Regency Celebrity: John Gale Jones, Radical Orator

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

John Gale Jones (1769–1838) was an English radical orator. He was several times imprisoned for provocative agitation against the government.

Early Life
He was admitted to Merchant Taylors’ School in 1783 and was then described as born on 16 October 1769. By profession he was a surgeon and apothecary, having been trained by William North, a member of the Royal College of Surgeons practising at Chelsea. It is questionable whether he was fully qualified as a physician; and Charles Roach Smith wrote that Jones’s political advocacy ruined his professional prospects.

Activist
Jones was a member of the London Corresponding Society. At the British and Westminster forums, he publicly supported the progress of the French Revolution. In James Gillray’s caricature of the public meeting held at Copenhagen Fields on 12 November 1795, Jones is shown on the hustings to the left; and at the other meetings of that body he was one of the chief declaimers.

James Gillray's cartoon, Jones speaking (left side) at Copenhagen Fields on 12 November 1795.


James Gillray’s cartoon, Jones speaking (left side) at Copenhagen Fields on 12 November 1795.


On 11 March 1796 in that year he, and John Binns delivered lectures, as delegates from the London Corresponding Society, in Birmingham; but the meeting was broken up. Next year (9 April 1797) Jones was tried at Warwick before Justice Nash Grose, and, although defended by Samuel Romilly and Sir John Vaughan, was convicted on one count, the seditious expression “that he was sent to know whether the people of Birmingham would submit to the Treason and Sedition Bills.”

Early in 1810, Charles Philip Yorke insisted on the exclusion of strangers from the House of Commons during the debates on the Walcheren expedition. After a debate on this proceeding in the British forum, the result condemning Yorke was announced outside the building in a placard drawn up by Jones. Yorke brought the matter before the House of Commons as a breach of privilege (19 February 1810), and Jones was ordered to attend the House. He acknowledged the authorship, was voted guilty, and committed to Newgate Prison, where he remained until 21 June, when the House of Commons rose. He declined to recognize the legality of his restraint or to petition for his release, and was, it is said, only got out at last by a stratagem. During his imprisonment, Francis Burdett (see August 15 post on this website), Romilly, and Sir James Hall made motions for his release, but they were all unsuccessful, although in Romilly’s case the majority was only 160 to 112. A letter which Burdett wrote on Jones’s treatment led to Burdett’s committal to Newgate.

In this same year, 26 November 1810, Jones was sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment, and ordered to provide sureties to keep the peace for three years, for a libel on Lord Castlereagh. The rumour that he was ill-treated in this prison was found, on the investigation of Coleridge and Daniel Stuart, to be groundless.

Later Life
At the Westminster elections of 1818 and 1820, he exerted himself, but he took little further part in politics. He died at Somers Town on 4 April 1838. His portrait was engraved and published by P. Brown, of 4 Crown Street, Soho, on 14 March 1798.

Works
About 1798 he published Observations on the Tussis Convulsiva, or Hoopping-cough, as read at the Lyceum Medicum Londinense. In 1796 he published Sketch of a Political Tour through Rochester, Chatham, Maidstone, and Gravesend.

Other works were:
‘Speech at Westminster Forum on 9, 16, 23, and 30 Dec. 1794’ (in favour of parliamentary reform), 1795.
‘Substance of Speech at the Ciceronian School, Globe Tavern, Fleet Street, 2 March 1795’ (in favour of Charles James Fox), 1795.
‘Account of Proceedings of London Corresponding Society, near Copenhagen House, 26 Oct. 1795, including speeches of Citizens Binns, Thelwall, Jones.’
‘Oration at the Great Room in Brewer Street on General Washington,’ 1796; new edition, with alterations, in 1825, when Jones wrote to George Canning asking for his subscription to the reprint.
Farewell oration, including a short narrative of his arrest and imprisonment in the Birmingham dungeon, 1798.
‘Invocation to Edward Quin of the Society of the Eccentrics,’ 1803. It was a poetical invocation, descriptive of a coterie, mostly of newspaper writers, meeting in a tavern.
‘Galerio and Nerissa’ (anon.), 1804, a romantic tale, with some verse.
‘Five Letters to George Tierney,’ 1806.
‘Westminster Election. Proceedings at Meeting held at the Crown and Anchor, Strand, 1 June 1818, to secure the Election of Henry Hunt, with the Speech at length of Gale Jones.’
‘Speech at the British Forum’ (on the justice of prosecuting Richard Carlile for continuing to publish works of Tom Paine), 1819.
Substance of speeches at the British forum (on the same issue), 1819.

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Late Regency Happening: The Peterloo Massacre

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Regina Jeffers
A depiction of the Peterloo Massacre by Richard Carlile

A depiction of the Peterloo Massacre by Richard Carlile

On August 16, 1819, the Peterloo Massacre occurred at St. Peter’s Field in Manchester. A crowd of 60,000-80,000 had gathered to protest the lack of parliamentary representation for the heavily populated industrialized areas.

With the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the Corn Laws exacerbated the famine of the Year without Summer (1816) and the growing unemployment problems. By the beginning of 1819 the pressure generated by poor economic conditions, coupled with the lack of suffrage in northern England, had enhanced the appeal of political radicalism. In response, the Manchester Patriotic Union, a group agitating for parliamentary reform, organized a demonstration to be addressed by the well-known radical orator Henry Hunt.

Fearing the worst, local magistrates called on the military to dispense with the crowd. They also demanded the arrest of Hunt and the other featured speakers. The Cavalry charged the crowd with sabers drawn. In the melee, 15 people were killed and some 500+ were injured. The massacre was given the name Peterloo, an ironic comparison to the devastation found at the Battle of Waterloo. The Peterloo Massacre became a defining moment of the age. Unfortunately, the massacre’s immediate effect was the passage of the Six Acts, which labelled any meeting for radical reform as “an overt act” of treasonable conspiracy.”

435px-Peterloo_posterIt also led directly to the foundation of The Manchester Guardian, but had little other effect on the pace of reform. In a survey conducted by The Guardian in 2006, Peterloo came second to the Putney Debates as the event from British history that most deserved a proper monument or a memorial. A plaque close to the site, a replacement for an earlier one that was criticized as being inadequate, as it did not reflect the scale of the massacre, commemorates Peterloo.650px-PeterlooRedPlaque

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Regency Celebrity: Sir Francis Burdett, Reformist Politician Known as “Old Glory”

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

240px-Sir_Francis_Burdett,_5th_Bt_by_Thomas_Phillips Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet (25 January 1770 – 23 January 1844) was an English reformist politician, the son of Francis Burdett and his wife Eleanor, daughter of William Jones of Ramsbury manor, Wiltshire, and grandson of Sir Robert Burdett, Bart. From 1820 until his death he lived at 25 St James’s Place.

Family
Sir Francis Burdett (5th Bart.) was a member of the Burdett family of Bramcote and inherited the family baronetcy from his grandfather Sir Robert Burdett in 1797.

