Admiral Medal, Looking For More Information

Thank you! It is less old then I expected it to be. Perhaps the wear of a detection find made it look more old.

The admiral named on this medal is not that Sir Phipps Hornby, but his son, Sir Geoffrey Phipps Hornby (1825-1895), who also reached the rank of admiral. Sir Phipps Senior could no have been the "founding president" of the Navy League in 1895, since he was long dead (and his son would pass away in that same year).

Progression in the ranks of the Royal Navy usually did indeed have a lot more to do with "who you knew" rather than "how well you did your job". Patronage was key to promotion. A skilled but patron-less officer was likely doomed to remain un-promoted, unless they were so skilled and talented (or lucky) they could no longer be ignored by the Naval bureaucracy. Young master Hornby certainly had patronage in the form of his esteemed father, and even after his father died, many of his father's old friends continued to support him.

Once a British naval officer attained the rank of "Post-Captain", neither merit nor patronage applied any more - all that mattered was seniority. Once you were "made Post", all you had to do to become an admiral was to outlive everybody else.