Gretton joined the Royal Navy as a cadet at Dartmouth Naval College in 1926. His early service career included acting as a Midshipman on the battle cruiser RENOWN in the Mediterranean, 1930, as Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Yacht VICTORIA AND ALBERT, summer 1934, in the aircraft carrier COURAGEOUS, and then in the cruiser DURBAN during the Abyssinian crisis and the Spanish Civil War. During the 1936 Arab Rebellion in Palestine, Gretton assisted the Army in protecting truck convoys and later aided police to contol the souk in Haifa, for which he was awarded the DSC. He was subsequently appointed Seamanship and Sports Officer at the boys' training establishment, HMS IMPREGNABLE, at Devonport, and then spent two years as a House Officer at Dartmouth. During Easter 1939, Gretton undertook an anti-submarine course at the Portland A/S HMS OSPREY, which was to have a profound effect on his later life. At the beginning of World War Two, Gretton was appointed 1st Lieutenant of the destroyer VEGA, escorting East Coast convoys. During the Norwegian campaign of 1940, he served as 1st Lieutenant of the destroyer COSSACK, which participated in the second battle of Narvick on 13 April. His first command was the destroyer SABRE, in which he escorted Atlantic convoys. After his promotion to Lieutenant-Commander in 1942, Gretton took command of the destroyer WOLVERINE. The ship rammed and sank the Italian U-boat DAGABUR during the PEDESTAL Convoy to Malta in August, for which Gretton was awarded the DSO. In December 1942, he was appointed to lead B7 Escort group in the destroyer DUNCAN, and in April 1943 they were involved in the battle surrounding Convoy ONS5. The actions of B7 led to extensive U-boat losses, forcing Admiral Doenitz to withdraw from the North Atlantic. In recognition, Gretton was awarded the first Bar to his DSO. After U-boats returned to the North Atlantic in the summer of 1943, Gretton's further actions led him to attain a second Bar to his DSO. From 1944-1946 Gretton served in the Admiralty Plans Division, he was promoted to Captain in 1948 and in the early 1950s he acted as Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord, commanding the cruiser GAMBIA. He then became Chief of Staff to Admiral, the Joint Services Mission, Washington. From 1956-1957 he was Commodore in command of the Naval task group for 'Operation Grapple', the British atomic bomb tests at Christmas Island. In 1958 he was promoted to Rear-Admiral, served as Senior Naval Member of Directing Staff of Imperial Defence College, 1958-1960, and was Flag Officer, Sea Training, from 1960-1961. As Vice-Admiral, he acted as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff and Fifth Sea Lord from 1962-1963. He retired through ill-health in 1963. He subsequently became Domestic Bursar (1965-1971) and then Senior Research Fellow (1971-1979) of University College, Oxford. Gretton also acted as the Vice-President of the Royal Humane Society (Testimonial, 1940). He was awarded the OBE in 1941, CB in 1960 and KCB in 1963. His published works include: Convoy Escort Commander (1964); Maritime Strategy (1965); Former Naval Person - Churchill and the Navy (1968); and Crisis Convoy - The Story of HX231 (1974).
The yard at Halifax was established in February 1759. A Storekeeper had been stationed there since 1756, a Master Attendant since 1757 and the Admiralty ordered the construction of a careening wharf and other facilities for refitting ships in 1758. By 1774 there were two careening wharves, and these facilities remained largely unaltered until the mid-nineteenth century. Between 1881 and 1897 coaling facilities, a graving-dock and a torpedo boat slip were added. In January 1907 the yard was handed over to the Canadian Government and it remains the principal Atlantic base of the Canadian naval force.
Hamond was the son of Captain Sir Andrew Snape Hamond (1738-1828), Controller of the Navy. He entered the Navy in 1785, was promoted to lieutenant in 1795 and commander in 1798. He served during the French wars but was invalided in 1814. His next appointment was in 1824 to the Wellesley and in 1825 he conveyed the British ambassador, Sir Charles Stuart (1779-1845), later Lord Stuart de Rothesay, to Brazil. While there Hamond was promoted to rear-admiral. He was ordered home in the SPARTIATE and on the way he delivered the Treaty of Separation between Brazil and Portugal to the King of Portugal. From 1834 to 1838 he was Commander-in-Chief on the South American Station; this was his last employment. Hamond became a vice-admiral in 1837, an admiral in 1847 and Admiral of the Fleet in 1862.
