Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Patey, Charles George Edward
PATEY, CHARLES GEORGE EDWARD (1813–1881), admiral, son of Commander Charles Patey, one of five brothers who served in the navy during the Napoleonic wars, and whose sons and grandsons have followed in their footsteps, was born in 1813, and entered the navy in 1824. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 6 Dec. 1836, and after serving in the Caledonia and Princess Charlotte, flagships in the Mediterranean, was in 1840 first lieutenant of the Castor frigate, in which he took part in the operations on the coast of Syria, and in the bombardment of Acre. On the following day, 4 Nov. 1840, he was promoted to the rank of commander. He commanded the Resistance troopship, from March 1842, until advanced to post-rank on 18 May 1846. In 1851 he was appointed to organise the great rush of emigration from Liverpool to Australia, and was presented by the shipowners of Liverpool with a piece of plate in acknowledgment of his services. In December 1852 he commissioned the Amphion; but in the following year a severe injury, for which he received a pension, compelled him to resign the command; nor had he any further service afloat. In 1857 he was appointed superintendent of the packet service. On 9 Feb. 1864 he became a rear-admiral on the retired list, and was advanced in due course to be vice-admiral on 14 July 1871, and admiral on 1 Aug. 1877. In 1866 he was appointed administrator at Lagos, whence he was removed, after a few months, to the Gambia. In 1869 he became governor of St. Helena, and on the abolition of the office retired with a compensation grant in 1873. On 8 May 1874 he received the C.M.G. He died at Newton St. Loe, near Bath, on 25 March 1881, leaving one son in the civil service.
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Navy Lists; Times, 29 March 1881.]