The naval historian Sir William Laird Clowes, who knew him well, wrote that '... he was a natural diplomatist, and an unrivalled tactician; and, to a singular independence and uprightness of character, he added a mastery of technical detail, and a familiarity with contemporary thought and progress that were unusual in those days among officers of his standing'.
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He had no appointment in the Royal Navy until 1858, when he was sent out to China to take command of the Tribune frigate and convey a body of marines to Vancouver Island, where the dispute with the United States about the San Juan Islands was threatening to become very bitter.
The second possible explanation of the name is that it refers to Geoffrey Hornby, who was the Admiral of the British flying squadron and who visited Christchurch in 1870.
Geoffrey Chaucer | Hornby | Nick Hornby | Geoffrey Rush | Geoffrey of Monmouth | Geoffrey Moull | Geoffrey Hill | Geoffrey Keezer | Geoffrey de Montbray | Hornby Railways | Geoffrey Wilkinson | Geoffrey Howe | Geoffrey Blainey | Geoffrey Robertson | Geoffrey Keating | A. N. Hornby | The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. | Geoffrey Palmer | Geoffrey Hartman | Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr. | Geoffrey Robinson | Geoffrey Owens | Geoffrey Layton | Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu | Geoffrey de Mandeville | Geoffrey de Luterel | Geoffrey Burbidge | Geoffrey | John Hornby | James John Hornby |
The eldest son, John, died in service with the Royal Engineers in 1848 aged 27, while his younger sons Geoffrey Hornby and James John Hornby had lengthy and successful careers in the Royal Navy and education respectively.