Charles William Andrews (1866-1924), a 2nd class assistant in the Department of Geology, was given special leave by the Museum Trustees to visit Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean. The Island had been annexed by the Crown in 1888, the year after a visit by Captain Pelham Aldrich in HMS Egeria, and it was leased to the Christmas Island Phosphate Company for commercial development in 1897. Sir John Murray, one of the directors of the Company, proposed and financed an expedition to study the island in advance of its commercial exploitation. Andrews left England in May 1897, and arrived on Christmas Island on 29 July. He remained on the island for ten months, studying the geology and collecting rocks and minerals, plants and animals. He spent one month on the Cocos-Keeling atoll on his way home, and finally returned to duty at the Museum in August 1898. Andrews' collections were worked on by a number of scientists at the Museum, including R Bowdler Sharpe (birds), G A Boulenger (reptiles), A G Butler, G F Hampson and Lord Walsingham (butterflies and moths) and W F Kirby (other insect groups). The results of their work was published in 1900, along with a geological report by Andrews himself, as a Museum monograph.
Richard Meinertzhagen was born in London and educated at Harrow School and the University of Göttingen. He spent much of his childhood at Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire, and became a keen ornithologist. He joined the army in 1899, serving in India and East Africa, and as Intelligence Officer with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force and in Allenby's Palestine Campaign. Meinertzhagen was in the intelligence branch of GHQ in France, an
He attended the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. He held military posts at the Foreign Office until 1925, when he retired to devote himself to ornithology. For the rest of his long life, Meinertzhagen travelled in north Africa and the Middle East, studying and collecting birds, although he retained an involvement with military intelligence and the secret service. He published a series of autobiographical diaries, as well as papers in The Ibis and books on the birds of Arabia and elsewhere. He was Vice-President and medallist of the British Ornithologists' Union and President of the British Ornithologists' Club. He was made a CBE for his services to ornithology.
Meinertzhagen was associated with the Museum throughout his life, and was a regular visitor to the Bird Room for nearly sixty years. It was not an easy relationship: he was often fiercely critical of the Museum, and his own conduct gave cause for concern on several occasions. In spite of this he was made an Honorary Associate, and presented his library and collections of birds, insects and plants in 1950 and 1954. Since his death evidence has emerged that many of his birdskins were stolen or had been given false localities.
Thomas Henry Huxley died in Eastbourne on 29 June 1895 at the age of 70. A Memorial Committee was set up in August the same year with the object of collecting money to provide a fitting tribute to this great scientist. The first Provisional Committee was replaced by a large and distinguished General Committee, which met in November under the chairmanship of the Duke of Devonshire, and decided to seek funds for a statue, a medal and a studentship. An Executive Committee of twenty was set up at this meeting, and a number of local committees took charge of fund-raising in their areas. Statue and medal sub-committees were constituted soon afterwards. Of the £3378 which was collected over the next four years, £1813 was spent on a marble statue by Edward Onslow Ford which was unveiled in the Central Hall of the Natural History Museum by the Prince of Wales in April 1900. Dies for a portrait medal were commissioned from the sculptor Frank Bowcher, and the remaining money was passed to the Royal College of Science as an endowment. A student in zoology, botany or palaeontology would be awarded the Huxley Gold Medal, with the option of receiving a silver medal and a sum of money instead. The committees were wound up in 1900 once the unveiling had taken place.
When the natural history departments of the British Museum moved to South Kensington between 1880 and 1882, they brought with them little in the way of a central administration. Thomas Nichols, the first Assistant Secretary, and Charles Edward Fagan (1855-1921) who succeeded him in 1889, had only a small clerical staff to help them and had to deal with financial as well as personnel and establishments matters. Administratively they were placed in the 'Director's Office'. The prolonged ill health of Sir William Flower during 1896-1898 and E Ray Lankester's emphasis of scientific research at the expense of administration greatly added to the Assistant Secretary's work load. Following Lankester's enforced retirement at the end of 1907, Fagan virtually ran the Museum until Fletcher's appointment as Director nineteen months later.
Fagan was succeeded by George Frederick Herbert Smith (1872-1953) from the Department of Mineralogy in 1921, at which time he was assisted by a Staff Officer, five clerks and a shorthand typist. The British Museum Act, 1930, formally gave care and custody of the natural history departments to the Director of the British Museum (Natural History) and considerably increased the responsibilities of the head of the Museum's administration. In recognition of this the post was renamed Secretary and given a salary only slightly inferior to that of the Secretary of the British Museum. An Accountant, Thomas Wooddisse (b 1893), was appointed to take charge of financial matters, and he succeeded Smith in 1935. An Assistant Secretary was added to the staff in 1954.
