Admiral John Pascoe Grenfell (20 September 1800 - 20 March 1869) was an officer in the Brazilian Navy

Brazilian Navy

The Brazilian Navy is a branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible for conducting naval operations. It is the largest navy in Latin America...

 who spent most of his service in South America campaigns, most notably under the leadership of Lord Cochrane

Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald

Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM , styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British naval flag officer and radical politician....

 and Commodore Norton. He was the nephew of British politician Pascoe Grenfell

Pascoe Grenfell

Pascoe St Leger Grenfell was a British business man and politician.-Biography:He was born at Marazion, in Cornwall. His father and uncle were merchants in the tin and copper business. Grenfell studied at Truro Grammar School before joining his father's business in London...

 and grandfather to General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell

John Maxwell (British Army officer)

General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell GCB, KCMG, CVO, DSO, PC was a British Army officer and colonial governor. He served in the Mahdist War in the Sudan, the Boer War, and in the First World War, but he is best known for his role in the suppression of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland and subsequent...

. He was a knight grand cross of the Imperial Order of the Rose

Order of the Rose

The Imperial Order of the Rose is an Brazilian order of chivalry, instituted by Emperor Pedro I of Brazil on 17 October 1829 to commemorate his marriage to Amélie of Leuchtenberg....

 and a knight of the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross

Order of the Southern Cross

The National Order of the Southern Cross is a Brazilian order of chivalry founded by Emperor Pedro I on 1 December 1822. This order was intended to commemorate the independence of Brazil and the coronation of Pedro I...

.

Early history

John Pascoe Grenfell was born on the 20 September 1800 to J.M. Grenfell. In 1811 he entered the service of the British East India Company

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

, and in 1819 he joined the Chilean republic under Lord Cochrane. He took part in most of the conflicts undertaken by Lord Cochrane during the war of Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an independence, and rose to the rank of lieutenant. On the 5 November 1820 Grenfell was injured in the cutting of the Esmeralda

Esmeralda (1791)

The Spanish Esmeralda was a 44 gun frigate built in Port Mahón, Balearic Islands in 1791. The First Chilean Navy Squadron under the command of Thomas Cochrane captured her in the night from 5 to 6 November 1820. She was renamed Valdivia in Chilean service...

 the last major Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 warship in the South Pacific

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

. In 1823 now holding the rank of commander he followed Lord Cochrane to Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, to fight in Brazilian War of Independence. In August 1823, Grenfell in command of the small brig Dom Miguel sailed to Pará

Pará

Pará is a state in the north of Brazil. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest it also borders Guyana and Suriname, and to the northeast it borders the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Belém.Pará is the most populous state...

 and using a similar tactic used by Lord Cochrane at Maranham, forced the surrender of the junta governativa (government joint) by making them think a larger fleet was following. On 29 July 1826, under the command of Commodore Norton, he lost his arm in the Argentina-Brazil War

Argentina-Brazil War

The Cisplatine War or the Argentine–Brazilian War was an armed conflict over an area known as Banda Oriental or "Eastern Shore" in the 1820s between the United Provinces of River Plate and the Empire of Brazil in the aftermath of the United Provinces' emancipation from Spain.-Background:Led by...

. He then returned to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 to recuperate.

Later life

In 1828 Grenfell returned to Brazil, and during 1835-36 he commanded a squadron of ships on the lakes of Rio Grande do Sul

Rio Grande do Sul

Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...

 against rebel flotilla

Flotilla

A flotilla , or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, gunboats, or minesweepers...

s. He was successful in defeating his opponents which forced the surrender of the rebel army. In 1841 he was promoted to rear-admiral and in 1846 was consul general in England and he returned to Britain to live in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

. In 1848 when supervising the Brazilian warship Alfonso he was involved in the rescuing of passengers from the Ocean Monarch off the coast of England.

In 1851 war broke out between

Platine War

The Platine War, also known as the War against Oribe and Rosas was fought between the Argentine Confederation and an alliance consisting of the Empire of Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine provinces of Entre Ríos and Corrientes...

 Brazil and Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 and he was posted to Brazil to take control of their Navy. In December of that year he successfully forced the passage

The Passage of the Tonelero

The Passage of the Tonelero was a battle fought near the cliff of Acevedo, in the west bank of the Paraná River, Argentina, on 17 December 1851, between the Argentine Army commanded by Lucio Norberto Mansilla and Brazilian warships led by John Pascoe Grenfell....

 of the Paraná

Paraná River

The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language...

. After the conflict ended he was promoted to vice-admiral and then finally admiral

Admiral

Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

. He again returned to Liverpool to resume his role as consul-general and remained there until his death in 1869.