Robert Coote (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral Robert Coote CB (1 June 1820 – 17 March 1898) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, China Station.

Background
Coote was a younger son of Sir Charles Coote, 9th Baronet (see Coote baronets), by Caroline Whaley, daughter of John Whaley, of Whaley Abbey, County Wicklow.

Naval career
Educated at Eton College, Coote joined the Royal Navy in 1833 and served on the coast of Syria in 1840. He took part in the Opium Wars in 1847 and was made Commander in HMS Volcano in 1851. Promoted to Captain in 1854, he commanded HMS Victory from 1860, HMS Gibraltar from 1864 and HMS Arethusa from 1867. He became Commander of the naval forces at Queenstown in 1873 and Commander-in-Chief, China Station in 1878. He retired in 1885.

He is buried in Woking Cemetery. There is a memorial to him in St Catherine's Church in Tullamore in County Offaly.

Family
Coote married Lucy Parry, daughter of the Arctic explorer Admiral Sir William Parry, in 1854. They had one son, Stanley Victor Coote, High Sheriff of Roscommon in 1900, and a daughter, Caroline Maud Coote, who married Major-General Cecil William Park. Coote died in March 1898, aged 77. His wife died in February 1906.