By the time Arthur Percy Coleman (b 1922) was appointed Secretary in 1965 administrative staff numbered fifteen, and in 1976 the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) was set up with Raymond Saunders (b 1933) at its head as Museum Secretary and Establishment Officer and a staff of thirty five, including an Accountant and a Personnel Officer.
In 1994 the Front of House section was separated out to become the Department of Visitor Services, and DAS became the Department of Corporate Services (DCS). In 1997 it was decided that the Museum would be better served if the administration was not run by a single generalist administrator, but rather by senior professionals in the three main areas of Finance, Personnel (taking over the formal responsibilities of the Establishment Officer) and Estates, who would report to the Director. As a result, the following year DCS was replaced by three separate administrative departments: Finance, Human Resources and Estates.
The Department of Botany has its origins in the Department of Natural and Artificial Productions, which was set up at the founding of the British Museum in 1756. In 1806 it was renamed the Department of Natural History and Modern Curiosities and was under the keepership of George Shaw (1751-1813) and later Charles Dietrich Eberhard Konig (1774-1851). The botanical collection at this period consisted almost entirely of the Sloane herbarium.
In 1827 the Museum acquired the herbarium of Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), and with it, the services of Robert Brown (1773-1858), as 'Keeper of the Banksian Botanical Collection'. In 1835 the Sloane and Banksian collections were amalgamated to form a Botanical Branch of the Department of Natural History, and in 1856 the branch was given the status of a department, with Robert Brown as the first Keeper, and a staff of four.
Under succeeding keepers the collections held by the Department increased in size and scope, and by the time George Murray (1858-1911) retired in 1905 there was a staff of 13. A major reorganisation took place in the mid 1930s when the complement increased to 23, and the department was divided into six cryptogamic sections and five sections devoted to flowering plants, together with the library and the Keeper's Office. The Department was severely damaged during the war, and did not fully recover until the early 1960s.
Over the years the relationship of the Department with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has been scrutinised many times, on both financial and scientific grounds. Government enquiries were held in 1860, 1871, 1900 and 1960, and all recommended that the two institutions should remain independent, with the last leading to the 'Morton Agreement', which set out a division of accession and research activities.
By 1965 the Department was responsible for huge herbaria collections, and was active in research on the floras of tropical Africa, Europe, the West Indies and the Far East. The research was supported by the departmental library, which was rich in historic treasures as well as contemporary literature. The Department was also responsible, in conjunction with the exhibition staff, for displays in the botany gallery. Staff numbered 23, who between them saw to nearly 3,000 visitors, accessioned nearly 40,000 specimens, and published 30 or more papers each year.
Operating within the Director's Office was the General Library, set up by resolution of the Trustees in March 1880 to house books and periodicals which were not appropriate for one of the four departmental libraries. Bernard Barham Woodward (1853-1930) was transferred from Bloomsbury to take charge of the new Library, which was located in a corridor to the east of Central Hall. Responsibility for the General Library was initially in the hands of a committee of keepers, but was transferred to the Director in 1884. Woodward had the services of an attendant from 1884, and was given much help with acquisitions by both Charles Davies Sherborn (1861-1940), a natural history bibliographer, and Frederick Justen (1832-1906) of Dulau and Co. Although Woodward's authority was limited to the General Library, he did devise a classification scheme for books which was used in both the General and Geological libraries, and was responsible for cataloguing books across the Museum. He built up a card catalogue of books in all the libraries, which was published as 'Catalogue of the Books, Manuscripts, Maps and Drawings ...', 5 volumes 1903-1915, with supplement, 3 volumes 1922-1940. By the time that Woodward retired in 1920 the Museum libraries had an international reputation.
Woodward was followed by Basil Harrington Soulsby (1864-1933), who had worked in Printed Books at Bloomsbury, and then in the Natural History Museum Director's Office. Soulsby devoted much time to building up the Linnaeus collection, and published 'Catalogue of the Works of Linnaeus in the British Museum ...' in 1929. Soulsby had a staff of two, with George William Frederick Claxton as Clerk.