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Lee was a civil lawyer, and admitted as an advocate in Doctor's Commons in 1729. He was Member of Parliament for Brackley, 1733 to 1742, and afterwards represented Devizes, 1742 to 1747, Liskeard, 1747 to 1754, and Launceston, 1754 to 1758. In 1742 he was on the Board of Admiralty but in 1744 followed Lord Carteret (1690-1763) out of office. His connection with the Navy ceased from this time.
Fiott joined the Navy as a volunteer in 1798 and was present at the battle of Copenhagen, 1801. He took part in the Walcheren expedition of 1809 and in 1810 was made a lieutenant but court-martialled in the same year for using seditious language, dismissed his ship and put to the bottom of the Lieutenants' List. Soon afterwards, however, he was appointed to the MARLBOROUGH and served in the West Indies. After two years on half-pay he bought the QUEEN, a trading vessel, which was lost in 1818. From then until 1827 he owned the RETRENCH, sailing as master while still on half-pay until 1823. In this year the RETRENCH was attacked by Spanish pirates off Cuba. When he received a commission In 1823 to command HMS RENEGADE in the West Indies, he employed another half-pay naval captain on the Retrench, which was wrecked in 1824 but salvaged and, in 1827, sold In 1824 he was court-martialled again on various charges including that of mistreating his crew but was acquitted. From 1827 Fiott lived on the continent and remained there until his death.
Born John Fiott, brother of William Edward Fiott, Lee changed his name on inheriting property from his mother's family. In 1827 he also inherited the estate of Hartwell in Buckinghamshire. Lee was keenly interested in science and antiquities and was an active member of the Temperance Movement. The collection was used by E S Dodge, The Polar Roses (London, 1973).
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Hawker, son of Captain James Hawker (c 1731-1787), went to sea in 1793. He joined the SWIFTSURE, home waters, in 1794, commanded by his brother-in-law, Captain Charles Boyles (q.v.), and was also with him in the West Indies when he was promoted to lieutenant in the RAISONNABLE. Again in the West Indies, 1803, Hawker commanded the prize brig, LA MIGNONNE, and in 1804, having been promoted to captain, was appointed to the THESEUS, flagship of the station. He then commanded the TARTAR, 1805 to 1806, and the MELAMPUS, 1806 to 1811, on the North America and West Indies Stations, engaged against the enemy's privateers. From 1813 to 1815, in the BELLEROPHON and then in the SALISBURY, he was Flag-Captain to Sir Richard Goodwin Keats (q.v.), Commander-in-Chief, Newfoundland. His last appointments were to the BRITANNIA, 1828 to 1829, and ST VINCENT, 1829 to 1830, flagships at Plymouth to the Earl of Northesk (1758-1831). He became rear-admiral in 1837, vice-admiral in 1847 and admiral in 1853.
Boyles became a lieutenant in 1777 and a captain in 1790. During the French wars he served in the West Indies, the Channel and the Mediterranean. He became a rear-admiral in 1809 and from 1810 to 1812 served in the Mediterranean, in the TRIDENT and the CANOPUS. He became a vice-admiral in 1814.
Henderson entered the Navy in 1859, served on the North America and West Indies Station, 1860 to 1864, in the NILE and the STYX and then joined the Channel Squadron in the PRINCE CONSORT. He became a lieutenant in 1866 and was at Portsmouth in the CROCODILE from 1867 until he took part in the voyage round the world of the Flying Squadron in the LIVERPOOL, flagship of Sir Geoffrey Phipps Hornby. From 1872 to 1875 he was in the PETEREL, Pacific Station, in the ECLIPSE in 1877 on the North America and West Indies Station, and was on 'particular service' in the HYDRA, 1878. He was promoted to commander in 1879 and to captain in 1886, after having been in Australia for four years, 1881 to 1885. Going to the East Indies in command of the CONQUEST, 1889 to 1892, Henderson was in the Naval Brigade under Sir Edmund Fremantle in the punitive expedition against the Sultan of Vitu, 1890. He then went out to the Mediterranean and later to China in the Edgar, 1894 to 1896, when he returned to Devonport to command the Fleet Reserve. From 1898 to 1900 he was Commodore and Naval Officer in command at Jamaica and was Admiral Superintendent of Devonport Dockyard, 1902 to 1906. At the end of this appointment he retired and occupied himself with voluntary work such as his service for the Metropolitan Asylums Board, 1909 to 1921. Always much interested in the professional education of naval officers, in 1913 he was one of those who founded the Naval Review, which he edited for several years.