Education and Early Life
He was educated at Westminster School and the University of Oxford. When young, he was for a long time the notorious lover of Lady Oxford (according to the journal of Thomas Raikes), and afterwards travelled in France and Switzerland. He was in Paris during the earlier days of the French Revolution.

Returning to England in 1793, he married Sophia Coutts, the second daughter of the wealthy banker Thomas Coutts. She brought him the large fortune of £25,000. Their youngest daughter – Angela Burdett-Coutts – ultimately inherited the Coutts fortune and became a well-known philanthropist.

In 1796, he became Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge, having purchased this seat from the representatives of the Duke of Newcastle, and in 1797 succeeded his grandfather as 5th Baronet.

Political Career
Baronet and Member of Parliament
His inheritance included the family seat of Foremarke Hall and ‘the hamlets of Ingleby and Foremark (sometimes referred to as a manor) which were under his Lordship.’

In Parliament he soon became prominent as an opponent of William Pitt the Younger, and as an advocate of popular rights. He denounced the war with France, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and the proposed exclusion of John Horne Tooke from Parliament, and quickly became the idol of the people. In 1797 he made the acquaintance of Horne Tooke, whose pupil he became, not only in politics, but also in philology. He was instrumental in securing an inquiry into the condition of Coldbath Fields Prison, and as a result was for a time prevented by the government from visiting any prison in the kingdom.

His Last Election?
At the general election of 1802, Burdett was returned as Member of Parliament for the county of Middlesex, but his return was declared void in 1804, and he lost the ensuing by-election owing to the machinations of the returning officer. In 1805, this return was amended in his favor, but as this decision was again quickly reversed, Burdett, who had spent an immense sum of money over the affair, declared he would not stand for Parliament again.

At the general election of 1806, Burdett was a leading supporter of James Paull, the reform candidate for the City of Westminster; but in the following year a misunderstanding led to a duel between Burdett and Paull in which both combatants were wounded. At the general election in 1807, Burdett, in spite of his reluctance, was nominated for Westminster, and amidst great enthusiasm was returned at the top of the poll.

He again attacked abuses, agitated for reform, and in 1810 came sharply into collision with the House of Commons. The radical John Gale Jones had been committed to prison by the House, and Burdett questioned the power of the House to take this step, and trying in vain to have him released. He then issued a revised edition of his speech on this occasion which was published by William Cobbett in the Weekly Register.

A Warrant for His Arrest
The House voted this action a breach of privilege, and the speaker issued a warrant for Burdett’s arrest. The charge was libelling the House of Commons. Barring himself in his house for two days, he defied the authorities, while a mob gathered in his defence. Burdett’s colleague Thomas Cochrane offered assistance, but, realizing that Cochrane intended to use military tactics during this civil and political affair, Burdett declined. At length the house was entered, and under an escort of soldiers he was conveyed to the Tower of London. Released when Parliament was in recess, he caused his supporters much disappointment by returning to Westminster by water, and so avoiding a demonstration in his honor. He then brought legal actions against the speaker and the sergeant-at-arms, but the courts upheld the action of the House.

Reform
In Parliament, Burdett denounced corporal punishment in the army, and supported all attempts to check corruption, but his principal efforts were directed towards procuring a reform of Parliament, and the removal of Roman Catholic disabilities. In 1809, he had proposed a scheme of Parliamentary reform, and returning to the subject in 1817 and 1818, he anticipated the Chartist movement by suggesting universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, and annual Parliaments; but his motions met with very little support. He succeeded, however, in carrying a resolution in 1825 that the House should consider the laws concerning Roman Catholics. This was followed by a bill embodying his proposals, which passed the Commons, but was rejected by the House of Lords. In 1827 and 1828 he again proposed resolutions on this subject and saw his proposals become law in 1829. In 1820 Burdett had again come into serious conflict with the government. Having severely censured its action with reference to the Peterloo Massacre (see tomorrow’s post on the Peterloo Massacre), he was prosecuted at Leicester assizes, fined £1,000, and committed to prison for three months. After the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, the ardour of the veteran reformer was somewhat abated, and a number of his constituents soon took umbrage at his changed attitude.

His Legacy and Death
Consequently, he resigned his seat early in 1837, but was re-elected. However, at the general election in the same year he forsook Westminster and was elected member for North Wiltshire, which seat he retained, acting in general with the Conservatives, until his death. He was nicknamed by fellow conservatives as “Old Glory.” His wife, Lady Burdett, to whom he was devoted, died on 13 January 1844. Sir Francis, then two days short of his 74th birthday, became inconsolable and felt he had nothing left to live for. He refused all food and died just ten days later on 23 January 1844. He and his wife were buried at the same time in the same vault at Ramsbury Church, Wiltshire. He left a son, Robert, who succeeded to the baronetcy, and who inherited his very large fortune, and five daughters, the youngest of whom became the celebrated Baroness Burdett-Coutts after inheriting the Coutts fortune from her grandfather’s widow Harriet (Duchess of St Albans) and appending the Coutts surname under the terms of Harriet’s will. He was a member of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland.

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Regency Celebrity: Benjamin Bathurst, Disappearing Diplomat

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

220px-Benjamin_Bathurst Benjamin Bathurst (18 March 1784 – 1809?) was a British diplomatic envoy who disappeared in Germany during the Napoleonic Wars. He was the third son of Henry Bathurst, Bishop of Norwich.

Bathurst disappeared on or about 25 November 1809, sparking much debate and speculation about his ultimate fate, especially in science fiction stories, based on a perception (fostered by secondary sources) that his disappearance was a case of particularly sudden, perhaps supernatural, vanishing. Recent research suggests the circumstances of Bathurst’s disappearance were wildly exaggerated, and that he was almost certainly murdered.

Career
Benjamin Bathurst entered the diplomatic service at an early age and was promoted to the post of Secretary of the British Legation at Livorno. In 1805, he married Phillida Call, daughter of Sir John Call, a Cornish landowner and baronet.

In 1809, he was dispatched to Vienna as an envoy by his relative Henry Bathurst, pro tempore Secretary for Foreign Affairs. His mission was to assist in the reconstruction of Britain and Austria’s alliance and to try to encourage Emperor Francis II to declare war on France, which the Emperor did in April.

However, the Austrians were forced to abandon Vienna to the French forces and eventually sued for peace after they were badly defeated by the French at the Battle of Wagram in July 1809. Bathurst was promptly recalled to London and decided that the safest route was to travel north and take ship from Hamburg.

Disappearance
On 25 November 1809, Bathurst and his German courier, a Herr Krause, who were travelling by chaise under the aliases of “Baron de Koch” and “Fischer” respectively, stopped at the town of Perleberg, west of Berlin.

