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 service he was repeatedly engaged with the French batteries and frigates, several of which he drove ashore and destroyed. In April 1809 he was joined by the main fleet under Lord Gambier off the Basque roads, and was a witness of the attack made on the French shipping by Lord Cochrane in the Impérieuse, and the unsatisfactory results of Gambier's negligence [see, tenth ].

In the autumn of 1810 Stopford went out as commander-in-chief at the Cape of Good Hope with instructions to reduce Mauritius, which, however, had fallen before his arrival on the station. In August 1811, on the news of the death of Vice-admiral Drury, he left his station to take command of the expedition against Java, where, in co-operation with the army, he gained a complete success. The extraordinary step of leaving his station to take the command in another naturally excited the indignation of the officer whom he superseded [see ], who applied for a court-martial on Stopford, an application which the admiralty, approving of Stopford's conduct, refused to grant. After the conquest of Java Stopford returned to his own station. On 12 Aug. 1812 he was promoted to be vice-admiral, and shortly afterwards returned to England. He was nominated a K.C.B. on 2 Jan. 1815, became admiral on 27 May 1825, a G.C.B. on 6 June 1831, and a G.C.M.G. on 10 May 1837. From April 1827 to April 1830 he was commander-in-chief at Portsmouth.

In 1837 he went out to the Mediterranean as commander-in-chief, with his flag in the Princess Charlotte, and was still there when the English government deemed it necessary to undertake active measures in support of the sultan against his rebellious subject Mehemet Ali. In August 1840 Stopford was instructed to demand, and if necessary to enforce, the restoration of the Turkish ships which had been treacherously delivered to Mehemet Ali by the Capitan Pasha. The situation was extremely critical, for the French were avowedly in favour of Mehemet Ali's claims, and it was thought not impossible that, as their fleet was in splendid order, they might attack the English, whose ships were manned on what was then known as the ‘peace establishment.’ In September Stopford was joined on the coast of Syria by a reinforcement under Commodore Charles Napier [q. v.], and the operations against Mehemet Ali were carried out with celerity and vigour. Sidon and Beyrout were successively occupied, and on 3 Nov. Acre was reduced after a few hours' bombardment. This was decisive; Mehemet Ali evacuated Syria, and the threatening attitude of France was abandoned. The thanks of both houses of parliament were voted to Stopford and to the fleet; Stopford received also the freedom of the city of London, a sword of honour from the sultan, and honours from Austria, Prussia, and Russia; besides which the promotion after Acre was very large. In 1834 Stopford had been appointed rear-admiral of the United Kingdom; on 1 May 1841 he became governor of Greenwich Hospital, a post which he held till his death at Richmond, Surrey, on 25 June 1847. Stopford married, in 1809, Mary, daughter of Captain Robert Fanshawe, commissioner of the navy at Portsmouth, and by her had a large family.

A portrait, by F. Ramsay, is in the Painted Hall at Greenwich.

[O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Ralfe's Nav. Biogr. iii. 1; James's Nav. Hist.; Jurien de la Gravière's La Marine d'Autrefois; Napier's Hist. of the War in Syria; Letters of Sir H. J. Codrington; Official letters in the Public Record Office; Foster's Peerage.] 

STORACE, ANNA (or ANN) SELINA (1766–1817), vocalist and actress, born in London in 1766, was daughter of Stefano Storace. The father, whose name was originally Sorace, was a musician of Naples; he changed his name to Storace on removing to England, where he was engaged as a double-bass player at the Haymarket Opera-house. Anna's mother belonged to a Bath family named Trusler. Her elder brother, Stephen [q. v.], is noticed separately. The name was often spelt Storache, for the sake probably of indicating its pronunciation. Instructed in music by her father, she acquired early proficiency, and on 15 April 1774 sang at the Haymarket in a concert given by Evans, a harper. She then became a pupil of Rauzzini, and in 1777 sang in oratorios in Hereford and at Covent Garden, and had a benefit concert at the Tottenham Street Room (subsequently the Prince of Wales Theatre), 27 April 1778. With the money thus obtained she accompanied her father to Naples, where she is said to have sung in oratorios given during Lent at the San Carlo Theatre. She also went to Venice, where she studied under Sacchini, and to Florence. In 1780 she played at the Pergola Theatre, Florence, with much success. Michael Kelly [q. v.] gives a curious account of the circumstances that brought her into renown: ‘Bianchi had composed the celebrated cavatina, “Sembianza amabile del mio bel sole,” which Marchesi (an eminent tenor) sung with most ravishing taste; in one passage he ran up a voletta of semitone octaves,