Rodney Mundy

Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rodney Mundy, (19 April 1805 – 23 December 1884) was a Royal Navy officer. As a commander, he persuaded the Dutch to surrender Antwerp during the Belgian Revolution and then acted as a mediator during negotiations between the Dutch and the Belgians to end hostilities. As a captain, he was deployed to the East Indies Station and was asked to keep the Sultan of Brunei in line until the British Government made a final decision on whether to take the island of Labuan: he took the Sultan's son-in-law, Pengiran Mumin, to witness the island's accession to the British Crown in December 1846. He was then deployed to the seas of Finland, where he secured Björkö Sound in operations against Russia during the Crimean War.

Mundy became Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet and, in May 1860, in the Expedition of the Thousand, was present in Palermo, Sicily when Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian general and politician, led his volunteers into the city. Mundy went on to be Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station and then Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.

Early career

Born the son of General Godfrey Basil Mundy and Sarah Bridges (daughter of George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney), Mundy joined the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth as a cadet in February 1818. He was appointed as a volunteer to the fifth-rate HMS Phaeton on the North America and West Indies Station in December 1819 and, having been promoted to midshipman, he transferred to the frigate HMS Euryalus in the Mediterranean Fleet in 1822. After a brief tour in the third-rate HMS Rochfort also in the Mediterranean Fleet, he transferred to the South American Station in April 1824 and then served successively in the fifth-rate HMS Blanche, the sloop HMS Jaseur, the third-rate HMS Wellesley and finally the second-rate HMS Cambridge. Some sources state that during the signing of the treaty, the Sultan had been threatened by a British navy warship ready to fire on the Sultan's palace if he refused to sign the treaty while another source says the island was ceded to Britain as a reward for assistance in combating pirates.

Mundy became commanding officer of the second-rate HMS Nile in July 1854 and was deployed, in Spring 1855, to the Baltic Sea and then, in September 1855, to the seas of Finland where he secured Björkö Sound in operations against Russia during the Crimean War. Mundy became Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, with his flag in the second-rate HMS Hannibal in April 1859. In May 1860, in the Expedition of the Thousand, he was involved in evacuating local citizens from the conflict.

Mundy went on to be Commander of detached squadron on the Syrian coast in 1861 and, having been advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 10 November 1862, he was promoted to vice-admiral on 15 December 1863. He then became Commander in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station, with his flag in the broadside ironclad HMS Royal Alfred, in January 1867. he became Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in March 1872 and retired in April 1875.

Mundy was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 2 June 1877 and, having been promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 27 December 1877, he died at his home in Chesterfield Street, London on 23 December 1884.

Family Mundy never married and had no children.