George Sartorius

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Sir George Rose Sartorius, born 1790, died Lymington, 13 April 1885, was a highly successful British naval officer who also commanded the navy of Dom Pedro in the Portuguese Civil War. The son of an officer in the East India Company, he entered the British Royal Navy in 1801 and served at the Battle of Trafalgar. In 1832 he was engaged to command the small fleet of the Ex-Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro, Duke of Braganza, in the attempt to defeat his brother Dom Miguel, who had usurped the throne of Portugal, and to install Pedro's daughter as the rightful queen, Donna Maria II. Sartorius conveyed Pedro's expeditionary force from the Azores and safely effected their landing at Mindelo, from where they were able to occupy Oporto. But he subsequently lost Pedro's confidence and was succeeded in his command in 1833 by Captain Charles Napier.

Sartorius resumed an exceptionally distinguished career in the Royal Navy, commanding the ship of the line HMS Malabar in the Mediterranean from 1841 to 1844, and was naval aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria in 1846. He was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1849 and was commander-in-chief at Queenstown from 1855-56; in the latter year he was promoted to Vice Admiral. He became an Admiral in 1861. He was one of the earliest advocates of ram ships. He was knighted as a K.C.B. in 1865 and G.C.B. in 1868. In 1869 he crowned his career by promotion to Admiral of the Fleet. Owing to his services to the Portuguese crown he was made Visconde de Piedade in 1832 and later became first Visconde de Mindelho and Conde de Penha Firma, the title being inherited by his son.

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