After ordering fresh horses at the post house, Bathurst and his companion walked to a nearby inn, the White Swan. After ordering an early dinner, Bathurst is said to have spent several hours writing in a small room set aside for him at the inn. The travellers’ departure was delayed, and it was not until 9 P.M. that they were told that the horses were about to be harnessed to their carriage. Bathurst immediately left his room, followed shortly afterwards by Krause, who was surprised to find Bathurst was not in the chaise when he reached it and indeed was nowhere to be found.

The disappearance did not create much excitement at the time, since the country was infested with bandits, stragglers from the French army, and German revolutionaries. Additionally, murders and robberies were so common that the loss of one commercial traveller (which Bathurst was travelling as) was barely noticed, especially since at the time there were hardly any legal authorities in Prussia.

News of Bathurst’s disappearance did not reach England for some weeks, until Krause managed to reach Hamburg and take ship for England. In December, Bathurst’s father, the Bishop of Norwich, received a summons from the Foreign Secretary, Richard Wellesley, to attend him at Apsley House, where Wellesley informed the Bishop of his son’s disappearance.

Bathurst’s wife Phillida immediately left for Germany to search for her husband, accompanied by the explorer Heinrich Röntgen. They arrived at Perleberg to find that the authorities had been looking into the affair and that a Captain von Klitzing had been put in charge of the investigation. After Captain Klitzing was notified of Bathurst’s disappearance, he took immediate steps to mobilise his troops and conducted a vigorous search, apparently working on the initial assumption that the missing man had vanished of his own accord. On the 26th the river Stepenitz was dragged, and civilian officials ordered a second search of the village. On 27 November 1809 the Englishman’s valuable fur coat — worth 200 or 300 Prussian thalers — was discovered hidden in an outhouse owned by a family named Schmidt. Then, on 16 December, two old women out scavenging in the woods near Quitzow, three miles north of Perleberg, came across Bathurst’s pantaloons.

Investigation quickly revealed that one Auguste Schmidt had been working as ostler in the courtyard of the White Swan on the night Bathurst disappeared, and that his mother, who also worked at the inn, had taken the Englishman’s coat. Frau Kestern, a woman employed at the German Coffee House, testified years later that immediately after Bathurst had visited the establishment, Auguste Schmidt had come in, asked her where the visitor had gone, then hastened after him and (she supposed) taken some opportunity to destroy him.

A reward of 500 thalers was offered for any news, and money was paid to members of the local police to expedite matters. This, however, caused the waters to be muddied as many false reports and offers of information were made by people seeking a share of the reward.

In March, Mrs. Bathurst had the entire area of Perleberg searched at vast expense, which included the use of trained dogs, but to no avail. She then travelled to Berlin and then Paris to see Napoleon himself, hoping to obtain from him some account of her husband’s fate. However, when she was received by Napoleon, he declared his ignorance of the affair and offered his assistance.

Contemporary Press Reports
By January 1810, the English and French press had become aware of the affair and had begun to discuss it. The Times published a piece in January 1810 which subsequently appeared in other English newspapers:

There is too much reason to fear that the account of the death of Mr. Bathurst, late envoy to the Emperor of Austria, inserted in a Paris journal, is correct as to the principal fact. It was stated, as an article of Berlin news, of the date of December 10, that Mr. Bathurst had evinced symptoms of insanity on his journey through the city, and that he had subsequently fallen by his own hand in the vicinity of Perleberg. Information, however, has been received within these few days, which forcibly tends to fix the guilt of Mr. Bathurst’s death, or disappearance, on the French Government. It appears that Mr. Bathurst left Berlin with passports from the Prussian Government, and in excellent health, both of mind and body. He was to proceed to Hamburg, but Hamburg he never reached. At some town near the French territories he was seized, as is supposed, by a party of French soldiers. What happened afterwards is not accurately known. His pantaloons have been found near the town where he was seized, and a letter in them to his wife; but nothing else. The Prussian Government, upon receiving the intelligence, evinced the deepest regret, and offered a large reward for the discovery of his body. No success, however, has attended the offer.
—The Times, 20 January 1810

The French government were agitated by the accusation that they had kidnapped or murdered Bathurst and replied in their official journal, Le Moniteur Universel:

England alone, among all civilised nations, has renewed the example of paying assassins and encouraging crimes. It appears by the accounts from Berlin, that Mr. Bathurst was deranged in his mind. This is the custom of the British Cabinet – to give their diplomatic missions to the most foolish and senseless persons the nation produces. The English diplomatic corps is the only one in which examples of madness are common.

1852 Discovery
On 15 April 1852, during the demolition of a house on the Hamburg road in Perleberg three hundred paces from the White Swan, a skeleton was discovered under the threshold of the stable. The back of the skull showed a fracture as though from the blow of a heavy instrument. All of the upper teeth were perfect, but one of the lower molars showed signs of having been removed by a dentist. The owner of the house, a mason named Kiesewetter, had purchased the house in 1834 from Christian Mertens, who had been a serving man at the White Swan during the period when Bathurst disappeared.

Bathurst’s sister, Mrs. Thistlethwaite, travelled to Perleberg but could not conclusively say whether the skull belonged to her brother or not.

Recent Investigation
A detailed investigation conducted by writer Mike Dash first published in Fortean Times concluded that the allegedly mysterious details of the Bathurst disappearance had been greatly exaggerated over the years, and that Bathurst was almost certainly murdered.

References in Pop Culture

Bathurst’s case is mentioned by Charles Fort in his book Lo!.

In Science Fiction
In H. Beam Piper’s 1948 science fiction story He Walked Around the Horses, Bathurst slips into a parallel universe where the American Revolution and the French Revolution were both suppressed, and there were no Napoleonic Wars. In that alternate world, Bathurst has a counterpart serving as the Lieutenant Governor of the Crown Colony of Georgia. The Bathurst from our universe is judged to be either insane or a spy and so imprisoned. He attempts escape and is fatally shot. His last testament is read by a high ranking British officer, who pronounces it a work of madness. He is especially puzzled by references to a British general named “Wellington.” The officer is revealed to be Sir Arthur Wellesley. Piper describes Bathurst in the story as “a rather stout gentleman, of past middle age,” although the real Bathurst was 25 years old at the time of his disappearance.

A short story A Toy for Juliette by Robert Bloch mentions Bathurst as being transported into the distant future where he serves to satisfy the cruel pleasures of the story’s main character, Juliette.

The short novel Time Echo by Lionel Roberts (a pseudonym of Lionel Fanthorpe) has Bathurst accidentally transported to a future time where his hatred of Napoleon makes him join with conspirators seeking to overthrow a cruel future conqueror and tyrant.

Avram Davidson’s Masters of the Maze, has Bathurst as one of a select group of humans (and other sentient beings) who had penetrated to the center of a mysterious “Maze” traversing all of space and time. There he dwells in eternal repose, in company with the Biblical Enoch, the Chinese King Wen and Lao Tze, the Greek Apollonius of Tyana, and various other sages of the past and future, some of them Martians.

