Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Tracey, Richard Edward
TRACEY, Sir RICHARD EDWARD (1837–1907), admiral, son of Commander Tracey of the royal navy, was born on 24 Jan. 1837, and entered the navy in 1852. He served during the Baltic campaign of 1854 as a midshipman of the Boscawen, and received the medal; he passed his examination in Jan. 1858 while serving in the Harrier, sloop, on the south-east coast of America, and was promoted to lieutenant on 28 June 1859. After studying on board the Excellent he was appointed in July 1860 to the Conqueror in the Channel squadron, and two years later received a supernumerary appointment to the Euryalus, flagship of Sir Augustus Leopold Kuper [q. v.] on the East Indies and China station. While in her he took part in the active operations in Japan, especially the engagement with the forts at Kagosima in Aug. 1863, and the attack on the batteries in the Straits of Simonoseki in Sept. 1864. For these services he was mentioned in despatches, and on 21 Nov. 1864 was promoted to commander. The Japanese government under the Tokugawa Shogurata having asked that English naval officers might be lent for training purposes to their newly formed modern navy, the request was granted and Tracey placed in charge of the mission. He and his companions set about organising and superintending the naval school at Tsukiji during 1867-8, and while thus employed he was borne on the books of the flagship. But a new Japanese administration interrupted Tracey's work, which was not resumed till 1873, when Commander (Sir) Archibald Douglas took out to Japan a second naval mission. Tracey, however, for a short time rendered similar services to the Chinese navy, for which he was decorated by the emperor with the order of the Double Dragon, and in Nov. 1869 was appointed to command the gun-vessel Avon, in which he remained on the China station until his promotion to captain on 29 Nov. 1871. In July 1876 he was appointed to the Spartan, corvette, which he commanded for four years on the East Indies station, and particularly on the east coast of Africa, where he cruised for the suppression of the slave trade. In Jan. 1881 he became flag captain in the Iron Duke to Sir George Ommanney Willes [q. v. Suppl. II], commander-in-chief on the China station, and returning home early in 1884 was appointed to the Sultan, which he commanded for a year in the Channel squadron. In April 1885 Tracey became an aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria, and in July was appointed to Portsmouth dockyard. He reached flag rank on 1 Jan. 1888.
Tracey first hoisted his flag as second-in-command of the fleet under Sir George Tryon [q. v.] in the manoeuvres of 1889, and in Sept. of that year was appointed in the same capacity to the Channel Squadron. In Jan. 1892 he was made admiral superintendent at Malta, and on 23 June 1893 was promoted to vice-admiral. In 1896 he was an umpire for the naval manoeuvres, and for three years from Oct. 1897 was president of the Royal Naval College at Greenwich. He was awarded the K.C.B. in May 1898, was promoted to admiral on 29 Nov. following, and retired on 24 Jan. 1901. He died in London on 7 March 1907, and was buried at Kensal Green.
Tracey was twice married: (1) in 1865 to Janet (d. 1875), daughter of the Rev. W. Wingate; (2) on 30 Nov. 1887 to Adelaide Constance Rohesia, only daughter of John Constantine de Courcy, 29th Baron Kingsale in the Irish peerage.
[The Times, 9 and 12 March 1907; R.N. List; an engraved portrait was published by Messrs. Walton of Shaftesbury Avenue.]