Sir George Brown [q. v.], who commanded the light division, was severely wounded in this battle, and after it Codrington assumed the command of the whole division as senior brigadier. Throughout the winter 1854-5 he remained in command of the division, and on 5 July 1855 he received the reward of his constancy by being made a K.C.B. Codrington arranged with General Markham, commanding the 2nd division, the attack on the Redan of 8 Sept., but blame seems to have been showered more freely on Sir James Simpson, who commanded in chief since Lord Raglan's death, than on the actual contrivers of that fatal attack. On 11 Nov. 1855, for some reason that has never been properly explained, Codrington succeeded Sir James Simpson as commander-in-chief instead of Sir Colin Campbell, who had much better claims to the succession, and he commanded the force occupying Sebastopol, for there was no more fighting, until the final evacuation of the Crimea on 12 July 1856. On his return to England, Codrington was promoted lieutenant-general, appointed colonel of the 54th regiment, and in 1857 was elected M.P. for Greenwich in the liberal interest. From 1859 to 1865 he was governor of Gibraltar. He was made a G.C.B. in the latter year, and was promoted general in 1863. In 1860 he was transferred to the colonelcy of the 23rd regiment, and in 1875 to that of the Coldstream guards, the regiment in which he had risen. He remained an active politician to the end of his life, and contested Westminster in 1874, and Lewes in 1880, in the liberal interest. He saw no active service except in 1854 and 1855, and yet he was twice offered the rank of field-marshal, which he wisely refused. He wore a medal and four clasps for the Crimea, and was a commander of the Legion of Honour, a knight grand cross of the order of Savoy, and a member of the first class of the Medjidie. Codrington died on 6 Aug. 1884, in his eightieth year, at Danmore Cottage, Heckfield, Winchfield in Hampshire, leaving a son in his old regiment, the Coldstream guards, and a daughter, the widow of Major-general William Earle, C.B., C.S.I.
[Times obituary notice, 8 Aug. 1884 ; Kinglake's Invasion of the Crimea.]
COEMGEN, Saint (498–618), of Glendalough, popularly St. Kevin, was the son of Coemlog, who was eighth in descent from Messincorb, from whom the territory of Dal Messincorb, on the borders of Wicklow and Wexford, derived its name. He and his wife Coemell were Christians, and placed the child Ooemgen under the charge of Petroc, a Briton, with whom he remained five years. Then, 'seeing much grace in the boy, 'they entrusted him to the holy seniors Eoghan, Lochán, and Enda. The first named was probably of the same race as himself, being seventh in descent from Messincorb (Oengus, cxxxii). Lochán and Enda were of Cill na Manach, in the Fothartha of Leinster, near the river Dodder. Here a young girl having shown some liking for him, Coemgen flogged her with nettles to signify his desire to avoid female society. When his education was in progress he made an excursion one day to a mountain valley in which were two lakes, and resolved to settle in the upper part where the lake was narrowest, and the mountains closed in on both sides. The place was originally known as Gleand dé, the valley of God, but afterwards became famous as Gleann-da-locha, the valley of the two lakes, or Glendalough. Living here in a hollow tree, he subsisted on herbs and water for some time, until his retreat was discovered by a cowherd, and those in whose charge he was placed came and took him home. The next we hear of him is with the hermit Beoan, who seems to have been the Beoan, son of Nessan, who was of Fidh chuilinn, now Feighcullen, in the county of Kildare. In course of time he went with the consent of his tutor to Lughaidh of Tir da craob, now Teernacreeve, in the county of Westmeath, by whom he was admitted to the priesthood, and then directed to go forth and found a 'cell' or small church for himself. Proceeding in quest of a suitable place, he settled at Cluain-duach, the situation of which is not known, and after some time returned to his own country with such of his monks as chose to accompany him. Once more he resorted to Glendalough. Here in the lower part of the valley, at the confluence of two streams, he erected a monastery which afterwards became the fruitful parent of many monasteries and cells throughout Leinster. This is now known as the Lady Church, and his tomb was shown there within the last century. Having seen the institution firmly established, he withdrew again to the solitude of the upper valley, about a mile from the monastery, where he constructed for himself a small abode (mansiunculum), in a narrow place between the mountain and the lake where the forest was dense. This was one of those round or oval buildings common in many parts of Ireland, and from their form known as ' beehive ' houses. The ruins of this building may be traced at a little distance from the Rifert Church at Glendalough. He gave orders that no one should bring him food or come to him except on the most urgent business. 'Four years,' we are told,