In A. Bertram Chandler’s “Into the Alternate Universe” the protagonists’ spaceship accidentally falls into “a crack between the universes,” a vacuum without any matter except people (and other beings) who had fallen there earlier, and who (unless in a spaceship) suffocated instantly. Among others, they see the forever floating body of a man in 19th Century upper-class clothing, who seems to be Bathurst.

Bathurst’s disappearance is also mentioned in passing in Robert A. Heinlein’s short story “Elsewhen,” Murray Leinster’s short novel The Other World, Poul Anderson’s novel Operation Chaos, Joel Rosenberg’s “Guardians of the Flame” Series, Simon Hawke’s TimeWars series, in Jane Jensen’s novel Dante’s Equation and early in the 7 November chapter of Anthony Boucher’s 1942 “detective novel” Rocket to the Morgue.

In Kim Newman’s short story “The Gypsies in the Wood,” it is mentioned that the Diogenes Club investigated his disappearance.

In Music
Bathurst is also one of the people suspected to be “Benjamin Breeg” from the song “The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg” by British heavy metal group Iron Maiden.

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Regency Hoax: The Berners Street Hoax

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

220px-Theodore_Hook The Berners Street Hoax was perpetrated by Theodore Hook in the City of Westminster, London, in 1810. Hook had made a bet with his friend, Samuel Beazley, that he could transform any house in London into the most talked-about address in a week, which he achieved by sending out thousands of letters in the name of Mrs Tottenham, who lived at 54 Berners Street, requesting deliveries, visitors, and assistance.

On 27 November, at five o’clock in the morning, a sweep arrived to sweep the chimneys of Mrs Tottenham’s house. The maid who answered the door informed him that no sweep had been requested, and that his services were not required. A few moments later another sweep presented himself, then another, and another, 12 in all. After the last of the sweeps had been sent away, a fleet of carts carrying large deliveries of coal began to arrive, followed by a series of cakemakers delivering large wedding cakes, then doctors, lawyers, vicars and priests summoned to minister to someone in the house they had been told was dying. Fishmongers, shoemakers, and over a dozen pianos were among the next to appear, along with “six stout men bearing an organ.” Dignitaries, including the Governor of the Bank of England, the Duke of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Lord Mayor of the City of London also arrived. The narrow streets soon became severely congested with tradesmen and onlookers. Deliveries and visits continued until the early evening, bringing a large part of London to a standstill.

Hook stationed himself in the house directly opposite 54 Berners Street, from where he and his friend spent the day watching the chaos unfold.

Despite a “fervent hue and cry” to find the perpetrator, Hook managed to evade detection, although many of those who knew him suspected him of being responsible. It was reported he felt it prudent to be “laid up for a week or two” before embarking on a tour of the country, supposedly to convalesce.

The site at 54 Berners Street is now occupied by the Sanderson Hotel.

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Regency Celebrity: Henry Crabb Robinson, First Special War Reporter for The Times

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

220px-Portrait_of_H_Crabb_Robinson_(crop) Henry Crabb Robinson (1775–1867) was an English lawyer, known as a diarist.

Life
He was born in Bury St. Edmunds, England. He was articled to an attorney in Colchester. Between 1800 and 1805, Robinson studied at various places in Germany, meeting men of letters there, including Goethe, Schiller, Johann Gottfried Herder, and Christoph Martin Wieland. He then became correspondent for The Times in Altona in 1807. Later on he was sent to Galicia, in Spain, as a war correspondent in the Peninsular War.

On his return to London in 1809, he decided to quit journalism and studied for the Bar, to which he was called in 1813, and became leader of the Eastern Circuit. Fifteen years later he retired, and by virtue of his conversation and qualities, became a leader in society.

He was one of the founders of London University and traveled several times to Italy, as many of his contemporaries did. He died unmarried, aged 91. He was buried in a vault in Highgate Cemetery alongside his friend Edwin Wilkins Field. A bust of Crabb Robinson was made, and a portrait by Edward Armitage.

Works
His Diary, Reminiscences and Correspondence was published in 1869. It contains reminiscences of central figures of the English romantic movement: including Coleridge, Charles Lamb, William Blake, William Wordsworth, and others. They are documents on the daily lives of London writers, artists, political figures and socialites. In his essay on Blake, Swinburne says, “Of all the records of these his latter years, the most valuable, perhaps, are those furnished by Mr. Crabb Robinson, whose cautious and vivid transcription of Blake’s actual speech is worth more than much vague remark, or than any commentary now possible to give.”

In 1829 Robinson was made a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (F.S.A.), and contributed a paper to Archæologia entitled “The Etymology of the Mass.”

His diaries were bequeathed to Dr Williams’s Library, because Robinson had been a member of the Essex Street Chapel, the first avowedly Unitarian congregation in England.

Posted in British history, Living in the Regency, real life tales, Regency era, Regency personalities, Victorian era | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Regency Celebrity: Charles Manners-Sutton, Archbishop of Canterbury

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

220px-Charles_Manners-Sutton_(1755–1828),_Archbishop_of_Canterbury Charles Manners-Sutton (17 February 1755 – 21 July 1828) was a priest in the Church of England who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1805 to 1828.

Life
Manners-Sutton was the fourth son of Lord George Manners-Sutton, third son of John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland. His younger brother was Thomas Manners-Sutton, 1st Baron Manners, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. His father had assumed the additional surname of Sutton in 1762 on inheriting the estates of his maternal grandfather Robert Sutton, 2nd Baron Lexinton.

Manners-Sutton was educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge. He married at age 23, and probably eloped with, his cousin Mary Thoroton, daughter of Col. Thomas Thoroton and his wife Mary (Levett) Thoroton of Screveton Hall, Nottinghamshire, in 1778. Col. Thomas Blackborne Thoroton later moved to Flintham Hall, Flintham, near Screveton, Nottinghamshire. He was later known as Thomas Thoroton Hildyard. Both Thoroton and his stepbrother Levett Blackborne, Esq., a Lincoln’s Inn barrister, had long acted as advisers to John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland, and Col. Thoroton was often resided at Belvoir Castle, the ancestral seat of the Dukes of Rutland.

In 1785, Manners-Sutton was appointed to the family living at Averham with Kelham, in Nottinghamshire, and in 1791, became dean of Peterborough. He was consecrated bishop of Norwich in 1792, and two years later received the appointment of Dean of Windsor in commendam.

Archbishop of Canterbury
In 1805 he was chosen to succeed John Moore as Archbishop of Canterbury. During his primacy the old archiepiscopal palace at Croydon was sold and the country palace of Addington bought with the proceeds. He presided over the first meeting which issued in the foundation of the National Society, and subsequently lent the scheme his strong support. He also exerted himself to promote the establishment of the Indian episcopate. As Archbishop of Canterbury, Manners-Sutton appointed his cousin Evelyn Levett Sutton, a chaplain to Lord Manners, as one of six preachers of Canterbury Cathedral in 1811.

