Editing Astley Cooper Key (section)

==Early career==
[[File:The Bombardment of Sveaborg, 9 August 1855 by John Wilson Carmichael.jpg|thumb|left|As a junior officer Astley Key was present at the [[Bombardment of Sveaborg]] in August 1855]]
Astley Cooper Key was the son of [[Charles Aston Key]], a well-known surgeon, and Anne Key (née Cooper). His father was a pupil of the pioneering surgeon [[Astley Cooper]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Key joined the [[Royal Navy]] in August 1833.<ref name=odnb>{{ODNBweb|id=15494 |title=Key, Sir Astley Cooper (1821–1888)|first=Andrew |last=Lambert }}</ref> After initial training at the [[Royal Naval Academy|Royal Navy College]] at [[Portsmouth]], he spent his early career in the [[third-rate]] {{HMS|Russell|1822|6}} in the [[Mediterranean Fleet]] and then, from 1839, in the [[sixth-rate]] {{HMS|Cleopatra|1835|6}} on the [[North America and West Indies Station]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stlukeschurchmaidenhead.org.uk/Pages/Newsletters/InSpireSummer2011.pdf|title=St Luke's Forgotten Admiral|publisher=St Luke’s Church, Maidenhead|date=Summer 2011|access-date=28 December 2012|archive-date=14 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814021538/http://www.stlukeschurchmaidenhead.org.uk/Pages/Newsletters/InSpireSummer2011.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Promoted to [[Lieutenant (navy)|lieutenant]] on 22 December 1842, Key was posted to the [[fifth-rate]] {{HMS|Curacoa|1809|6}} on the [[Pacific Station|South America Station]].<ref name=loney>{{cite web|url=http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowBiog.php?id=761|title=William Loney RN|access-date=28 December 2012}}</ref> In February 1844 he transferred to the [[steam frigate]] [[HMS Gorgon (1837)|HMS ''Gorgon'']] and was in acting command of the [[schooner]] [[HMS Admiralty (1831)|HMS ''Fanny'']] at the [[Battle of Vuelta de Obligado]] in November 1845 during the [[Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata]].<ref name=loney/> Promoted to [[commander]] on 18 November 1845,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=20581 |date=6 March 1846|page=861}}</ref> he was given command of the paddle [[Sloop-of-war|sloop]] {{HMS|Bulldog|1845|6}} in the Mediterranean Fleet in May 1847.<ref name=loney/> Promoted to [[Captain (Royal Navy)|captain]] on 11 October 1850, he then took command of the [[steam frigate]] {{HMS|Amphion|1846|6}} in November 1853 and saw service in the [[Crimean War]].<ref name=loney/> In May 1854, HMS ''Amphion'' and the steam screw frigate {{HMS|Conflict|1846|6}} captured the town of [[Liepāja]], a town of some 10,000 inhabitants, in [[Latvia]] without a shot being fired.<ref>{{cite book | first=Sir Charles|last=Napier|chapter=Chapter VI | title=The history of the Baltic campaign of 1854|year=1857 | place=London | publisher=Milner and Co | chapter-url=https://www.angelfire.com/bug/berberian12/crim/crim6.htm | isbn=978-1402185199|access-date=28 December 2012}}</ref> He also took part at the [[Battle of Bomarsund]] in August 1854 and the [[Bombardment of Sveaborg]] in August 1855.<ref name=loney/> He was appointed a [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]] on 5 July 1855.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=21743 |date=10 July 1855|page=2654}}</ref>

Key took command of the [[second-rate]] {{HMS|Sans Pareil|1851|6}} on the [[East Indies and China Station]] in January 1856 and went ashore with the [[Naval Brigade|naval brigade]] to take part in the [[Battle of Canton (1857)|Battle of Canton]] in December 1857 during the [[Second Opium War]].<ref name=loney/> He was appointed a member of the [[Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom]] in August 1859,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=22301 |date=26 August 1859|page=3203}}</ref> became captain of the steam reserve at [[HMNB Devonport|Devonport]] in July 1860 and went on to be captain of {{HMS|Excellent|shore establishment|6}} and superintendent of the Royal Navy College at Portsmouth in July 1863.<ref name=loney/>