Radford, William, 1809-1890

American naval officer.

Epithet: Reverend; Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford

William Radford was CO, European Squadron, 1869-1870. He served in the Civil War, the Mexican War and in 1860 commanded to first naval vessel to go up the Yangtze River to Hankow, China.

Naval officer.

William Radford, born 9 September 1809 was a rear admiral of the United States Navy who served during the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War. There is a discrepancy with some references which report his birth date as March 1, 1808 but family records and the U.S. Federal Census forms support the 1809 date.

Radford married Mary "Minnie" Elizabeth Lovell in Morristown, New Jersey, on 3 November 1848. The couple had seven children: Mary Lovell Radford (1849–1929); William Radford (1851–1852); Sophie Adelaide Radford (1854–1957); Stephen Kearny Radford (1856–1930); George Reginald Radford (1860–1945); Edmund Ironsides Radford (1865–1881); and Henry Carlton Radford (1867–1896).

After an extensive naval career where he served in the Mediterranean, the East and West Indies, the Pacific, North Atlantic, and European Radford squadrons of the U.S. Navy, Radford died on 8 January 1890 in Washington, DC.