CODRINGTON, SIR EDWARD British admiral, entered the navy in July 1783. He served on the Ameri can station, in the Mediterranean, and at home, till he was pro moted lieutenant on May 28, 1783. Lord Howe selected him to be signal lieutenant on the flagship of the Channel fleet at the beginning of the revolutionary war with France. Codrington served with distinction throughout the war. From 1805 to 1808 he commanded the "Orion," which played a conspicuous part at Trafalgar, and was then transferred to the "Blake." In 1814 he was promoted rear-admiral, and acted as "captain of the fleet" to Sir Alexander Cochrane in the operations against Washington, Baltimore, and New Orleans. In 1815 he was made K.C.B., and was promoted vice-admiral on July 1o, i8n.
In Dec. 1826 he was appointed to the Mediterranean command, and sailed on Feb. 1, 1827. On Oct. 20, 1827, in command of a combined British, French, and Russian fleet, he destroyed the Turkish and Egyptian naval forces at Navarino. As the battle had been unforeseen in England, and its result was unwelcome to the ministry of the day, Codrington was entangled in a corre spondence to prove that he had not gone beyond his instructions, and he was recalled by a despatch dated June 4, 18 28. After the battle Codrington went to Malta to refit his ships. He remained there till May 1828, when he sailed to join his French and Russian colleagues on the coast of the Morea. They endeavoured to en force the evacuation of the peninsula by Ibrahim peacefully. The Pasha made diplomatic difficulties, and on July 25 the three admirals agreed that Codrington should go to Alexandria to ob tain Ibrahim's recall by his father Mohammed Ali. Codrington had heard on June 22 of his own supersession, but, as his suc cessor had not arrived, he carried out the arrangement made on July 25, and his presence at Alexandria led to the treaty of Aug. 6, 1828, by which the evacuation of the Morea was settled. His services were recognized by a G.C.B. After his return home he was occupied for a time in defending himself and then in leisure abroad. He commanded a training squadron in the Channel in 1831, and became admiral on Jan. io, 1837. From Nov. 1839 to Dec. 1842 he was commander-in-chief at Portsmouth. He died on April 28, 1851.
Sir Edward Codrington left two sons, Sir William (1804-1884), a soldier who commanded in the Crimea, and Sir John Henry (1808-1877), a naval officer, who died an admiral of the fleet.
See Memoir of the Life of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, by his daughter Jane, Lady Bourchien (1873). This book contains much useful first hand criticism of the operations at L'Orient (i795) and at Trafalgar (18o5).