Alexander Cockburn Townsend (1905-1964), who succeeded Soulsby, presided over the wartime evacuation of the most valuable books and manuscripts, and the move of the General Library into the North Building in 1959. He tried unsuccessfully to wrest control of the departmental libraries from the keepers, but did succeed in centralising cataloguing, purchasing, bookbinding and accounts within the General Library in 1949. Townsend also started a subject catalogue and the publication of lists of accessions. He gained the services of a cataloguer in 1938, and had a staff of nine by 1964, when he was killed in a railway accident.
Maldwyn Jones Rowlands (1918-1995), who had worked in the Science Museum and the Patents Office as well as at the Museum, succeeded Townsend as Librarian in 1965. He oversaw the expansion of the General Library into the Northeast Building in 1973, and the formation of a unified library service for the Museum in the Department of Library Services in October 1975. At the end of 1975 the new department had a staff of forty two, who operated six reading rooms and received nearly 8,500 visitors a year. The Department was acquiring 25,000 items of stock each year, and operated an extensive advisory service.
The Department was renamed the Department of Library and Information Services in 1994 to reflect its wider remit.
The Department of Mineralogy has its origins in the Department of Natural and Artificial Productions which was set up at the foundation of the British Museum in 1756. In 1806 it was renamed the Department of Natural History and Modern Curiosities and was under the keepership of George Shaw (1751-1813) and later Charles Dietrich Eberhard Konig (1774-1851). In 1837 the Department was divided into three branches, of which Mineralogy and Geology was one, and in 1856 the branch became a Department in its own right, almost immediately being divided into the two departments of Geology and Mineralogy. The first Keeper of Mineralogy was M H N Story-Maskelyne (1823-1911), a lecturer and later Professor at Oxford, a Member of Parliament, and an agriculturalist and country gentleman. Thomas Davies (1837-1932) joined the Department as an attendant in 1858 and took charge of the rock collection. A chemical laboratory was provided in Great Russell Street in 1867, and Walter Flight (1841-1885) was appointed analyst.
By the time the Department moved to South Kensington in 1881, it had a staff of ten, and was responsible for a huge collection of rocks, minerals and meteorites. In South Kensington the Department initially developed around the collections of minerals, meteorites and rocks. Cataloguing and curation of the mineral collection, with the development of crystallographic and chemical techniques involved a large number of staff, including Lazarus Fletcher (1854-1921), Leonard J Spencer (1870-1959) and Jessie M Sweet (1901-1979). The meteorite collection was looked after by successive keepers, including Fletcher, George T Prior (1862-1936) and W Campbell Smith (1887-1988), while the rocks were worked on by Prior, Campbell Smith and Stanley E Ellis (1904-1986). The chemical laboratory, staffed by Prior, Max H Hey (1904-19..) and Alan A Moss (1912-1990), was involved in work on all these three collections. Many staff worked in more than one of these areas, and the Department was not formally divided into sections until the 1950s.
Two important developments came with the appointment of Frederick A Bannister (1901-1970) in 1927 to develop X-ray crystallography, and the formation of an Oceanography Section under John D Wiseman in 1935, following the transfer of the John Murray Collection from the Department of Zoology. New methods of rapid mineral analysis were developed in the 1950s, and the department's first electron microprobe was delivered in 1964.
By 1975 the Department had a staff of 37 and was divided into nine sections, including General Mineralogy, Petrology, Meteorites, Oceanography, Chemistry and the Departmental Library.
The Museum has been a publisher throughout its history, producing scholarly monographs and catalogues, expedition reports, periodicals, study guides, popular guidebooks, notes for collectors, posters, wallcharts and postcards. A bookshop opened for the sale of guidebooks and postcards in 1921, and was opened on Sundays after consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury, as Principal Trustee. From the 1930s editing was the responsibility of the Keepers, permission to publish was recommended by the Trustees' Publications Sub-Committee, and arrangements for printing and the preparation of illustrations was in the hands of the Museum Accountant. When Richard J Drumm (1889-1965) retired as Accountant in 1954 he was retained as a part-time Publications Officer.
At the same time a review of publications policy led to preparation of a series of popular handbooks in addition to the Museum's scholarly output. Arthur E Baker (b 1910) was appointed the first full-time Publications Officer in 1962, and was responsible for liaison between the science departments and the Director on one hand, and printers and illustrators on the other. By 1967 there was a publications staff of ten, who included clerical officers, printers and retail sales staff. The Section was incorporated into the newly formed Department of Public Services in 1975.