Legacy
His only published works are two sermons, one preached before the Lords (London, 1794), the other before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (London, 1797). His son Charles Manners-Sutton served as Speaker of the House of Commons and was created Viscount Canterbury in 1835. His grandson Henry Manners Chichester, by his daughter Isabella, was a prolific contributor to the Dictionary of National Biography.

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Built in 1805: The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, the Longest and Highest Aqueduct in Britain and a World Heritage Site

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

800px-WalesC0047 The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (Welsh pronunciation: [ˌpɔntkəˈsəɬtɛ], full name in Welsh: Traphont Ddŵr Pontcysyllte) is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal over the valley of the River Dee in Wrexham County Borough in north east Wales. Completed in 1805, it is the longest and highest aqueduct in Britain, a Grade I Listed Building and a World Heritage Site.

When the bridge was built it linked the villages of Froncysyllte, at the southern end of the bridge in the Cysyllte township of Llangollen parish (from where it takes its name), and Trevor (Trefor in Welsh), at the northern end of the bridge in the Trefor Isaf township of Llangollen parish. Both townships were later transferred to Wrexham County Borough following local government reorganisation.

The name is in the Welsh language and means “Cysyllte Bridge.” For most of its existence it was known as Pont y Cysyllte (“Bridge of Cysyllte”). Other translations such as “Bridge of the Junction” or “The Bridge that links” are modern, and incorrect, inventions, from the literal English translation of cysyllte being “junctions” or “links,” as the township of Cysyllte existed for centuries before the bridge was built.

History
The aqueduct, built by Thomas Telford and William Jessop, is 1,007 ft (307 m) long, 11 ft (3.4 m) wide and 5.25 ft (1.60 m) deep. It consists of a cast iron trough supported 126 ft (38 m) above the river on iron arched ribs carried on nineteen hollow masonry piers (pillars). Each span is 53 ft (16 m) wide. Despite considerable public scepticism, Telford was confident the construction method would work: he had previously built at least one cast iron trough aqueduct – the Longdon-on-Tern aqueduct on the Shrewsbury Canal, still visible in the middle of a field, though the canal was abandoned years ago. Part of what was originally called the Ellesmere Canal, it was one of the first major feats of civil engineering undertaken by Telford, by then a leading civil engineer, supervised by Jessop, the more experienced canal engineer. The iron was supplied by William Hazledine from his foundries at Shrewsbury and nearby Cefn Mawr. It was opened on 26 November 1805, having taken around ten years to design and build at a total cost of £47,000. Adjusted for inflation this is equal to £2,930,000 as of 2013, however a structure of this type would cost more to build today due to other factors that did not exist in the early 19th century, such as higher wages (adjusted for inflation), safety measures, new regulations and taxes, financing fees, and so on.

At the time of the aqueduct’s completion, the canal terminated at a wharf slightly to its north. A feeder to bring water from the Horseshoe Falls beyond Llangollen was completed three years later in 1808, and at some point after 1820, the Plas Kynaston Canal was built to serve industry in the Cefn Mawr and Rhosymedre areas. There might have been another canal extension (“Ward’s”) but detailed records do not survive.

Structure
The mortar used lime, water and ox blood. The iron castings for the trough were produced at the nearby Plas Kynaston Foundry, Cefn Mawr, which was built by the Shrewsbury ironfounder and millwright William Hazledine in the hope of gaining the contract. The rib castings may have been made at Hazledine’s original works at Coleham, near Shrewsbury. The trough was made from flanged plates of cast iron, bolted together, with the joints bedded with Welsh flannel and a mixture of white lead and iron particles from boring waste. The plates are not rectangular but shaped as voussoirs, similar to those of a stone arch. There is no structural significance to their shape: it is a decorative feature only, following the lines of the stiffening plates in the castings beneath.

The supporting arches, four for each span, are in the form of cast iron ribs, each cast as three voussoirs with external arches cast with an un-pierced web to give greater strength, at the cost of extra weight. Using cast iron in this way, in the same manner as the stone arch it supersedes, makes use of the material’s strength in compression. They also give an impression of greater solidity than would be the case were the webs pierced. This impression is enhanced by the arrangement of strips of thicker stiffening incorporated into the castings, arranged in the manner of joints between voussoirs. Cast plates are laid transversely to form the bed of the canal trough. The trough is not fastened to the arches, but lugs are cast into the plates to fit over the rib arches to prevent movement. It was left for six months with water inside to check it was watertight. A feature of a canal aqueduct, in contrast with a road or railway viaduct, is that the vertical loading stresses are virtually constant. According to Archimedes’ principle, the mass (weight) of a boat and its cargo on the bridge, pushes an equal mass of water off the bridge.

The towpath is mounted above the water, with the inner edge carried on cast-iron pllars in the trough. This arrangement allows the water displaced by the passage of a narrow boat to flow easily under the towpath and around the boat, enabling relatively free passage. Pedestrians, and the horses once used for towing, are protected from falling from the aqueduct by railings on the outside edge of the towpath, but the holes in the top flange of the other side of the trough, capable of mounting railings, were never used. The trough sides rise only about 6 inches (15 cm) above the water level, less than the depth of freeboard of an empty narrow boat, so the helmsman of the boat has no visual protection from the impression of being at the edge of an abyss. The trough of the Cosgrove aqueduct has a similar structure, although it rests on trestles rather than iron arches. It is also less impressively high.

Every five years, the ends of the aqueduct are closed and a plug in one of the highest spans is opened to drain the canal water into the River Dee below, for inspection and maintenance of the trough.

The canal effectively ends after a short distance on the north side, apart from a feeder to the Horseshoe Falls on the River Dee via Llangollen. The terrain northwards appears to have been the main problem in preventing significant further extension: apart from one or more local spurs of perhaps a thousand yards serving industry south of Cefn Mawr and towards Rhosymedre, other traffic was handled by the Ruabon Brook Tramway, which climbed towards Acrefair and Plas Bennion, this was eventually upgraded to steam operation and extended towards Rhosllannerchrugog and Wrexham.

World Heritage Site
The aqueduct and surrounding lands were submitted to the “tentative list” of properties being considered for UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1999. The aqueduct was suggested as a contender in 2005—its 200th anniversary year—and it was formally announced in 2006 that a larger proposal, covering a section of the canal from the aqueduct to Horseshoe Falls would be the United Kingdom’s 2008 nomination.

The length of canal from Rhoswiel, Shropshire, to the Horseshoe Falls including the main Pontcysyllte Aqueduct structure as well as the older Chirk Aqueduct, were visited by assessors from UNESCO during October 2008, to analyse and confirm the site management and authenticity. The aqueduct was inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List on 27 June 2009.

In March 2010 it was reported that the site had attracted a thriving community of otters.