Edward Heron-Allen (1861-1943) was a marine biologist and zoologist.
Hewett entered the navy in 1847, serving as midshipman in the second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852-3. In 1854 he was acting mate of the BEAGLE and in command of a Lancaster gun in the battery before Sevastopol, he gallantly opened fire on a Russian column ordered to spike the gun and withdraw the men. His action proved decisive using grapeshot and wheeling the gun around and firing within 300 yards. His involvement at Inkermen (5 Nov 1854) proved distinguished and Captain Lushington promoted him to Lieutenant and with seniority on 26 October 1854. He was also appointed Commander of the Beagle until 1857. One of the first recipients of the Victoria Cross for his conduct on 26 October and 5 November 1854, he appeared In the Gazette on 24 February 1857. Later Hewett was appointed commander of the ROYAL YACHT in 1858, then continued to command the VIPER, RINALDO and BASILISK. He was flag captain to Sir H Kellet in the OCEAN, 1870-2 and captain of DEVASTATION, 1872-3. From 1873-6 he was commodore and commander- in- chief on the west coast of Africa. He was made KCB on 31 March 1874 and later was also KCSI, chevalier of the Legion d?Honneur, member of the order of the Mejidiye and the Abyssinian order of Solomon. In 1877 he was appointed to the ACHILLES and commander-in- chief in the East Indies in April 1882. He became vice-admiral on 8 July 1884 and between 1886-8 was in command of the channel fleet. He was sent as a patient to Haslar Hospital, Gosport, where Hewett died on 13 May 1888.
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Admiral Henry Dennis Hickley was born in 1826 and served for almost fifty years in the British Navy and Admiralty. He served as a Lieutenant on H.M.S. Diadem; was Commander on H.M.S. Hope and Her Majesty's Steam Ship Gladiator; and became Captain of H.M.S. Princess Royal, Adventure, Royal Adelaide, Jamar, Hotspur, Endymion, and Impregnable between 1864 and 1878. Promoted to Rear Admiral of the Fleet on 24th January 1880, he was subsequent elevated to Vice-Admiral in June 1886, becoming an Admiral on the Retired List from 5th April 1892. Admiral Hickley was married to Mary Hickley and was the father of Lieutenant John Dennis Hickley, whose papers are also contained in the collection. Admiral Hickley died in 1903 at the age of 77, his son having predeceased him
Lieutenant John Dennis Hickley was born on 13th January 1862, the son of Admiral Henry Dennis Hickley. He began a promising career in the Navy in 1874, coming top of his naval cadet class at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He became a Midshipman in October 1876 and served on HMS BELLEROPHON, MINOTAUR, and HIMALAYA. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in Her Majesty's fleet on the 31st December 1884 and gained further qualifications whilst stationed at Portsmouth, obtaining two First Class certificates for Instruction in Gunnery and Torpedoes in 1892. Hickley was subsequently involved in operations against Chief Nana of Brohemie on the Benin River, West Africa and was awarded the DSO for his services. Whilst in Africa with HMS PHOEBE in February 1895, J.D. Hickley drowned in a lagoon close to Lorenzo Marques during an unsuccessful duck-hunting trip.
James Martin Hilhouse took over the then almost new Hotwells dock on the banks of the Avon in 1772, following a transaction with the Merchant Venturers of Bristol. By the time members of the Hill family became employees of the company in 1810, it was a successful shipbuilders. Mr Hilhouse, having no sons with whom to leave his company, allowed the Hills to take more control of the firm, first changing its name to Hilhouse & Hill, then finally to Charles Hill & Sons, Ltd when full control was assumed in 1845. As the company grew, the Albion dockyard was opened for shipbuilding and company activities were also expanded to Cardiff in 1879. This same year, the Bristol City Line was established and became closely identified with the North Atlantic cargo trade for the next hundred years. The company was eventually sold in the 1970's, with the shipyard finally closing in 1979.
