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"...

 Sir

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 Maurice Frederick FitzHardinge Berkeley, 1st Baron FitzHardinge, GCB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 PC, DL

Deputy Lieutenant

In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....

 (3 January 1788 – 17 October 1867) was a British Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 First Sea Lord

First Sea Lord

The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...

 and former First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

.

Royal Navy career

Berkeley was born illegitimately on 3 January 1788 to Frederick Berkeley, 5th Earl of Berkeley (1745–1867) and Mary Cole (1766–1844). He entered the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 in 1802. During the Peninsular War

Peninsular War

The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...

, he operated with gunboats on the Tagus

Tagus

The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...

 reinforcing the Lines of Torres Vedras

Lines of Torres Vedras

The Lines of Torres Vedras were lines of forts built in secrecy to defend Lisbon during the Peninsular War. Named after the nearby town of Torres Vedras, they were ordered by Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington, constructed by Sir Richard Fletcher, 1st Baronet and his Portuguese workers between...

.

Between 1828 and 1841, Berkeley commanded in succession HMS Semiramis and HMS Hercules

HMS Hercules (1815)

HMS Hercules was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 5 September 1815 at Chatham.On 26 December 1852 Hercules departed on her way to Hong Kong to take up duties as a hospital ship...

. In the Oriental Crisis of 1840

Oriental Crisis of 1840

The Oriental Crisis of 1840 was an armed conflict in the eastern Mediterranean between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire. It was triggered by Wāli Muhammad Ali Pasha's aims to establish a personal empire in the Ottoman province of Egypt.-Origins of the conflict:...

 he was involved with HMS Thunderer

HMS Thunderer (1831)

HMS Thunderer was a two-deck 84-gun second rate ship of the line, a modified version of the Canopus/Formidable-class launched on 22 September 1831 at Woolwich Dockyard....

 on the attack of Acre

Acre

The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...

. For this he was awarded a Companion of the Order of the Bath

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 and received the Naval Gold Medal

Naval Gold Medal

The Naval Gold Medal was a medal awarded between 1793 and 1840 to senior officers of the Royal Navy in specified actions.Two different sizes were struck. 22 large-size medals were awarded to flag officers , commodores and captains of the fleet...

.

He held the office of Fourth Naval Lord

Fourth Sea Lord

The Fourth Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Supplies was formerly one of the Naval Lords and members of the Board of Admiralty which controlled the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom.-History:...

 between 1833 and 1835 and once again between 1837 and 1839. He held the office of Naval Aide-de-Camp

Aide-de-camp

An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...

 to Queen Victoria between 1846 and 1849 whilst also being the Third Naval Lord

Third Sea Lord

The Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy was formerly the Naval Lord and member of the Board of Admiralty responsible for procurement and matériel in the British Royal Navy...

 between 1846 and 1847 and then Second Naval Lord

Second Sea Lord

The Second Sea Lord and Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command , commonly just known as the Second Sea Lord , is one of the most senior admirals of the British Royal Navy , and is responsible for personnel and naval shore establishments.-History:In 1805, for the first time, specific functions were...

 between 1847 and 1852 during which time he was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral. He was appointed First Naval Lord briefly in Spring 1852, then Second Naval Lord in 1853 and First Naval Lord again from 1854 to 1857.

He also held the honorary positions of Vice-Admiral of the Red from 1856, Admiral of the Blue from 1862 and Admiral of the White from 1863.

Honours

Throughout his later life he rose in the ranks within the Order of the Bath as a Knight Commander (KCB) in 1855 and finally as a Knight Grand Cross (GCB) in 1861. On 26 February 1861 after inheriting his brother's estates, he unsuccessfully claimed the Barony of Berkeley as being one by tenure of Berkeley Castle. He was created Baron FitzHardinge, of Bristol, of the city and county of the city of Bristol [U.K.] on 5 August 1861.

Political office

He was elected several times as a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

, but in three separate periods. His first spell in the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 was for just one year as a Whig

British Whig Party

The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

, between 1831 and 1832. His second was as a Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 Member, between 1835 and 1837.

In 1841, he returned to parliament again as a Liberal Member for Gloucester, remaining through two more general elections until 1857. He represented Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

 as a Deputy Lieutenant

Deputy Lieutenant

In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....

. In 1855, he was appointed as a Privy Councillor in 1855. He died in 1867 at Berkeley Castle

Berkeley Castle

Berkeley Castle is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, UK . The castle's origins date back to the 11th century and it has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building.The castle has remained within the Berkeley family since they reconstructed it in the...

 in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

, aged 79.

Sources

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