Posted in British history, buildings and structures, Georgian Era, Living in the Regency, real life tales, Regency era | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Georgian Celebrity: William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, the First Home Secretary and Later Prime Minister

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

240px-William_Petty,_2nd_Earl_of_Shelburne_by_Jean_Laurent_Mosnier William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, PC (2 May 1737 – 7 May 1805), known as The Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history, was an Irish-born British Whig statesman who was the first Home Secretary in 1782 and then Prime Minister 1782–1783 during the final months of the American War of Independence. He succeeded in securing peace with America and this feat remains his legacy. He was also well known as a collector of antiquities and works of art.

Lord Shelburne was born in Dublin in 1737 and spent his formative years in Ireland. After attending Oxford University, he served in the British army during the Seven Years’ War, taking part in the Raid on Rochefort and the Battle of Minden. As a reward for his conduct at the Battle of Kloster Kampen, Shelburne was appointed an aide-de-camp to George III. He became involved in politics, becoming a Member of Parliament in 1760. After his father’s death in 1761, he inherited his title and was elevated to the House of Lords and took an active role in politics. He served as President of the Board of Trade in the Grenville Ministry, but resigned this position after only a few months and began to associate with the opposition leader William Pitt.

When Pitt was made Prime Minister in 1766, Shelburne was appointed as Southern Secretary, a position which he held for two years. He departed office during the Corsican Crisis and joined the Opposition. Along with Pitt, he was an advocate of a conciliatory policy towards Britain’s American Colonies and a long-term critic of the North Government’s measures in America.

Following the fall of the North government, Shelburne joined its replacement led by Lord Rockingham. Shelburne was made Prime Minister in 1782, following Rockingham’s death with the American War still being fought. Shelburne’s government was brought down largely due to the terms of the Peace of Paris, which brought the conflict to an end and were considered excessively generous. He was an early advocate of free trade.

He was born William FitzMaurice in Dublin, Ireland, the first son of John FitzMaurice, who was the second surviving son of the 1st Earl of Kerry, himself a descendant of King Edward I. William’s brother was The Honourable Thomas FitzMaurice (MP) (1742-1793). Lord Kerry had married Anne Petty, the daughter of Sir William Petty, Surveyor General of Ireland, whose elder son had been created Baron Shelburne in 1688 and (on the elder son’s death) whose younger son had been created Baron Shelburne in 1699 and Earl of Shelburne in 1719. On the younger son’s death the Petty estates passed to the aforementioned John FitzMaurice, who changed his branch of the family’s surname to “Petty” in place of “FitzMaurice,” and was created Viscount FitzMaurice later in 1751 and Earl of Shelburne in 1753 (after which his elder son John was styled Viscount FitzMaurice).

FitzMaurice spent his childhood “in the remotest parts of the south of Ireland,” and, according to his own account, when he entered Christ Church, Oxford, in 1755, he had “both everything to learn and everything to unlearn.” From a tutor whom he describes as “narrow-minded,” he received advantageous guidance in his studies, but he attributes his improvement in manners and in knowledge of the world chiefly to the fact that, as was his “fate through life,” he fell in “with clever but unpopular connexions.”

Shelburne was one of the first British statesmen to advocate free trade, his conversion to which he attributed to a journey he made to London in 1761, when he accompanied Adam Smith. In 1795, he described this to Dugald Stewart:

I owe to a journey I made with Mr Smith from Edinburgh to London, the difference between light and darkness through the best part of my life. The novelty of his principles, added to my youth and prejudices, made me unable to comprehend them at the time, but he urged them with so much benevolence, as well as eloquence, that they took a certain hold, which, though it did not develope itself so as to arrive at full conviction for some few years after, I can fairly say, has constituted, ever since, the happiness of my life, as well as any little consideration I may have enjoyed in it.

Military Career
Shortly after leaving the university, he served in 20th Foot regiment commanded by James Wolfe during the Seven Years’ War. He became friends with one of his fellow officers Charles Grey, whose career he later assisted. In 1757, he took part in the amphibious Raid on Rochefort, which withdrew without making any serious attempt on the town. The following year he was sent to serve in Germany and so distinguished himself at Minden and Kloster-Kampen that he was raised to the rank of Colonel.

Following the death of George II and the accession of his grandson George III in 1760, Shelburne was appointed Aide-de-Camp to the new King. This brought protests from several members of the cabinet as it meant he was promoted ahead of much more senior officers. In response to the appointment, the Duke of Richmond resigned a post in the royal household. In 1760, he was returned to the British House of Commons as member for Wycombe, while from 1761 simultaneously represented Kerry in the Irish House of Commons, which was then a separate body. However, following the death of his father in 1761, he succeeded him as 2nd Earl of Shelburne in the Peerage of Ireland and 2nd Baron Wycombe in the Peerage of Great Britain, he ceased to sit in either House of Commons and moved up to the House of Lords. He was succeeded in Wycombe by one of his supporters, Colonel Isaac Barré, who had a distinguished war record after serving with James Wolfe in Canada.

Early Political Career
Shelburne’s new military role close to the King brought him into communication with Lord Bute, who was the King’s closest advisor and a senior minister in the government. In 1761, Shelburne was employed by Bute to negotiate for the support of Henry Fox. Fox held the lucrative, but unimportant post of Paymaster of the Forces, but commanded large support in the House of Commons and could boost Bute’s powerbase. Shelburne was opposed to Pitt, who had resigned from the government in 1761. Under instructions from Shelburne, Barré made a violent attack on Pitt in the House of Commons.

During 1762 negotiations for a peace agreement went on in London and Paris. Eventually a deal was agreed, but it was heavily criticised for the perceived leniency of its terms as it handed back a number of captured territories to France and Spain. Defending it in the House of Lords, Shelburne observed “the security of the British colonies in North America was the first cause of the war” asserting that security “has been wisely attended to in the negotiations for peace.” Led by Fox, the government was able to push the peace treaty through Parliament, despite opposition led by Pitt. Shortly afterwards, Bute chose to resign as Prime Minister and retire from politics and was replaced by George Grenville.

Shelburne joined the Grenville ministry in 1763 as First Lord of Trade. By this stage, Shelburne had changed his opinion of Pitt and become an admirer of him. After failing to secure Pitt’s inclusion in the Cabinet, he resigned office after only a few months. Having moreover on account of his support of Pitt on the question of Wilkes’s expulsion from the House of Commons incurred the displeasure of the King, he retired for a time to his estate.

Southern Secretary
After Pitt’s return to power in 1766, he became Southern Secretary, but during Pitt’s illness his conciliatory policy towards America was completely thwarted by his colleagues and the King, and in 1768, he was dismissed from office. During the Corsican Crisis, sparked by the French invasion of Corsica, Shelburne was the major voice in the cabinet who favoured assisting the Corsican Republic. Although secret aid was given to the Corsicans, it was decided not to intervene military and provoke a war with France, a decision made easier by the departure of the hard-line Shelburne from the cabinet.

