Family background and education Rous was the second son of
John Rous, 1st Earl of Stradbroke, and was educated at
Westminster School, and
Dr. Burney's Academy. His elder brother was
John Rous, 2nd Earl of Stradbroke, and his half-sister married Vice-Admiral Sir
Henry Hotham.
Naval career Aged just 13, Rous entered the Navy on 28 January 1808 as first-class volunteer on board the , under the command of Captain the Honourable
Courtenay Boyle, and the flagship of
Sir George Montagu, the
Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth. In February 1809, he moved into the
74-gun , Captain the Hon.
Arthur Kaye Legge. After taking part in the
Walcheren Campaign, in November 1809 he became a midshipman aboard , flagship of
Sir James Saumarez in the Baltic. In March 1811, he joined , Captain
John Gore, employed off Lisbon and in the Channel and, from December 1811, he served in the frigate , Captain
William Hoste, taking part in the
Adriatic campaign. The area between those rivers is known as
Rous County, although counties are not widely recognised in Australia and are mainly used for
cadastral purposes. While in
Moreton Bay, he named the Rous Channel,
Dunwich, and
Stradbroke Island, after his family titles, and influenced the naming of
Ipswich, Queensland. Rous returned to England in August 1829 and, from November 1834, commanded the frigate .
Thoroughbred horse racing His father owned a
stud farm in
Suffolk and won the 1815
2,000 Guineas with the colt Tigris. Rous, always fond of the sport, became a steward of the
Jockey Club in 1838, a position he held, almost uninterrupted, until his death. In 1855, he was appointed public
handicapper. In that role he introduced the
weight-for-age scale. For many years, he managed the stables of the
Duke of Bedford at
Newmarket, and wrote
On the Laws and Practice of Horse Racing that procured for him the title of the
Blackstone of the Turf. The appointment triggered a by-election, which Rous lost to the
Liberal candidate,
George de Lacy Evans, whom he had defeated in 1841. and to admiral on the Retired List on 6 June 1863. Admiral Rous died at 13
Berkeley Square in London on 19 June 1877. ==See also==