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At the beginning of the nineteenth century a Frenchman, Jean-Baptiste Pipon, founded an import-export business in Mauritius. In 1817 Joachim Henri Adam (1793-1856) arrived in Mauritius from Rouen to take up work on a sugar estate; in 1825 he married Jean-Baptiste's daughter and joined the Pipon business thereafter. Henri Adam played a prominent part in the island campaign for an indemnity to owners of slaves emancipated under the Abolition Act of 1832. The firm, which for more than a century was one of the island's three most important firms of merchants and commission agents, traded successively under the names of F Barbe and Adam (1829-1837); Henry Adam and Co (1837-1848); Pipon Bell and Co (1848-1863); Pipon Adam and Co (1863-1897); Adam and Co (1897-1945); and Adam and Co Ltd (1945-1969). The Adam family was important in local administration. Charles Felix Henri (fl 1830-1900) was a member of the Council of Government in the 1880s. His brother Louis Gustave (d 1894) established himself in Paris to watch over the European side of the business. In 1969 the business was sold to the Blyth, Greene, Jourdain and Company Group; a condition of the sale was that the Adam name should be kept. Both the Pipon and Adam families were involved in the production as well as in the marketing of sugar, the main export industry of Mauritius. Through a network of correspondents and agents the firm sold sugar, mostly on consignment, to Britain, France, India, Australia, Malaya, Dutch East Indies, Indo-China and South Africa: it imported rice and jute (gunny sacks) from Calcutta; chemical fertilizers and machinery from Europe and guano from Peru; mules from Montevideo, and a great diversity of consumer goods. An important part of the company's operations from the late 1830s onwards was connected with the transport and allocation of Indian immigrant workers under contract to the sugar plantations. It was also active in the chartering market, acting as agent both for chartered vessels and for regular liners, notably the Clan Line. There was also an insurance business, the Mauritius Marine Insurance Company, which looked after the affairs of a number of overseas insurance companies as agent and claims assessor, besides representing the Bureau Veritas classification society in Mauritius.
The Admiralty Office obtained both a permanent site and a stable organisational structure at the end of the seventeenth century. In Pepys' time the office had been in his own home in York Buildings and from 1689 the clerks occupied temporary accommodation of various kinds, but from 1695 the Office occupied a building in Whitehall which was rebuilt between 1723 and 1725. This is the present Old Admiralty Building. It was from here that the Board of Admiralty directed naval affairs. Three members of the Board were required to sign all Board orders according to the Admiralty patent, although this was reduced to two in the nineteenth century. The Secretary was an important administrative figure from the early seventeenth century. For greater speed he often signed and dispatched orders on his own authority; sometimes these were followed, as soon as the Board met, by back-dated orders signed by the Lords Commissioners. Later the Secretary signed all routine orders, while the Commissioners' signatures were required only for important matters. Secretaries of the Admiralty included Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), Josiah Burchett ([1666]-1746), Thomas Corbett (d 1751), Sir Philip Stephens (1725-1809) and John Wilson Croker (1780-1857). The Secretary was assisted by a clerical staff which grew steadily from the mid-seventeenth century. At the time of the Commonwealth there were only two salaried clerks; in 1702 there were nine and by 1800 there were twenty-four on the establishment. The judicial offices of the Court of Admiralty were of considerable antiquity and remained separate. A Marine department and Marine Pay department were founded in 1755 and a Naval Works department existed between 1796 and 1807.
The Ticket Office, a department in the Navy Office, was established in 1674. Its principal responsibilities were redemption of 'tickets' which were often issued to seamen instead of pay, the maintenance of lists of seamen on ships' books, the adjustment of pay-books according to the muster books, and the registering of the pay and allowances of seamen, naval officers and dockyard officers and artificers. Usually there was a clerk from the office at each port who attended the payment of ships' crews and dockyard workers. The office staff grew from three established clerks in 1689 to eighteen in 1758 and remained thereafter around that size until 1829 when the office was abolished and sixteen of the clerks were transferred to a new Ticket and Wages branch of the Navy Office.
Aldrich entered the Navy in 1859 in the Marlborough, Mediterranean Station, later serving in the Scout, 1865 to 1867, on the South American Station. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1866 and was First Lieutenant in the CHALLENGER between 1872 and 1874. He then joined the ALERT, 1875 to 1876, as senior lieutenant during the British Arctic expedition led by Sir G.S. Nares (q.v.). In the spring of 1876 he explored the northern coast of Ellesmere Island with the sledge CHALLENGER. For service in this expedition he was promoted to commander. He was employed in the surveying vessels SYLVIA and FAWN in the Far East and off Africa between 1879 and 1884, being promoted to captain in 1883. He continued to serve until 1908 when he retired with the rank of admiral.
