The Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom is an honorary office generally held by a senior Royal Navy admiral. He is the official deputy to the Lord High Admiral, an honorary (although once operational) office vested in the Sovereign from 1964 to 2011 and currently held by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. He is appointed by the Sovereign on the nomination of the First Sea Lord.
In former days, the Vice-Admiral of England (or Vice-Admiral of Great Britain following the 1707 union with Scotland) was the second most powerful position in the Royal Navy, and until 1801 was officially called the Lieutenant of the Admiralty. The office was created in 1545 by Tudor King Henry VIII. Amongst other responsibilities, the Lieutenant of the Admiralty presided over the Council of the Marine, later known as the Navy Board.
As the deputy of the Lord High Admiral, the responsibilities of the pre-1964 Board of Admiralty would, in theory, have devolved upon the Vice-Admiral had the entire Board been incapacitated before a new Commission of Admiralty could pass the Great Seal. However, such a contingency never occurred in practice.
Below the office of Vice-Admiral ranks the Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom, another now honorary office.
Vice-Admirals of England
Sir Robert de Umfraville 1410?–1436Sir Richard HarlistonSir Thomas WyndhamWilliam FitzWilliam 1513Sir Thomas Spert in 1517Sir Robert TyrwhittWilliam FitzWilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton 1520, 1522–1523Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle 1525Sir Francis BryanSir William Wynter 1544-1549Benjamin Gonson 1549-1577Sir John Hawkins 1547-1595Sir Richard Leveson 1604Sir Robert ManselSir William Batten 1642–1647Sir William Penn 1652–1660?Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich 1 April 1661 – 28 May 1672Prince Rupert of the Rhine 15 August 1672 – 19 November 1682Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton 2 December 1682 – 1689Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington 14 September 1689 – 18 December 1690vacant?Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford 9 November 1693 – ?Sir George Rooke 1702 – 1 May 1707Sir George Rooke 1 May 1707 – 24 January 1709?James Berkeley, 3rd Earl of Berkeley 21 March 1719 N.S. – 17 August 1736Sir John Norris April 1739 – 14 June 1749George Anson, 1st Baron Anson 4 July 1749 – 6 June 1762Henry Osborn 4 January 1763 – 1765Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke 5 November 1765 – 16 October 1781George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney 6 November 1781 – 24 May 1792Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe 9 June 1792 – March 1796Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport March 1796 – 1801Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport 1 January 1801 – 2 May 1814Sir William Cornwallis 14 May 1814 – 5 July 1819Sir William Young 18 July 1819 – 25 October 1821James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez 21 November 1821 – 15 February 1832Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth 15 February 1832 – 23 January 1833Sir Edward Thornbrough 30 January 1833 – 3 April 1834Sir George Martin April 1834 – 9 November 1846Sir Davidge Gould 17 November 1846 – 23 April 1847Sir Robert Stopford 5 May 1847 – 25 June 1847Sir George Martin 10 July 1847 – 28 July 1847Sir Thomas Byam Martin 10 August 1847 – 21 October 1854Sir William Hall Gage 6 November 1854 – 20 May 1862Sir Graham Hamond, 2nd Baronet 5 June 1862 – 10 November 1862Sir Francis William Austen 11 December 1862 – 27 April 1863Sir Thomas John Cochrane 16 May 1863 – 12 September 1865Sir George Francis Seymour 23 September 1865 – 20 November 1866Sir William Bowles 26 November 1866 – 15 January 1869Sir George Rose Sartorius 1 March 1869 – 3 July 1869Sir Fairfax Moresby 17 July 1869 – 21 January 1870Sir Provo Wallis 12 February 1870 – 15 January 1876Sir Michael Seymour 15 January 1876 – 23 February 18871876: Abolished under Queen Victoria
1901: Revived by King Edward VII
Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, 3rd Baronet 25 July 1901 – 1920 Sir Francis Bridgeman 1920 – 17 February 1929Sir Stanley Cecil James Colville 25 March 1929 – 13 February 1939Sir Montague Edmund Browning 13 February 1939 – 19 June 1945Sir Martin Dunbar-Nasmith 19 June 1945 – 12 October 1962Sir John Hereward Edelsten 12 October 1962 – 11 March 1966Sir John Peter Lorne Reid 11 March 1966 – 11 January 1973Sir Deric Holland-Martin 11 January 1973 – 12 April 1976Sir Nigel Stuart Henderson 12 April 1976 – 1 August 1979Sir John Fitzroy Duyland Bush 1 August 1979 – 1984Sir William Donough O'Brien 1984 – 13 November 1986Sir Leslie Derek Empson 13 November 1986 – 29 October 1988Sir Anthony Templer Frederick Griffith Griffin 29 October 1988 – 24 November 1988Sir Anthony Storrs Morton 24 November 1988 – 17 January 1994Sir James Henry Fuller Eberle 17 January 1994 – 6 November 1997Sir Nicholas John Streynsham Hunt 6 November 1997 – 30 April 2001Sir Jeremy Black 30 April 2001 – 2005Sir James Burnell-Nugent 2005 – 2007Sir Mark Stanhope 2007 – 2009Sir Trevor Soar 2009 – 2012Sir George Zambellas January–April 2012Sir Donald Gosling 2 April 2012 – present