in the wooden screw-frigate Euryalus and led a British squadron of seven warships to Kagoshima to coerce the daimyō of Satsuma into paying the £25,000 demanded by the British Government as reparation to the British victims of the Namamugi Incident. During the Bombardment of Kagoshima the captain of Euryalus, John James Steven Josling, was killed, as was his second-in-command, Commander Wilmot, both decapitated by the same cannonball. In 1864 Kuper was in command of the International fleet at the Shimonoseki Expedition, Japan, the action fought to reopen the Inland Sea and the Straits of Shimonoseki. His interpreter at Shimonoseki was Ernest Satow. Kuper was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) on 25 February 1864 'in acknowledgement of his services at Kagoshima'. In due course, i.e., on 2 June 1869, he became a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath (GCB) and promoted to the rank of vice-admiral in 1866 and to admiral in 1872. Family On 19 June 1837 he married Emma Margaret, eldest daughter of Rear Admiral of the Blue Sir James John Gordon Bremer KCB, KCH. Kuper had served under Bremer during the Opium Wars. References Notes Sources 'The British Bombardment of Kagoshima, 1863: Admiral Sir L. Kuper and Lt. Colonel Neale', Appendix One, British Envoys in Japan 1859–1972, edited and compiled by Hugh Cortazzi, first published by Global Oriental for the Japan Society, 2004. Denney, John. Respect and Consideration: Britain in Japan 1853–1868 and beyond. Radiance Press (2011). See the entry by J. K. L. (John Knox Laughton) in the Dictionary of National Biography External links Kuper island, British Columbia, was named after Augustus Leopold Kuper. 1809 births 1885 deaths Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the First Opium War Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath British people of German descent British military personnel of the Shimonoseki campaign Knights Commander of the Military Order of William 19th-century Royal Navy personnel