Austen, younger brother of Francis William Austen (q.v.) and of Jane Austen, the novelist, entered the Navy in 1794, was promoted to lieutenant in 1797 and to captain in 1810. After service on the North American and Mediterranean Stations, he was from 1815 engaged in the suppression of piracy in the Aegean until his ship, the PHEONIX, was lost in a heavy gale off Smyrna in February 1816. He served as second-in-command of the Jamaica Station from 1826 to 1828 and his success in the suppression of the slave trade led to his nomination as Flag-Captain of the WINCHESTER, North American and West Indies Station, 1830. He was invalided after an accident in 1830 and was not re-employed until appointed to the BELLEROPHON in 1838. He served in her in the Mediterranean, where he was present at the bombardment of Acre in November 1840, until she was paid off in 1841. He was made rear-admiral in 1846 but saw no further employment until 1850 when he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, flying his flag in the HASTINGS. He died in Burma while still in this command.
Baynes, son of Robert Lambert Baynes (q.v.), joined the Navy in 1866 and became a lieutenant in 1877. He served in the Pembroke, 1893 to 1895, and was promoted to captain in 1897. After attending gunnery and torpedo courses, his first active service as captain was briefly in the Minerva, 1899, and then in the Mildura, Australian Station, in 1900. He retired in 1902, advancing to the rank of rear-admiral in 1907.
The founder of the company was William Mackinnon (1823-1893) who, in partnership with William Mackenzie (c 1810-1853) was in business as a general merchant near Calcutta. In the mid-1850s they secured the East India Company's mail contract between Calcutta and Rangoon, for which purpose Mackinnon founded the Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company Limited, registered in Glasgow in 1856. Within five years of its founding the company had expanded considerably; from Burma, its ships were serving Penang and Singapore: by coasting from Calcutta to Bombay, dozens of small ports along the Indian coasts were being opened up to large-scale traffic.
In 1861 Mackinnon founded the British India Steam Navigation Company Limited, which superseded the Calcutta and Burmah Company. The mercantile firm of Mackinnon, Mackenzie and Company, Calcutta, became the managing agents, a function which they were to fulfil for well over a hundred years. As, until the opening of the Suez Canal, British India operated exclusively in eastern waters, and thereafter had a large part of its fleet employed in 'foreign-to-foreign' trades, it developed a distinctive organization. The Calcutta office had wide decision-making powers as managing agents, and were the operators of the eastern services. All but the most complicated repairs and overhauls were carried out at the Company's establishments at the Garden Reach workshops at Calcutta or the Mazagon Dock at Bombay. In Britain, the Secretary, based in Glasgow until 1892 and thereafter in London, was the link between Calcutta and the Board of Directors. Entry into the Dutch East Indies internal trade was achieved by the formation in 1865 of a Dutch flag company, the Netherlands India Steam Navigation Company. A connection with China was made in 1868, in conjunction with the Messageries Maritimes of France. There was also westward expansion, British India taking a share of the Moslem pilgrim traffic to Jeddah from 1869, and from 1872 carrying P and O mails, passengers and cargo from Aden to Zanzibar. The first 'Home Line' (in B I terminology a service to and from the United Kingdom) was inaugurated in 1874, as a result of the opening of the Suez Canal. In 1881 a mail contract was arranged with the Queensland government, although it lasted only until 1895. British India ships on the Australian run were grouped under the British India Associated Steamers, to differentiate them from vessels earmarked for the company's main trading routes.
Throughout the period the company had been consolidating its position with the Indian and home governments as a partner in the business of moving troops and military stores by sea. The British India involvement in East Africa was strengthened in 1890 by a regular service from London to Zanzibar via Aden and Mombasa. It was at this point that Mackinnon took part in the formation of the Imperial British East Africa Company, investing a quarter of the capital in it; however, the government was not prepared to back it. Japan was included in the B I itineraries in 1907 and participation in the trade was strengthened in 1912 by the purchase of the Apcar Line, which since 1901, had had a cargo pooling agreement with British India. Another British India service was the transport of Indian workers from the Coromandel Coast to Burma, Malaya, East Africa and Mauritius, 1892 to 1932. Sir William Mackinnon was succeeded by James Macalister Hall (d 1904) in 1893 and Duncan Mackinnon (d 1914). The appointment in 1913 of James Lyle Mackay (later Earl of Inchcape, 1852-1932) as chairman foreshadowed the amalgamation of B I with P and 0 (q.v.) in 1914, of which combination he was to become the chairman. Lord Inchcape was, however, careful to maintain a great degree of autonomy for British India. First World War losses were partially offset by the acquisition in 1917 of the Ham Line and the Nourse Line (q.v.). A massive replacement of tonnage after the war led to B I's becoming in 1922.
