Admiral Sir Charles John Napier KCB GOTE RN (6 March 1786– 6 November 1860) was a British naval officer whose sixty years in the Royal Navy included service in the War of 1812 (with the United States), the Napoleonic Wars, Syrian War and the Crimean War (with the Russians), and a period commanding the Portuguese navy in the Liberal Wars.
An innovator concerned with the development of iron ships, and an
advocate of humane reform in the Royal Navy, he was also active in
politics as a Liberal Member of Parliament and was probably the naval officer most widely known to the public in the early Victorian Era.
Napier was the second son of an also famous father, Captain Charles Napier, R.N., and grandson of Francis, 6th Lord Napier; he was thus a direct descendant of the great mathematician John Napier. He was born at Merchiston Hall, near Falkirk, on 6 March 1786, and educated at the Royal High School, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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