Walter Carpenter

Admiral The Hon. Walter Cecil Carpenter (27 March 1834 – 13 May 1904), also known as The Hon. Walter Cecil Talbot until he changed his name by Royal licence was a Royal Navy officer who became a Senior Officer, Coast of Ireland Station.

Early life
Walter Talbot (then surnamed) was born on 27 March 1834 in Ingestre, Staffordshire, England and died on 13 May 1904 at Westminster part of central London, and he was buried on 15 May 1904 in Bolton-on-Swale, North Yorkshire, England. He was the second son of Henry Chetwynd-Talbot, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury and Lady Sarah Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry Beresford, 2nd Marquess of Waterford, by his marriage to Sarah Carpenter.

Naval career
Walter Talbot (then surnamed) entered the Royal Navy in 1847. Promoted to lieutenant on 22 September 1854, he served on HMS Hannibal as a lieutenant from 24 June 1856 during the Crimean War in the Black Sea and then later in the Mediterranean. He was assigned to the HMS Nile on 6 December 1858. Promoted to commander on 16 June 1859, he was on HMS Steady from 18 November 1864 to 2 March 1865 serving in the West Indies and off North America. He was on HMS Fawn, in the West Indies, from 2 March 1865 to 14 April 1866.

Promoted to captain on 11 April 1866, he became commanding officer the frigate HMS Royal Alfred in September 1867. He served as commanding officer of HMS Bristol, a naval cadet training ship, from 19 January 1871 to 15 December 1871. He again commanded another naval cadet training ship, HMS Ariadne from 16 December 1871 to 2 September 1873. From 1873 until 1876 he served ashore at Portsmouth Naval Home Command and as an aide to Admiral Edward Fanshawe and he served as Flag Captain in HMS Duke of Wellington from 16 October 1876.

He was assigned as commanding officer of the battleship HMS Temeraire in March 1880 and became commanding officer of the battleship HMS Belleisle in March 1881. In addition he was cited as "Naval aide de camp" to Queen Elizabeth from 1882 to 1886.

Walter Carpenter (then so surnamed in 1868) was promoted to rear-admiral on 29 December 1882 and was assigned as the Senior Officer, Coast of Ireland Station on 1 January 1887 before being promoted to vice Admiral on 8 November 1888 and going on half pay in December 1888 due to illness. Promoted to full admiral on 28 May 1894, he fully retired on 11 March 1896.

Politics
Carpenter served as Member of Parliament for Waterford County from 1859 to 1865.

Family
Walter, assumed by Royal Licence dated 1 June 1868, the surname and arms of Carpenter, in lieu of those of Talbot, in accordance with the testamentary injunction of Sarah, Countess of Tyrconnell, widow of John Delavel Carpenter, last Earl of Tyrconnell.

Walter Carpenter (then surnamed) married Maria Georgiana Mundy on 27 Oct 1869 at the Parish Church, Marylebone, London, England. She died on 25 Apr 1876 in 33 Warwick Square, London, England. They had no surviving children.

Carpenter then married Beatrice, daughter of Thomas De Grey, 5th Baron Walsingham and Hon. Emily Elizabeth Julia Thellusson, on 10 Feb 1887 in St. George's, Hanover Square, London, England. Beatrice was born on 16 Nov 1853, christened in Merton, Norfolk, England and died on 16 Oct 1927. No children from this union.