By the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, the responsibility for maintaining a systematic wreck register was taken over by the Marine Department of the Board of Trade; for a short period before this date it had been the responsibility of the Admiralty. Between 1864 and 1867 the Wreck Department was created to deal with wrecks, salvage and related matters.
Brown entered the Navy in 1890 and served in the DREADNOUGHT in the Mediterranean until 1893, when he joined the TOURMALINE in the West Indies. He then joined the VOLAGE in the Training Squadron and took part in the summer cruise of 1896. His next ship was the TRAFALGAR, Mediterranean and Channel Stations, and between 1900 and 1902 he served in the ARGONAUT on the China Station. Brown was promoted to commander in 1905, to captain in 1912 and held a succession of cruiser appointments during the First World War. He then served as head of the naval mission to Greece between 1917 and 1919 and was made rear-admiral in the Royal Hellenic Navy in 1918. In 1922 he was promoted to rear-admiral, placed on the retired list and in 1927 was advanced to vice-admiral.
Osborn served in the Mediterranean before becoming a lieutenant in 1717. In 1718 He took part in the action off Cape Passaro in the Mediterranean and the following year served in a squadron on the north coast of Africa. His first command was the SQUIRREL in 1728. In 1734 he commanded the PORTLAND in the Channel and in 1738 the SALISBURY in the Mediterranean. He was appointed to the PRINCE OF ORANGE in 1740, returning to England in the CHICHESTER in 1741, when he moved to the PRINCESS CAROLINE, Channel, until 1743. Osborn was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1747 and in 1748 was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands; in the same year he became a Vice-Admiral. He was promoted Admiral and appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, in 1757 but after blockading the French fleet in 1758, he suffered a stroke and saw no more active service. Osborn was Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire, 1758 to 1761.
Caldwell entered the Navy in 1754 and was made a lieutenant in 1760. After service in the Channel during the Seven Years War, he became a commander in 1762 and a post captain in 1765. He then commanded the Rose in North America, 1768 to 1771, and the Emerald, 1775 to 1779, on that station and on convoy duties. He was appointed in 1780 to the Hannibal and convoyed the East India Company ships home. In April 1781 he was transferred to the Agamemnon in the Channel; she then sailed with Admiral Rodney (1719-1792) to the West Indies and was present at the battle of the Saints, 1782. The Agamemnon remained on the West Indies and North American Stations until 1783. Caldwell commanded the Alcide in 1787 and the Berwick during the mobilization of 1790. In 1793 he was promoted to rear-admiral and served in the Cumberland under Admiral Howe (q.v.). He transferred his flag in 1794 to the Impregnable and took part in the battle of First of June. In July of the same year he became a vice-admiral and was sent to the Leeward Islands in the Majestic under Admiral Jervis (q.v.); shortly after this Jervis returned home and Caldwell acted as Commander-in-Chief. His active career ended in 1795 and he was promoted to admiral in 1799.
Abdy began his career by serving in the East India Company's ships TRUE BRITON, 1750 to 1752, on a voyage to China and Stafford, 1753, to India. He then entered the Navy and was commissioned as lieutenant in 1758. He was promoted to commander in 1761 and served in the BEAVER, 1761 to 1766, in home waters and then in the West Indies. In 1766 he was promoted to Captain of the ACTEON in the West Indies, but he returned home before the end of the year and did not serve again because of ill-health.