Hinde went to sea in July 1829 in the ATHOLL, Capt Alexander Gordon, possibly a friend of the family, seeing service on the West Coast of Africa. In 1831, while Midshipman in the DRYAD, Capt John Hayes, he was officially reported for the conduct he displayed in her tender, the BLACK JOKE, at the capture by boarding of a slave vessel of superior force. In December 1831 he moved from the BLACK JOKE into the FAIR ROSAMOND until July 1832 when he returned home in the DRYAD. In the two tenders he saw a good deal of action which he describes in his letters. Between 1833 and 1836 Hinde served aboard the SERPENT in the West Indies. The ship was not a happy one but apparently one of the more efficient sloops on the station. She cruised unsuccessfully for slavers, carried troops to various places in cases of insurrections by freed slaves and went to Para to watch British interests. Hinde was promoted Lieutenant in 1844, Commander in 1857 but never served at that rank. He retired in 1867 and died in 1869.
After qualifying at Cambridge, Heald served in the Navy as a Temporary Surgeon, 1914 to 1915. He was in the ROHILLA, hospital ship, which was wrecked in 1914, and then the CONQUEROR. He was subsequently Principal Medical Officer, RAF, Middle East, and Medical Adviser, Department of Civil Aviation, Air Ministry. Dr Heald was Consulting Physician to the Royal Free Hospital and Consulting Physician, Rheumatic Diseases at the Middlesex Hospital.
This officer, known throughout his naval career as Hallowell, took the additional name of Carew in 1828. In 1783 he was a lieutenant, becoming a commander in 1790. He served off Africa and was in the Mediterranean as one of Nelson's 'Band of Brothers'. In 1812 he hoisted his flag in the MALTA, again in the Mediterranean, where he remained until the peace. He was Commander-in-Chief on the coast of Ireland, 1816 to 1818, and at the Nore, 1821 to 1824. Attaining the rank of vice-admiral in 1819, he was advanced to admiral in 1830.
Hamilton spent some years in the army before marrying an heiress. From 1764 to 1800 he was Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of Naples. His first wife died in 1782 and in 1791 he married Emma Hart, formerly his nephew's mistress, who had been living with him since 1786. The Hamiltons enjoyed considerable influence with the Neapolitan royal family and succeeded in persuading them to ally Naples with Britain against the French, although this led to the flight of the government to Sicily in 1798 and 1799. In 1800 Hamilton was recalled. He travelled home across Europe with Lady Hamilton and Nelson and eventually settled with them at Merton, where he died.
Hammill entered the Navy in 1865, was made a lieutenant in 1871 and a commander in 1881. At the bombardment of Alexandria, 1882, he commanded the MONARCH and then the Naval Brigade. He later served with the Naval Brigade at Port Said. Hammill again served with a Naval Brigade during the Sudan Campaign of 1884 to 1885, when he accompanied the Nile Expedition despatched for the relief of General Gordon. He commanded the naval force south of Wadi Halfa during the passage of the steamers through the Second Cataract and served with the Nile Flotilla in surveying the Upper Nile. For these services he was promoted to captain in 1885. Hammill held various posts at the Admiralty between 1886 and 1892. He then returned to service afloat until his early death.
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John Hamilton, elder brother of Archibald Hamilton, and nephew of Alexander Montgomerie, first went to sea in the service of the East India Company. He took command of the BOMBAY CASTLE for three voyages between 1795 and 1801, when the ship was managed by Alexander Montgomerie. The first two of these voyages were to Bombay and China. The destination of the third was to China direct and it was during this voyage, when the BOMBAY CASTLE was one of six East Indiamen under convoy of Captain Rowley Bulteel (fl 1780-1820) in HMS BELLIQUEUX, that three French frigates and a prize schooner were sighted off the coast of Brazil. La Medee was captured by Hamilton and by Captain Meriton (H.E.I.C.) of the Exeter and command of her was given to John's brother, Archibald Hamilton.
Montgomerie was a brother of Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton. The family intermarried with the Hamiltons of Rozelle, Ayrshire. The two families managed and commanded East India Company ships for nearly fifty years. Montgomerie was commander of the BESBOROUGH for three voyages, 1777 to 1788, and commander and managing owner of the BONHAM CASTLE on her first voyage, 1793 to 1794. He was managing owner of the ship for her next three voyages, between 1795 and 1801, which were made under the command of his cousin, John Hamilton.
Archibald Hamilton, younger brother of John Hamilton, served in the East India Company's ship, BOMBAY CASTLE as Fourth Mate in 1798. He was given command of a French prize LA MEDEE, which was captured off Brazil in 1800. He then succeeded his brother in the command of the BOMBAY CASTLE, 1802, and made two voyages in her to Bombay and China. His ship was one of the East India Company's China fleet under Sir Nathaniel Dance (1748-1827) when the French squadron was beaten off in 1804, off Pulo Aor, in the Straits of Malacca. A court of enquiry into charges of misconduct was held during the final voyage of the BOMBAY CASTLE. Her successor, the BOMBAY, made four voyages with Hamilton commanding between 1810 and 1820; the first two were to China and the latter two to Bombay and China.
