Robert Coote (Royal Navy officer)


Robert Coote was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, China Station.

Background

Coote was a younger son of Sir Charles Coote, 9th Baronet, by Caroline Whaley, daughter of John Whaley, of Whaley Abbey, County Wicklow.

Naval career

Educated at Eton College, Coote joined the Royal Navy in 1833 and served on the coast of Syria in 1840. He was made commander of the sloop HMS Volcano in 1851 while serving in the West Africa Squadron. Promoted to captain in 1854, he commanded HMS Victory from 1860, HMS Gibraltar from 1864 and HMS Arethusa from 1867. He became Commander-in-Chief, Queenstown in 1874 and Commander-in-Chief, China in 1878. He retired in 1885.
He is buried in Brookwood Cemetery in Woking Cemetery. There is a memorial to him in St Catherine's Church in Tullamore in County Offaly.

Family

Coote married Lucy Parry, daughter of the Arctic explorer Admiral Sir William Parry, in 1854. They had one son, Stanley Victor Coote, High Sheriff of Roscommon in 1900, and a daughter, Caroline Maud Coote, who married Major-General Cecil William Park. Coote died in March 1898, aged 77. His wife died in February 1906.