In June 1768, the General Court incorporated the district of Shelburne, Massachusetts, from the area formerly known as “Deerfield Northeast” and in 1786, the district became a town. The town was named in honour of Lord Shelburne, who, in return sent a church bell, which never reached the town.

Opposition
Shelburne went into Opposition where he continued to associate with William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. They were both critical of the policies of the North government in the years leading up to the outbreak of the American War of Independence in 1775. As the war progressed Shelburne co-operated with the Rockingham Whigs to attack the government of Lord North. After a British army was compelled to surrender at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, Shelburne joined other leaders of the Opposition to call for a total withdrawal of British troops.

Prime Minister
In March 1782, following the down fall of the North Government, Shelburne agreed to take office under Lord Rockingham on condition that the King would recognise the United States. Following the sudden and unexpected death of Lord Rockingham on 1 July 1782, Shelburne succeeded him as Prime Minister. Shelburne’s appointment by the King provoked Charles James Fox and his supporters, including Edmund Burke, to resign their posts on 4 July 1782. Burke scathingly compared Shelburne to his predecessor Rockingham. One of the figures brought in as a replacement was the 23-year-old William Pitt, son of Shelburne’s former political ally, who became Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Peace Negotiations

Shelburne’s government continued to negotiate for peace in Paris, using Richard Oswald as the chief negotiator. Shelburne entertained a French peace envoy, Joseph Matthias Gérard de Rayneval, at his country estate in Wiltshire, and they discreetly agreed on a number of points, which formed a basis for peace. Shelburne’s own envoys negotiated a separate peace with American commissioners, which eventually led to an agreement on American independence and the borders of the newly created United States. Shelburne agreed to generous borders in the Illinois Country, but rejected demands by Benjamin Franklin for the cession of Canada and other territories.

Downfall
Fox’s departure led to the unexpected creation of a coalition involving Fox and Lord North which dominated the Opposition. In April 1783, the Opposition forced Shelburne’s resignation. The major achievement of Shelburne’s time in office was the agreement of peace terms, which formed the basis of the Peace of Paris bringing the American War of Independence to an end.

His fall was perhaps hastened by his plans for the reform of the public service. He had also in contemplation a Bill to promote free trade between Britain and the United States.

Later Life
When Pitt became Prime Minister in 1784, Shelburne, instead of receiving a place in the Cabinet, was created Marquess of Lansdowne. Though giving a general support to the policy of Pitt, he from this time ceased to take an active part in public affairs.

Family
Lord Lansdowne was twice married:
First to Lady Sophia Carteret (26 August 1745 – 5 January 1771), daughter of the 1st Earl Granville, through whom he obtained the Lansdowne estates near Bath. They had at least one child:
John Henry Petty, 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne (6 December 1765 – 15 November 1809), who sat in the House of Commons for twenty years as member for Chipping Wycombe before inheriting his father’s marquessate. He married Mary Arabella Maddox (died 24 April 1833), the daughter of Rev. Hinton Maddox and the widow of Duke Gifford, on 27 May 1805; they had no sons.

Secondly to Lady Louisa FitzPatrick (1755 – 7 August 1789), daughter of the 1st Earl of Upper Ossory. They had at least two children:
Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), who succeeded his half-brother in the title.
Lady Louisa FitzMaurice (born bef. 1789)

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Regency Celebrities: Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood – British Admiral and Mentor to Horatio Nelson

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

502px-Northcote,_Samuel_Hood Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (Butleigh, 12 December 1724 – London, 27 January 1816) was a British Admiral known particularly for his service in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars. He acted as a mentor to Horatio Nelson.

Biography
Early Life
The son of Samuel Hood, vicar of Butleigh in Somerset, and prebendary of Wells and Mary Hoskins, daughter of Richard Hoskins, Esquire, of Beaminster, Dorset. In 1740 Captain (later Admiral) Thomas Smith was stranded in Butleigh when his carriage broke down on the way to Plymouth. The Rev Samuel Hood rescued him and gave him hospitality for the night. Samuel and Alexander were inspired by his stories of the sea, and he offered to help them in the Navy. The Rev Samuel Hood and his wife would not allow any more sons to join the Navy as “they might be drowned.” Their third son, Arthur William became Vicar of Butleigh, but died of fever in his 30’s. Another son was drowned in the local river Brue as a boy.

Early Career
Samuel, older brother of Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, entered the Royal Navy in 1741. He served part of his time as midshipman with George Brydges Rodney on the Ludlow and became a lieutenant in 1746. He was fortunate in serving under active officers and had opportunities to see service in the North Sea during the War of the Austrian Succession.

In 1754, he was made commander of the sloop Jamaica and served on her at the North American station. In July 1756, while still on the North American station, he took command of the sloop HMS Lively.

Seven Years War
At the outbreak of the Seven Years War in 1756, the navy was rapidly expanded which benefited Hood. Later that year, Hood was promoted to Post Captain and given command of HMS Grafton. In 1757, while in temporary command of Antelope (50 guns), he drove a French ship ashore in Audierne Bay, and captured two privateers. His zeal attracted the favourable notice of the Admiralty, and he was appointed to a ship of his own.

In 1759, when captain of the Vestal, he captured the French Bellone after a sharp action. During the war, his services were wholly in the Channel, and he was engaged under Rodney in 1759 in the Raid on Le Havre, destroying the vessels collected by the French to serve as transports in the proposed invasion of Britain.

He was appointed in Commander-in-Chief, North American Station in July 1767. He returned to England in October 1770.

In 1778, he accepted a command, which in the ordinary course would have terminated his active career, becoming Commissioner of the dockyard at Portsmouth and governor of the Naval Academy. These posts were generally given to officers who were retiring from the sea.

American War of Independence
In 1778, on the occasion of the King’s visit to Portsmouth, Hood was made a baronet.
The war was deeply unpopular with much of the British public and navy. Many admirals had declined to serve under Lord Sandwich, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Admiral Rodney, who then commanded in the West Indies, had complained of a lack of proper support from his subordinates, whom he accused of disaffection.

The Admiralty, anxious to secure the services of trustworthy flag officers, promoted Hood to rear-admiral on 26 September 1780, and sent him to the West Indies to act as second in command under Rodney, who knew him personally. He joined Rodney in January 1781 in his flagship Barfleur, and remained in the West Indies or on the coast of North America until the close of the War of American Independence.

The expectation that he would work harmoniously with Rodney was not entirely justified. Their correspondence shows they were not on friendly terms; but Hood always did his duty, and he was so able that no question of removing him from the station ever arose. The unfortunate turn for the British taken by the campaign of 1781 was largely due to Rodney’s neglect of Hood’s advice. If he had been allowed to choose his own position, he could have prevented the Comte De Grasse from reaching Fort Royal with the reinforcements from France in April.