Hampshire entered the Navy in 1888. He served from 1890 to 1892 in the Benbow and Immortalite, Mediterranean Station and from late 1892 in the Cleopatra, North America and West Indies Station. He became a lieutenant in 1896 and retired in 1910 as a commander, although he served again during the First World War. He was present at the Dardanelles landing and later commanded the ST GEORGE, base ship at Mudros.
Cedric S. Holland (affectionately known as "Hookey") joined HMS BRITANNIA as a Cadet in 1905 and went on to serve in the Royal Navy from 1906 until his retirement in 1946. His early career saw him serving as Midshipman on the HMS SUFFOLK, the HMS IRRESISTIBLE and the HMS BULWARK (1906-1909). He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 31st August 1911, going on to serve on the HMS SHANNON with the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, August-November 1914. He also served as Squadron Wireless Officer with HMS REVENGE during the Turko-Greek conflict (1920). From July 1928-August 1929, Holland commanded the HMS KENT in China, SE Asia and Japan. During this time he attended the funeral of Dr Sun Yat Sen (31st May 1929) and the annual Naval Regatta at Wei-Hai-Wei. As Captain of the HMS KEMPENFELT (1934-1936) he served in the Mediterranean. He was Naval Attache for France, Holland, Belgium, Spain and Portugal from January 1938 to April 1940 and was also Head of the Naval Mission to the French Admiralty from the outbreak of war until April 1940. Holland commanded the aircraft carrier HMS ARK ROYAL from May 1940 to May 1941 and it was during this time that he undertook the role for which he will be most remembered, that of chief negotiator with the French during the Mers el Kebir affair (July 1940). From May 1941 to January 1942 he held the post of Chief of Staff to Lord Gort at Gibraltar and was appointed Director of Naval Communications at Admiralty from January 1942 until November 1943, during which time he was promoted to Rear Admiral (6th February 1942). Holland served as Principal Administrative Officer for the Navy in South-East Asia from November 1943 to September 1945 - the first appointment of this kind ever made. He received promotion to Vice-Admiral on the 1st June 1945 and was actively involved in planning and executing the re-occupation of Singapore in September 1945. Vice-Admiral Holland retired from active service in 1946.
Michael Henley ([1742-1813]) was an apprentice waterman and lighterman from 1757 to 1764. By 1770 he was trading as a coal and rope merchant and three years later he acquired a wharf and premises in Wapping. In 1775 he appears to have purchased his first sea-going ship; other vessels followed, which he employed in the east coast coal trade, and later in other trades in the Atlantic, West Indies, Mediterranean and Baltic, mostly on charter. During the American War of Independence, he also chartered ships to the government as transports. In 1780 his eldest son Joseph (1766-1832) was bound apprentice to him and within a few years he was running the day-to-day aspects of the business. Michael Henley spent much of his time travelling to the various ports at which his ships called regularly, in particular Newcastle and Portsmouth, but on occasions he also visited Ireland and Scotland. The shipping activities of the Henleys increased substantially during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Between 1775 and 1832 they owned over a hundred and twenty ships. They stopped trading directly as coal merchants early in the nineteenth century, though retaining a strong interest in the trade. At the same time their ships became more involved in the West Indies trade and in the timber trades with the Baltic, North America and Canada and the Bay of Honduras. Many of their vessels were chartered to the Transport Board, after its re-establishment in 1794, as troop and horse ships or victuallers. After 1815 shipping suffered from the post-war slump and Joseph now divided his time between his shipping interests and Waterperry, his Oxford estate. He owned a smaller number of ships, which were principally involved in the North American and Baltic trades, although there were two notable Transport voyages to Ceylon and the Mediterranean between 1820 and 1822. He appears to have continued to own one or two ships up until the time of his death.
Vice-Admiral Lancelot Ernest Holland (1887-1941) was lost with the HOOD in 1941.
