BEDFORD, Admiral Sir Frederick George Denham, Papers from 1870 to 1890. This collection is unfit for production.

This item requires specialist conservation treatment and is currently unfit for production. Please contact staff for further information.

Administrative / biographical background
Bedford entered the Navy with a cadetship awarded by the Naval School at New Cross. In 1854 he was at the Crimea as a midshipman in the Sampson. However, he went to the Baltic in March 1855, when he was appointed to the Vulture, and he took part in the destruction of the Russian fortress at Sveaborg. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1859, to commander in 1871 and to captain in 1875 into the Serapis, which took the Prince of Wales to attend ceremonies proclaiming Queen Victoria Empress of India. Bedford was next appointed to the Shah, 1876, as Flag-Captain to Rear Admiral de Horsey (1827-1922), Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station. In this ship he was engaged in the duel with the Peruvian ironclad Huascar. As a consequence of this action, the ironclad Triumph replaced the Shah and Bedford transferred to her. In 1880, on his return home, he attended the torpedo course at Portsmouth. Bedford then joined the Board of Admiralty, 1889 to 1892. Bedford was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station in 1892. In 1894, Bedford was involved in an action against Nana Olomu Chief of Benin where Brohomi was burnt down by both the British Naval Brigade and the Niger Coast Protectorate Force under Bedford and the Consul-General Ralph Moor. In 1895 he became Second Sea Lord and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the North American and West Indies Station, 1899 to 1903. From 1903 to 1909 he was Governor of Western Australia. See F.G.H. Bedford, The life and letters of Admiral Frederick George Denham Bedford (published privately, 1960).