Battle of the Chesapeake
When Rodney decided to return to Britain for the sake of his health in the autumn of 1781, Hood was ordered to take the bulk of the fleet to the North American coast during the hurricane months. Hood joined Admiral Thomas Graves in the unsuccessful effort to relieve the army at Yorktown, when the British fleet was driven off by the French Admiral, the Comte de Grasse, at the Battle of the Chesapeake.

When he returned to the West Indies, he was for a time in independent command owing to Rodney’s absence in England. De Grasse attacked the British islands of St Kitts and Nevis with a force much superior to Hood’s squadron.

Hood made an unsuccessful attempt in January 1782 to save them from capture, with 22 ships to 29, and the series of bold movements by which he first turned the French out of their anchorage at Basseterre of St Kitts and then beat off their attacks, were one of the best accomplishments of any British admiral during the war.

Battle of the Saintes
In 1782 Hood took part in a British fleet under Rodney, which defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet, which was planning an invasion of Jamaica. The French commander De Grasse, who had been responsible for the victory at Chesapeake was captured and taken back to Britain as a prisoner. Hood was deeply critical of Rodney for not pushing home his victory against the retreating enemy fleet. Had they pursued, he suggested, the British might have taken additional prizes and destroyed the French naval presence in the Caribbean.

Battle of the Mona Passage
Eventually Hood was ordered to chase enemy ships at the Mona Passage, and with his division of 12 ships, he captured 4 ships on 19 April thus completing the defeat.

While serving in the Caribbean, Hood became acquainted with, and later became a mentor to Horatio Nelson who was a young frigate commander. Hood had been a friend of Nelson’s uncle Maurice Suckling. In 1782, Hood introduced Nelson to the future King William, Duke of Clarence, who was then a serving naval officer in New York.

Peace
Hood was made an Irish peer for his role in the victory at the Battle of the Saintes on 9 and 12 April near Dominica.

During the peace, he entered the British Parliament as Member for Westminster in the election of 1784, where he was a supporter of the government of William Pitt the Younger. In 1786, he became Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth holding that post until 1789. He was promoted to vice-admiral in 1787, and in July 1788, was appointed to the Board of Admiralty under John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, brother of the Prime Minister.

French Revolution
Defence of Toulon
On the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War in 1793, he became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet. His period of command, which lasted from May 1793 to October 1794, was very busy.

In August 1793, French royalists and other opponents of the revolution took over the town and invited Hood, whose fleet was blockading the city, to occupy the town. Hood, without time to request for instructions from the Admiralty in London, moved swiftly to take command of the port.

There were two main reasons for the British move. It was hoped that Toulon could be a centre of French resistance to Paris, and also to take possession of the French Mediterranean fleet of fifty-eight warships, which lay in the harbour. It was hoped that depriving the French revolutionaries of their maritime resources would cripple the revolution.

He occupied Toulon on the invitation of the French royalists, in co-operation with the Spaniards and Sardinians. In December of the same year, the allies, who did not work harmoniously together, were driven out, mainly by the generalship of Napoleon. Hood ordered the French fleet burned to prevent them falling back into the hands of the revolutionaries, a task carried out by Captain Sidney Smith. Afterwards, Hood and his British force withdrew to maintain their blockade of the coast, while the French republicans reoccupied the city.

Corsica
Hood then turned to the occupation of Corsica, which he had been invited to take in the name of the King of Britain by Pasquale Paoli, who had been leader of the Corsican Republic before it was subjugated by the French in 1769. The island was for a short time added to the dominions of George III, chiefly by the exertions of the fleet and the co-operation of Paoli.

While the occupation of Corsica was being effected, the French at Toulon had so far recovered that they were able to send a fleet to sea. In June, Hood sailed in the hope of bringing it to action. The plan, which he laid to attack the French fleet near Golfe-Juan in June, may possibly have served to some extent as an inspiration, if not as a model, to Nelson (who has been recorded as saying that Hood was “the greatest sea officer I ever knew”) for the Battle of the Nile, but the wind was unfavourable, and the attack could not be carried out.

In October, he was recalled to England in consequence of some misunderstanding with the admiralty or the ministry, which was never explained. Richard Freeman, in his book, The Great Edwardian Naval Feud, explains his relief from command in a quote from Lord Esher’s journal. According to this journal, “… [Hood] wrote ‘a very temperate letter’ to the Admiralty in which he complained that he did not have enough ships to defend the Mediterranean.” As a result Hood was then recalled from the Mediterranean. [Freeman, p. 145].

Later Career
Samuel Hood was created Baron Hood of Catherington in 1778 by King George III, an Irish Baron in 1782, and Viscount Hood of Whitley, Warwickshire, in 1796 with a pension of £2000 per year for life. He became Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth again in June 1792. In February 1793, he became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet. In 1796, he was named Governor of the Royal Naval Hospital at Greenwich in London, a position which he held until his death in 1816. He was elected as Tory Member of Parliament for Westminster from 1784 to 1788 and from 1790 to 1796, and was Member for Reigate between 1789 and 1790, serving with his younger brother Alexander under Pitt the Younger.

He lived long enough to see Britain triumph in the Napoleonic Wars and was chief mourner at Nelson’s funeral.

A peerage of Great Britain was conferred on his wife, Susannah, as Baroness Hood of Catherington in 1795. Samuel Hood’s titles descended to his youngest son, Henry (1753–1836), the ancestor of the present Viscount Hood. Lord Samuel Hood and his wife had two other sons: Samuel and Thomas. Samuel died in infancy, and many sources suggest Thomas also died similarly, but it is now known Thomas survived until 1800 or so.
There are several portraits of Lord Hood by Lemuel Francis Abbott in the Guildhall and in the National Portrait Gallery. He was also painted by Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough.

Legacy
A biographical notice of Hood by McArthur, his secretary during the Mediterranean command, appeared in the Naval Chronicle, vol. ii. Charnock’s Biogr. Nay. vi., Ralfe, Nav. Biog. i., may also be consulted. His correspondence during his command in America was published by the Navy Records Society.

The history of his campaigns will be found in the historians of the wars in which he served: for the earlier years, Beatson’s Naval and Military Memoirs; for the later, James’s Naval History, vol. i., for the English side, and for the French, Troudes, Batailles navales de la France, ii. and iii., and Chevalier’s Histoire de la marine française pendant Ia guerre de l’indépendance américaine and Pendant Ia République.

In 1792, Lieutenant William Broughton, sailing with the expedition of George Vancouver to the Northwest Coast of North America, named Mount Hood in present-day Oregon, and Hood’s Canal in present-day Washington, after Hood. Two US Naval ships were named after Mount Hood, which could be considered mildly ironic as Hood had served against the United States during the American War of Independence.

Two of the three ships of the Royal Navy named HMS Hood were named after him as well, including HMS Hood, sunk by the Bismarck in 1941 during World War II.

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