Samuel Hood, elder brother of Viscount Bridport (q.v.) entered the Navy in 1741 and was made a lieutenant in 1746. His first command was in the Mediterranean in 1754. In 1757 he was at the blockade of Brest and was successful in a noteworthy single-ship action. Between 1760 and 1763 he served in the Mediterranean. He was employed during the peace and in 1767 was appointed Commander-in-Chief, North America, in the ROMNEY. From 1771 to 1776 he commanded the ROYAL WILLIAM, guardship at Portsmouth, and in 1778 was appointed Resident Commissioner at Portsmouth Dockyard. In the following year he was created a baronet and in 1780 promoted to rear-admiral, when he went in the BARFLEUR, with reinforcements to Rodney in the West Indies. Here he too part in the taking of St. Eustatius and the manoeuvering off Martinique. When Rodney sailed for England, Hood went to North America to reinforce Admiral Graves (q.v.) and commanded the rear squadron at the battle of Chesapeake in 1781. Early in 1782 Hood worsted De Grasse at Frigate Bay at St. Kitts, and soon afterwards took an important part in the battle of the Saints, the Ville de Paris surrendering to the BARFLEUR. As a result in 1782 Hood was raised to the Irish Peerage and was Member of Parliament for Westminster, 1785 to 1788 and 1790 to 1796 and for Reigate, 1789 to 1790. Between 1787 and 1788 he was Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, having been promoted to vice-admiral, and from 1788 to 1795 he served at the Board of Admiralty. At the beginning of the Revolutionary Wars, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, where he commanded the forces which took Toulon In August 1793. However, he had to withdraw to Corsica in December. In late 1794 he returned to England. He was promoted to admiral and in 1796 was appointed Governor of Greenwich Hospital, which post he held until his death. He was raised to the British peerage in 1796. See David Hanoi ed. , 'Letters of Lord Hood, 1781-82' (Navy Records Society, 1895).
E.S. Houlder started business as a ship and insurance broker in 1853 and soon began specializing in the Australian trade. when his brother joined him in 1856, the name Houlder Brothers and Company was adopted. They soon began owning ships and extended their regular service to Australia to New Zealand. The search for return cargoes led them to the Pacific Islands and by the end of the 1860s an interest in the carriage of contract cargoes resulted in voyages to India and South Africa. In 1881 the Company turned its attention to the South American trade and was responsible for the first shipments of frozen meat from the River Plate. The partnership became a limited liability company in 1898. In 1911, Furness Withy (q.v.) acquired a large holding of the Company's shares. Interests in the Australian and other trades were sold in 1912 and the Company concentrated its activities on the development and extension of its South American trade and in particular the River Plate meat trade. An associate company, Empire Transport Co Ltd, had been set up in 1902 and joint ventures with Furness Withy included: British & Argentine Steam Navigation Co Ltd, 1911 to 1933, British Empire Steam Navigation Co Ltd, 1914, and Furness Houlder Argentine Line Ltd, 1915. During the inter-war period oil tankers were added to the facilities for handling bulk cargoes. A large holding in the Alexander Shipping Co Ltd was purchased in 1938 and a controlling interest was acquired in 1947. After the Second World War, the interest in the South American trade was maintained and the bulk shipping activities were further diversified by the addition of ore carriers and gas tankers. Houlder Brothers became a wholly owned subsidiary of Furness Withy.
Howe entered the Navy in 1740, was made a lieutenant in 1744 and a captain in 1746. After service on the Guinea coast, the West Indies, the Mediterranean and on the North American Station, he served in the Channel during the Seven Years War. He was elected Member of Parliament for Dartmouth in 1757, and succeeded his brother to the Irish peerage in the following year. He held his parliamentary seat until raised to the British peerage in 1782. In 1763 he was a Lord of the Admiralty and from 1765 to 1770 was Treasurer of the Navy. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1770 and to vice-admiral in 1775. He was then appointed Commander-in-Chief, North America, but came home in 1778 and did not serve again until 1782. Howe became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1783, which position, apart from the period between April and December 1783, he held until 1788. He was created Earl Howe in this year. In 1790 he took command of the Channel Fleet during the Nootka Sound mobilization as he did later at the outbreak of war in 1793. During this time Howe continued reforms in signalling. In 1794 he commanded the fleet which brought the French to action at the battle of the First of June. He finally gave up the command after a long period of ill-health, in 1797. See George Mason, The life of Richard Earl Howe (London, 1803) and Sir John Harrow, The life of Richard Earl Howe E.G. Admiral of the Fleet and General of Marines (London, 1838).