Caldwell, grandson of Sir Benjamin Caldwell (q.v.), entered the Navy in 1828 as a volunteer on board the Dartmouth and became a midshipman in the Prince Regent in 1830. He served for the next five years on the coast of South America in the Clio, Spartiate and Hornet and then in the Pembroke and Vanguard on the Mediterranean Station. After this he spent three years in the brigs Pantaloon and Rapid, tenders to the Royal George yacht. Caldwell was promoted to lieutenant in 1841 and for two years attended courses in the Excellent on gunnery and at the Royal Naval College on steam. He then served in the Inconstant on the Mediterranean Station from 1843 until 1846, when he joined the Excellent and Prince Regent, home waters. From the latter ship he was promoted to commander in 1847. In 1848 he joined the Powerful on the Mediterranean Station and returned to the Prince Regent in 1851. He was promoted to captain in 1853 and after studying steam at Woolwich dockyard, became Flag Captain to Rear-Admiral Hon. R.S. Dundas (1802-1861), Commander-in-Chief Baltic, in the Duke of Wellington, and remained in her until 1857. Caldwell joined the Mersey in 1859 for three years, serving in the Channel and on the North American and West Indies Station. After a short period in the Royal Adelaide at Devonport, he joined, in 1864, the Asia, guardship of the steam reserve at Portsmouth. Finally Caldwell was aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria from 1866 until his death.
Established in 1950 from the Association Amicale des Capitaines au Long Cours Cap Horniers which was created in St Malo in 1936. The association aims to encourage friendships between the mariners who have voyaged around Cape Horn in sailing ships. The association also aims to promote interest in the ships and sailors of previous generations and, in doing so, inspire and support younger sailors.
Lieutenant-Commander Cazaly was the Officer Commanding, 11th LCT flotilla during the latter half of the Second World War, taking part in Operation "Husky" (The allied invasion of Sicily in 1943) and then Operation "Neptune" (the naval element of the D-Day landings in 1944). On D-Day, Cazaly was responsible for landing Duplex-Drive Sherman tanks of the Canadian 10th Armoured Regiment (Fort Garry Horse) on to Nan Sector of Juno beach, in order to give support to the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade. Like other LCT commanders on D-Day, Cazaly took the decision that due to the rough seas, he would take the tanks right onto the beach, as opposed to letting them off of the landing craft out from the beach and letting them swim in, as was the plan.
As an historian, he published nine principal naval works and three works of fiction (The fall of Asgard, 1886, For God and Gold, 1887 and Cophetua the Thirteenth, 1889.) Between 1898-1914, he edited five historic works for the Navy Records Society. Serving for many years as Vice President of both The Navy Records Society (NRS) and the Society for Nautical Research (SNR), he was also a member of the Editorial Boards of both societies. In addition, he wrote two articles for the Mariner's Mirror between 1913 and 1921. Amongst his other major titles he was an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, The Director of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence, Lecturer at the Royal Naval War College, Lectured at Oxford, Cambridge and London and was the Official Naval Historian of the Great War.
Sir Hugh Cloberry Christian, father of Hood Hanway Christian (q.v), entered the navy in c 1761, being promoted to Lieutenant in 1771. Serving mostly in the Channel and Mediterranean, in 1778 he was appointed Captain of HMS SUFFOLK, which carried Commodore Rowley's broad pennant to North America, seeing action of Grenada in 1779 and Martinique in 1780. Moving on to the HMS FORTUNEE he participated in the actions off the Chesapeake, 1781, St Kitts and Dominica in 1782. He returned home during the peace, and didn't find employment again until 1790, as second captain on board the HMS QUEEN CHARLOTTE with Lord Howe. In 1795 he was advanced to Rear-Admiral of the Blue, and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the West Indies Station, with his flag in the HMS PRINCE GEORGE, but the fleet was scattered in a storm and limped back to Spithead. He didn't arrive in Barbados until April 1796, having been invested with the Order of the Bath, where he undertook the conquest of St. Lucia with Sir Ralph Abercromby. In 1797 he was sent to the Cape of Good Hope as second in command, being promoted to commander-in-chief in 1798, a few months before his death.
Hood Hanway Christian was the eldest son of Sir Hugh Cloberry Christian (q.v). He joined the navy in 1792, as a volunteer, and served on the ships of his father until 1798, serving in both the West Indies and the Cape of Good Hope. He then moved on to HMS GARLAND, HMS BOADICEA (taking part in the attack on the Spanish batteries of the Isle d'Aix) in 1799, and on to HMS QUEEN CHARLOTTE, the flagship of Lord Keith in the Mediterranean. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1800, serving onboard HMS PHEONIX, taking part in the reduction of Genoa. In 1806, after serving with distinction in Rear Admiral Rainier's flag ship HMS TRIDENT, he received a post dated commission, returning home to captain HMS HEROINE, which was part of the Walcheron expeditionary armament. From 1811 to 1814, he was the captain of HMS IRIS, which was based off northern Spain, and from which he actively helped Spanish patriots. This culminated in the capture of the fortress at Castro, of which he was appointed governer. From 1824 to 1828, he served as Commodore on the Cape of Good Hope Station.
