Admiral Sir Richard Wells 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...

 (3 February 1833 – 9 October 1896) 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

Wells 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 1847 and served in 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...

 in 1855. He was on board HMS Bombay

HMS Bombay (1828)

HMS Bombay was an 84-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 February 1828 at Bombay Dockyard.She was fitted with screw propulsion in 1861. Her efficient ventilation system spread a fire of unknown origin during target practice near Flores Island in the River Plate on 14...

 when she was accidentally burned in 1864 with the loss of 91 lives off Montevideo

Montevideo

Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

. 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 1866, he commanded HMS Revenge, HMS Royal Alfred

HMS Royal Alfred (1864)

HMS Royal Alfred was a broadside ironclad frigate of the Victorian era, serving with the Royal Navy. She was half-sister to and .In 1861, in response to the French warship building programme initiated by Emperor Napoleon III, the British Board of Admiralty selected seven wooden two-decked...

, HMS Bellerophon

HMS Bellerophon (1865)

HMS Bellerophon was a central battery ironclad built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1860s.-Design and description:In this ship, designed by Sir Edward Reed, the power-to-weight ratio was increased; the long rows of guns on the broadside were replaced by a small number of guns, centrally placed, of...

 and then HMS Agincourt

HMS Agincourt (1865)

HMS Agincourt was one of three Minotaur class ironclads, the sistership of HMS Minotaur and a near sister to HMS Northumberland...

. He became Captain of the training ship HMS Britannia

HMS Prince of Wales (1860)

HMS Prince of Wales was one of six 121-gun screw-propelled first-rate three-decker line-of-battle ships of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 25 January 1860...

 in 1880 before being appointed Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station

Cape of Good Hope Station

The Cape of Good Hope Station was one of the geographical divisions into which the British Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope....

 in 1888 and Commander-in-Chief, The Nore in 1894.