Frederick Grey

Admiral Sir Frederick William Grey GCB was a Royal Navy officer. As a captain he saw action in the First Opium War and was deployed as principal agent of transports during the Crimean War. He became First Naval Lord in the Second Palmerston ministry in June 1861 and subsequently published a pamphlet Admiralty Administration, 1861-1866 describing his reforms which included, inter alia, the notion that all senior naval promotions and appointments should be non-political and should be discussed and agreed by the Naval Members of the Admiralty Board on a collective basis before recommendations were made to the First Lord of the Admiralty.