Alexander Buller

Admiral Sir Alexander Buller (30 June 1834 – 3 October 1903) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, China Station. Early life Alexander Buller was born on 30 June 1834, the second son of Rev. Richard Buller, rector of Lanreath, Cornwall, and his wife, Elizabeth Hornby, daughter of John Hornby of Hook, near Titchfield, Hampshire. His father was from a wealthy and well-connected family with a naval tradition; the rector's father, James Buller, was the younger son of John Buller, who owned Morval House, near Looe, Cornwall. This James Buller, who died in 1830, was a Lord of the Admiralty in 1811 and later a Clerk to the Privy Council. The rectory had previously been occupied by his cousin, another Richard Buller, who had died in 1826 and, having graduated from Oriel College, Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1826 (proceeding to Master of Arts in 1829), Richard Buller succeeded his cousin in 1829. He married his wife the following year and he appears to have brought his children up in the rectory, employing a nurse and later a governess to assist in their upbringing and tutoring. Naval career Buller joined the Royal Navy in 1848. He served in the Black Sea during the Crimean War. Promoted to Captain in 1869, he was given command of HMS Modeste in 1874. Buller served in the Naval Brigade as part of the Perak expedition to Malaya in 1875. He became Admiral-Superintendent of Malta Dockyard in 1889.