – 24 July 1878) was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he took part in a major action against pirates off Candia in June 1826 and was involved in protecting British interests during the Portuguese Civil War during the early 1830s. He saw action in the Crimean War as Captain of one of the two ships that captured a Russian barque beneath the batteries at Ekenäs in Finland in May 1854. Then in July 1873 he took part in the suppression of the Cantonal Revolution in Cartagena. He became First Naval Lord in September 1876 and in that role implemented a series of economies demanded by the Disraeli ministry but was also involved in ordering the small, cheap and thoroughly unsuccessful ironclad Ajax-class battleships.

Early career

Born the son of John Joseph Henry (of Straffan) and Lady Emily Elizabeth FitzGerald (daughter of William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster), Hastings Henry, as he then was, entered the Royal Navy as a first-class volunteer aboard the frigate HMS Sibylle in the Mediterranean Fleet in 1823. He took part in a major action against pirates off Candia in June 1826 and subsequently served as a midshipman and mate in the brig HMS Columbine, the frigate HMS Undaunted and then the battleship HMS St Vincent in home waters. HMS Asia was then based at Lisbon, protecting British interests during the Portuguese Civil War. He joined the sixth-rate HMS Rattlesnake on the East Indies Station in December 1834.

Crimean service Yelverton was given command of the steam screw frigate HMS Arrogant in October 1853 and saw service in the Crimean War. Throughout much on 1855, Yelverton with HMS Arrogant and HMS Magicienne operated independently destroying Ruotsinsalmi sea fortress and Svartholm fortress, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath for his services on 5 July 1855. In December 1856, he took command of the second-rate HMS Brunswick and a gunboat flotilla for further operations but the Crimean War ended before he saw any action. Yelverton became second-in-command of the Mediterranean Station, hoisting his flag in the second-rate HMS Revenge in June 1863 and then, from May 1865, in the broadside ironclad HMS Caledonia. He was again given command of the Channel Squadron in July 1870 and then became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, hoisting his flag in the battleship HMS Lord Warden, in October 1870. and promoted to full admiral on 30 July 1875.

Yelverton, by now suffering from deafness, became First Naval Lord in September 1876 after Sir Geoffrey Hornby refused the post. In that role Yelverton implemented a series of economies demanded by the Disraeli ministry but was also involved in ordering the small, cheap and thoroughly unsuccessful ironclad Ajax-class battleships.