Sir Cornwallis Ricketts, RN
(1803-1885)
20 March 1861
Volume 2, page 334, sitting number 2628.
Born on 27 February 1803, Sir Cornwallis Ricketts succeeded as 2nd Baronet on 16 August 1842.
He entered the Navy on 9 August 1816. He became a Lieutenant on 20 March 1823, a Commander on 10 August 1831, a Captain on 9 November 1846, retired as a Rear-Admiral on 15 June 1864 and eventually rose to the rank of Retired Admiral on 1 August 1877.
He married, firstly, Henrietta Tempest, daughter of Colonel John Plumbe, on 31 May 1834. He married, secondly, on 29 January 1852, Caroline Augusta Pelham-Clinton, fourth daughter of Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
He and his second wife appear on the 1881 census, living at 46 Grosvenor Place, London, with four unmarried daughters and at least six servants. He gave his place of birth as Pangton, in Devon, and his rank and profession as 'Baronet, Magistrate for Leicester, Admiral Retired'.
Sir Cornwallis Ricketts died on 28 January 1885 at the age of 81.
According to his obituary in The Times (2 February 1885): 'Admiral Sir Cornwallis Ricketts died at Florence on Friday last. He was the eldest son of the late Vice-Admiral Sir Tristram R. Ricketts, by Rebecca Eliza, daughter of Mr John Gumbleton, of Glencairne Abbey, county Waterford, and was born in February, 1803. He entered the Navy at an early age and obtained his first commission as lieutenant in the spring of 1823, became captain in November 1846, and in April 1863 went on the retired list, became rear-admiral in June 1864, vice-admiral in July 1871, and admiral in August 1877. He succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1842. He married, first, May 31, 1834, Henrietta, youngest daughter of Colonel John Plumbe, by whom he had issue one son, Robert, born in 1836, who assumed by Royal licence the name of Tempest on succeeding to the property of his grandfather. The late Sir Cornwallis married, secondly, January 29, 1852, Lady Caroline Augusta Pelham Clinton, fourth daughter of Henry, fourth Duke of Newcastle, by whom he leaves a family of one son and five daughters.'