Hope entered the Navy in 1811. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1817 and to commander in 1822 and commanded the BRISK, Nore, 1824 to 1826. He was promoted to captain in 1826. Between 1830 and 1834 he commanded the TYNE, South America. From January to July 1835 he commanded the DUBLIN, fitting out at Plymouth. Between 1841 and 1845 he was Senior Officer at Chusan during the First China War. He was made Superintendant of Sheerness Dockyard and captain of the MONARCH, guardship of the ordinary at Sheerness, 1851 to 1854. He was promoted to Rear Admiral and died in 1854.
Entered the navy in 1851 and later employed as Midshipman to the 120 gun vessel, TRAFALGAR, taking part in the bombardment of Sevastopol, October 1854. Served in China during 1857-8 in various parts of the Canton River at the action of Falshan and landed with the Naval Brigade at the taking of the Canton. Hereford was appointed Acting Lieutenant of the NANKIN on 22 August 1858 at Hong Kong, later being appointed Lieutenant of the VICTORIOUS on 26 April 1859 and the EXCELLENT on 5 May 1859. Appointed to the ARROGANT for gunnery duties, Hereford was actively employed in the suppression of the slave trade on the West Coast of Africa, on various expeditions up the Rivers Gambia and Congo and near Lagos. He was then appointed commander of the BRITANNIA on 4 August 1868 and her tender the DAPPER for the instruction of Cadets from 1863-8, at which point Hereford was promoted to Commander. Served in the East Indies from November 1872 until May 1874 when he retired.
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William Herschel was a self-taught astronomer who began life as an army musician in Hanover and came to England in 1758 as a refugee during the Seven Years War. In 1781 he discovered the planet Uranus and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. George III appointed him Court Astronomer. He settled at Slough in 1786 and built a telescope which was the largest in the world until it was dismantled in 1839. In 1788 he married Mary Pitt (nee Baldwin). Among a number of biographies is Angus Armitage, William Herschel (London, 1962).
Sir John was the son of Sir William Herschel. He was Senior Wrangler at Cambridge and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1813 for his contributions to chemistry and mathematics. Through assisting his father he came to adopt astronomy as his career and went to live at the Cape of Good Hope from 1833 to 1838, making a star survey of the southern sky. The results of this work were published in 1847. On his return to England, Herschel became an active member of several scientific societies. He was employed as Master of the Mint from 1850 to 1855 and wrote many articles for the Encyclopaedia Britannica and other general works of reference. There is a translation of Gunther Buthman's 'The shadow of the telescope. A biography of John Herschel' by B E Pagel (New York, 1970).
Henslow entered the dockyard service as a shipwright apprentice to Sir Thomas Slade (d 1771). After a period at the Navy Office as a draughtsman, he moved quickly up the service as Master Boat Builder at Woolwich, 1762 to 1764, Purveyor of Chatham Yard, 1764 to 1765, and Master Caulker of Portsmouth, 1765 to 1767. In 1767 he was Second Assistant to the Master shipwright at Portsmouth and in 1771 was the Assistant to the Surveyor of the Navy. He was Master Shipwright at Plymouth, 1775 to 1784 In 1785 he was appointed Surveyor of the Navy, which post he held until 1806.
Horton-Smith was a barrister and joint founder and Secretary of the Imperial Maritime League, which was active between 1908 and 1913. It was founded as a protest against the British Navy League, which fully supported the actions of Lord Fisher. The Imperial Maritime League felt that the Navy League did not go far enough in its demands for the strengthening of British naval power. Horton-Smith was the author of numerous pamphlets on naval affairs.
Atlases, maps and plans - documents.
See sub-fonds level descriptions for individual biographies.
Keppel entered the Navy in 1822 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1828, when he was appointed to the GALATEA in home waters and later in the West Indies. He then went to the East Indies in the MAGICIENNE. In 1833, he was promoted to commander and the following year commanded the CHILDERS off Spain during the Carlist War. In 1837, he was promoted to captain and in 1841 commanded the DIDO during the China War. After this he remained in the East Indies, helping Sir James Brooke (1803-1868) to suppress pirates off Borneo. He commanded, after two years on half-pay, the MEANDER on the same station, returning to England in 1851. In 1853 he was appointed to the ST JOAN D'ACR in the Baltic and then, in 1855, went to the RODNEY in the Black Sea, serving with distinction in the Crimea. In 1856 he went again to China where he lost his ship the RALEIGH; Keppel was acquitted in the subsequent court martial. He commandeered the Hong Kong, a river steamer, and at the battle of Fatshan Creek, on the Canton River, destroyed a powerful force of pirates in 1857, the year he was promoted to rear-admiral. In 1860 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Cape and Brazil Station. He became a vice-admiral in 1864 and from 1866 to 1869 commanded the China Squadron. Between 1872 and 1875 he was Commander-in-Chief at Devonport and in 1877 was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet. Keppel published his memoirs, A sailors life under four sovereigns (London, 1899). See also Sir Algernon Edward West, Memoir of Sir Henry Keppel G.C.B. Admiral of the Fleet (London, 1945) and V.E. Stuart, The beloved little admiral (London, 1967).
