XI 



of Portsmouth. Dockyard, but was shortly transferred to a similar 

 position at Malta, when he became second in command of the Medi- 

 terranean fleet. 



Soon after vacating this position, he was at the end of 1872 ap- 

 pointed President of the newly-established Naval College at Green- 

 wich for the higher education and study of naval officers of all ranks. 

 In 1873 he was promoted to the rank of Vice- Admiral, and in January, 

 1876, was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the North American and 

 West Indian Stations. In 1878 he became Admiral, and received the 

 appointment of First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to the 

 Queen. 



In the year 1879 he went to the Admiralty as Principal Naval Lord, 

 where he served under two administrations until 1885. During Lord 

 Northbrook's absence on his mission to Egypt in 1884, Sir Cooper 

 Key was sworn of the Privy Council, and conducted the administra- 

 tion of the Admiralty. 



In 1866 he came under the Age Retirement Scheme, and was placed 

 on the Retired List of Admirals. He had been nominated a K.C.B. 

 in 1873, and was raised to the dignity of a Gr.C.B. in 1882. The 

 University of Oxford had, in 1880, conferred upon him the honorary 

 degree of D.C.L. 



There have been few naval officers who have enjoyed so long and 

 uninterrupted a career, or who have held positions of so important 

 and responsible a character as Sir Cooper Key. He was always a most 

 successful and popular officer, and during his whole course, of service 

 had displayed qualities and abilities of a high order, whether as a 

 commander or an administrator; he was an earnest and generous 

 supporter of many benevolent institutions, especially of those con- 

 nected with the moral and religious training of seamen. 



He died at his residence, Laggan House, Maidenhead, on the 3rd of 

 March, 1888. 



G-. H. R. 



Vice-Admiral Thomas A. B. Spratt, C:B., the eldest son of the late 

 Commander James Spratt, who served with much distinction on 

 board H.M.S. " Defiance " at the battle of Trafalgar, was born in 

 1811, and entered the navy in 1827. As midshipman he joined the 

 surveying branch of the naval service on board H.M.S. "Mastiff" in 

 the Mediterranean, on which station he served all but continuously 

 until 1863. 



In 1847 he was appointed as a lieutenant to the command of the 

 surveying vessel " Volage," and in the following year succeeded as 

 commander to the command of the " Spitfire," the principal surveying 

 ship of the station. 



Employed mainly in the Archipe'ago, Commander Spratt worked 



