Hornby had no patron once the Aberdeen ministry came to power in December 1852 and instead cared for his father's estate at Lordington and played no part in the Crimean War.[2] Following a change of government, Hornby became commanding officer of the frigate HMS Tribune on the Pacific Station in August 1858.[2] When he arrived at Vancouver Island with a naval brigade, he found that a unit of American troops was about to take over the San Juan Islands in a dispute known as the Pig War.[3] Hornby used his powers of diplomacy to facilitate a peaceful handover of the islands to the United States.[3]
Promoted to commodore, he became Commander-in-Chief, West Africa Squadron, with his broad pennant in the frigate HMS Bristol in September 1865.[3] He condemned the independent rulers of West Africa for continuing to supply slaves when all civilised countries except Brazil had abolished slavery.[3]
Senior command
The frigate HMS Liverpool, Hornby's flagship as Commander-in-Chief of the Flying Squadron
Promoted to rear admiral on 1 January 1869,[4] Hornby became Commander-in-Chief of the Flying Squadron, with his flag in the frigate HMS Liverpool, in June 1869 and undertook a circumnavigation of the World to demonstrate that Royal Navy could reach any part of the globe.[3] He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Channel Squadron, with his flag in the armoured frigateHMS Minotaur, in September 1871 and in that capacity entertained President Ulysses S. Grant at Gibraltar.[3]
Hornby became Second Naval Lord under the Second Disraeli ministry in December 1874 and was promoted to vice admiral on 1 January 1875.[5] He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, with his flag in the battleshipHMS Alexandra, in January 1877.[6] He forced his way through the Dardanelles, despite Turkish protests, in a display of British naval power intended to deter Russian aggression during the Russo-Turkish War.[6]Sir John Fisher, who served under Hornby in the Mediterranean Fleet, wrote that he was 'the finest Admiral afloat since Nelson. [...] There never lived a more noble character or a greater seaman. He was incomparable'.[7] The naval historian Sir William 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'.[8] The historian Ben Wilson has said that Hornby was "the exceptional admiral who eased the Navy's transition from sail to steam".[9] Hornby was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 12 August 1878.[10]
In 1853 Hornby married Emily Frances Coles (sister of Captain Cowper Coles), with whom he had three sons and two daughters.[1] One of his sons, Edmund Phipps-Hornby, a major in the artillery, won the Victoria Cross in South Africa in 1900; another, Robert Hornby, became an admiral in the Royal Navy.[1]