Robert Coote (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral Robert Coote CB (1 June 1820 – 17 March 1898) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, China Station.

Robert Coote
Grave of Robert Coote in Brookwood Cemetery
Born1 June 1820
Geneva, Switzerland
Died17 March 1898 (1898-03-18) (aged 77)
Dulwich, London
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service / branch Royal Navy
Years of service1833–1885
RankAdmiral
CommandsHMS Volcano
HMS Victory
HMS Gibraltar
HMS Arethusa
Queenstown
China Station
AwardsCompanion of the Order of the Bath

Background

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Coote was a younger son of Sir Charles Coote, 9th Baronet, by Caroline Whaley, daughter of John Whaley, of Whaley Abbey, County Wicklow.[1]

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Educated at Eton College,[2] Coote joined the Royal Navy in 1833[3] and served on the coast of Syria in 1840.[2] He was made commander of the sloop HMS Volcano in 1851 while serving in the West Africa Squadron.[3] Promoted to captain in 1854, he commanded HMS Victory from 1860, HMS Gibraltar from 1864 and HMS Arethusa from 1867.[3] He became Commander-in-Chief, Queenstown in 1874[2] and Commander-in-Chief, China in 1878.[3] He retired in 1885.[2]

He is buried in Brookwood Cemetery in Woking Cemetery.[2] There is a memorial to him in St Catherine's Church in Tullamore in County Offaly.[4]

Family

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Coote married Lucy Parry, daughter of the Arctic explorer Admiral Sir William Parry, in 1854. They had one son, Stanley Victor Coote, High Sheriff of Roscommon in 1900, and a daughter, Caroline Maud Coote, who married Major-General Cecil William Park. Coote died in March 1898, aged 77. His wife died in February 1906.[1]

References

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Military offices
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief, Queenstown
1874–1876
Succeeded by
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief, China Station
1878–1881
Succeeded by