Hamilton entered the Navy in 1869 and served in the Bristol in the West Indies, 1870 to 1871, and then in the Ariadne in the Mediterranean, 1872. From 1877 to 1878 he served in the Martin training brig on a cruise to the West Indies. In 1878 he joined the Liffey which sailed to Coquimbo where the crew took over the Shah. On the return voyage Hamilton thus found himself as part of the Naval Brigade in the Zulu War of 1879, for which service he was mentioned in despatches. He was also made a lieutenant in this year. He then served in the Mediterranean in the Thunderer until 1881. In 1892 he was made a commander and appointed to the Hood, 1893 to 1896, in the Mediterranean. He was promoted to captain in 1898. In 1907 he was made rear-admiral and from 1914 to 1916 was Second Sea Lord. He then became Commander-in-Chief, Rosyth, in which command he died.
Hamilton (known throughout his career as 'Turtle'), son of Admiral Sir Frederick Tower Hamilton, entered the Navy in 1903. After Dartmouth he served on the Mediterranean Station, 1908 to 1910, in the ALBEMARLE and the PRINCE OF WALES. Between 1910 and 1911 he was in the VANGUARD in the Channel and went in the VENUS to the Indian Durbar of 1911. He was made lieutenant in 1913, after which he went to the CUMBERLAND and took a prominent part in the Cameroons operations, 1914 to 1915. Subsequently he began a long service commanding destroyers in the Harwich Force. Between 1915 and 1916 he was in the MOORSOM and in the TAURUS from 1917 to 1918. He was appointed to the STRENUOUS, home waters, in 1921, to the QUEEN ELIZABETH, home waters, 1922 to 1924 and in 1925 to the Royal Yacht, VICTORIA AND ALBERT, becoming a commander in 1926. He next served in the destroyers WANDERER and WILD SWAN, Mediterranean and China, 1927 to 1928, returned to the Mediterranean for a short period in 1929 and was at the Admiralty from 1931 to 1932. He was promoted to captain in 1932, commanded the NORFOLK, flagship on the East Indies Station, 1935 to 1937, and was Captain of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, 1938 to 1939. Promoted to rear-admiral in 1941, he commanded the First Cruiser Squadron, Home Fleet, from 1940 to 1942, during which he was ordered to abandon the Arctic convoy PQ17. He was Flag Officer, Malta, 1943 to 1945, and then went to Australia as First Member of the Commonwealth Naval Board, 1945 to 1948. He was made an admiral in 1947 and retired in 1948.
Hamilton entered the Navy in 1822 and became a lieutenant in 1829. Between 1826 and 1830 he served in the CAMBRIAN in the Mediterranean and on the South American Station. From 1839 he spent four years sheep farming in Australia. He was promoted to captain on the retired list in 1856.
Hulbert acted as an admiral's secretary and prize agent early in the nineteenth century. He served on the North American Station in 1804 as secretary to Sir John Borlase Warren (1753-1852) and between 1808 and 1809 exchanged with the secretary of Admiral Rowley (1765-1842) on the Jamaica Station. He served again with Warren, 1810 to 1814, on the North American Station, 1813 to 1814, when a large number of prizes were taken.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Huskisson was the youngest son of Captain Thomas Huskisson (q.v.). He was appointed a second lieutenant in the Royal Marines in 1833 and served in the CAMBRIDGE, Mediterranean Station, from 1840 to 1842, being promoted to first lieutenant in 1842. He served in HMS OCEAN from 1844 to 1847 and then became Quartermaster of the Chatham Division, rising to captain in 1852. The outbreak of the Crimean War led to his appointment to the NANKIN, East Indies in 1854. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, 1879, on the retired list and died ca.1889.