46 - Sir Henry Keppel (1809–1904): ‘Probably the Most Universally Popular Naval Commander Ever Sent by England to the East’

Summary

INTRODUCTION

SIR HENRY KEPPEL enjoyed an exceptionally long and distinguished naval career, which saw him rise to the rank of Admiral. His involvement with Japan was a relatively short part of it – just three years, from 1867 to 1869. However, those years saw the collapse of the Bakufu and the Meiji Restoration and were therefore a time of huge significance in the history of the country.

Keppel was born the sixth son of the Earl of Albemarle, who held the prestigious position of Master of the Horse under the Whig Governments of 1830–1834 and 1835–1841. Henry would not inherit a title or a fortune, so he had to make his way in the world. When he was nine, his father told him to choose a career and he decided on the navy, entering it at the age of twelve. He would spend a good deal of it in the Far East, including China: he first went there in 1841, when he served during the First Opium War; he returned in 1856 as second in command on the China station for two years, and went back again in 1867, as commander at the China station. On this occasion, Japan, rather than China, demanded most of his attention because of the threat to British interests deriving from the instability there.

Keppel was a very short, but strong, man, and judging by a series of photographs taken of him when he was around forty, unprepossessing: looking older than his years, with thin lips, sagging jowls, balding and slightly unkempt. However, old age suited him, and in photographs from that time he looks fully at ease with life and his position, the embodiment of the British navy – past its prime, but still just about ruling the waves.

Keppel's Dictionary of National Biography entry describes him as being ‘An officer of high social rank, great courage, and excellent seamanship… [but] too excitable and hasty to be a successful admiral in peacetime.’ This latter comment may have been true during other parts of his career, but in Japan (which, while not at peace, was not in conflict with Britain during his time there), he was the very opposite of excitable and hasty – rather, he was cautious and did everything he could to avoid getting Britain embroiled in any fighting.