Admiral Sir William King-Hall KCB

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...

 (1816 – 29 July 1886) was a 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...

 officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.

Naval career

King-Hall joined 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 1829 and took part in operations off the coast of Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 in 1840. Promoted to Captain

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

 in 1853 he commanded HMS Bulldog during the bombardment and capture of Fort Bomarsund

Bomarsund, Åland

The Battle of Bomarsund was fought by an Anglo-French task force against Russian defenses at Bomarsund during the Crimean War.-Background:Bomarsund is a 19th century fortress which had started to built in 1832 by Russia in Sund on the Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea...

 and then commanded HMS Exmouth

HMS Exmouth (1854)

HMS Exmouth was a 91-gun screw propelled Albion-class second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.-Design:Exmouth was ordered as a 90-gun sailing ship from Plymouth Dockyard in 1841, but was ordered to be converted to operate under steam propulsion on 30 October 1852. The conversion began on 20...

 during the attack on the Fortress of Sveaborg

Suomenlinna

Suomenlinna, until 1918 Viapori , or Sveaborg , is an inhabited sea fortress built on six islands , and which now forms part of the city of Helsinki, the capital of Finland.Suomenlinna is a UNESCO World Heritage site and popular with both tourists and locals, who...

 near Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 during the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

.

He also commanded HMS Calcutta

HMS Calcutta (1831)

HMS Calcutta was an 84-gun second-rate ship-of-the-line of the Royal Navy, built in teak to a draught by Sir Robert Seppings and launched on 14 March 1831 in Bombay. She was the only ship ever built to her draught. She carried her complement of smooth-bore, muzzle-loading guns on two gundecks...

 during the Second Opium War

Second Opium War

The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856 to 1860...

 and took part in the first attack on Canton

Guangzhou

Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

 in late 1856 and then the assault on the Taku Forts

Taku Forts

The Dagu Forts , also called the Peiho Forts are forts located by the Hai River estuary, in Tanggu District, Tianjin municipality, in northeastern China. They are located 60 km southeast of the Tianjin urban center.-History:The first fort was built during the reign of the Ming Jiajing...

 in 1858. He later commanded HMS Indus

HMS Indus (1839)

HMS Indus was an 80-gun two-deck second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 16 March 1839 at Portsmouth Dockyard.The design of Indus was based upon the Danish Christian VII, captured during the Second Battle of Copenhagen...

, HMS Royal Adelaide

HMS Royal Adelaide (1828)

HMS Royal Adelaide was a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 July 1828 at Plymouth.When first ordered in 1812 she was intended to be a second rate of 98 guns, but in the general reclassifications of 1817 she was reclassed as a first rate.By the time of the 1871...

, HMS Russell

HMS Russell (1822)

HMS Russell was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 22 May 1822 at Deptford.She was fitted with screw propulsion in 1855, and was broken up in 1865....

 and then HMS Cumberland

HMS Cumberland (1842)

HMS Cumberland was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 21 October 1842 at Chatham Dockyard.She carried a crew of 620 men. In March 1854 she sailed to the Baltic Sea as war with Russia was imminent . Cumberland was involved in the attack on Bomarsund, Finland in...

.

He was appointed Superintendent of Sheerness

Sheerness

Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....

 dockyard in 1865, Superintendent of Devonport

HMNB Devonport

Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...

 dockyard in 1871 and Commander-in-Chief, The Nore in 1877 before retiring in 1881.

Family

In 1848 he married Louisa Forman and in 1880 he married Charlotte Tillotson (née Simpson): they had two sons (Admiral Sir George King-Hall

George King-Hall

Admiral Sir George Fowler King–Hall KCB, CVO was a senior officer of the Royal Navy.King-Hall was born on 14 August 1850 as the second surviving son of Admiral William King-Hall and Louisa Forman...

 and Admiral Sir Herbert King-Hall

Herbert King-Hall

Admiral Sir Herbert Goodenough King-Hall KCB CVO DSO was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope Station.-Naval career:...

) and one daughter.