The volumes in this collection were originally part of one formed at Clumber House by Henry Pelham, fourth Duke of Newcastle (1785-1851).
Sir Edward Codrington entered the Navy in 1783 and served in the LEANDER, AMBUSCADE and FORMIDABLE in North America and the Mediterranean until 1791. In 1794 he was Earl Howe's (q.v.) Flag Lieutenant in the QUEEN CHARLOTTE and subsequently commanded the fireship COMET and the sloop LA BABET in home waters. In 1796 he was appointed captain of the DRUID, again in home waters, but was unemployed from 1797 until 1805. In this year he commissioned the ORION and was present at Trafalgar. From 1807 he commanded the BLAKE for six years in the Mediterranean, during the Walcheren expedition, 1809, and off the coast of Spain. He was then appointed to the TONNANT, going to the North American Station where he organized the supplies of the army at the capture of Washington. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1814, remaining on the station until 1815. It was not until 1826 that he again saw active service when he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, flying his flag aboard the ASIA, and during this command he undertook operations against the pirates in the Levant. He subsequently took a leading part in the interpretation of allied policy in the Greek War of Independence. These operations culminated in the Battle of Navarino, 1827; this secured Codrington's fame while it also ensured his recall in 1828. After a short period of unemployment, he was appointed to command the Channel Squadron in 1831. He then became Member of Parliament for Devonport, 1832 to 1839, when he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, a post he held until 1842. The papers have been used by Lady Bourchier, Codrington's daughter, in Memoir of the life of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington (London, 1873, 2 vols) and in C.G. Pitcairn Jones, ed. , Piracy in the Levant (Navy Records Society, 1934).
Sir Henry John Codrington, third son of Sir Edward Codrington (q.v.), joined the Navy in 1823 and spent the early years of his service in the Mediterranean, being Signal Midshipman in his father's flagship, ASIA, at the battle of Navarino, 1827, where he was severely wounded. He was made a lieutenant in 1829 and commander in 1831. His first command was the ORESTES, Mediterranean Station, 1834 to 1836. As Captain of the TALBOT he took a leading part in the operations culminating in the siege of Acre, in 1840. In 1846 he was again sent to the Mediterranean in the THETIS where the circumstances leading to the revolutions of 1848 involved him in various diplomatic missions. At the outbreak of the Crimean War, 1854, Codrington was in the Baltic in the Royal George, moving to the Algiers after the war. He became a rear-admiral in 1857 and was Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard, 1858 to 1863. He was Commander-in-Chief at Plymouth, 1869 to 1872, but never hoisted his flag afloat. He was made Admiral of the Fleet in the year of his death. The papers have been used by Lady Bourchier, Codrington's sister, in Selections from the letters, private end professional, of Sir Henry Codrington Admiral of the Fleet (London, 1880).
Andre De Coppet (d 1953) was of Huguenot descent and was a prominent figure on the New York Stock Exchange. Andre De Coppet (1892-1953) was an American broker and collector of Americana. He was born in New York in 1892 to Edward J. and Pauline De Coppet. A 1915 graduate of Princeton University, he inherited a position in the family stock exchange firm of De Coppet and Doremus after the death of his father in 1916. In 1920 he wed Clara Barclay Onativia in New York. In the mid-1920s he took an interest in Haiti and invested in a sisal plantation there. Through the 1920s and 1930s, De Coppet amassed a significant collection of European and American manuscripts. The intention behind his collection was to bring together original documents illustrating the history of Europe from the twelfth century onwards. His particular interest was cultural history.
Cope-Cornford was an architect who turned to writing. His contributions to the National Observer attracted the attention of Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), who was to remain a lifelong friend. In 1905 he went to Berlin to gather material on the Imperial German Navy. He became naval correspondent and leader writer of for the Old and, on its demise, joined the staff of The Morning Post as naval correspondent, becoming second leader writer in 1915. He was a critic of Admiral Fisher's (1841-1920) policies. He wrote many articles for Punch, edited the Memoirs of Admiral Lord Beresford by himself (London, 1914) and wrote a number of books on naval and maritime subjects.
Dr Edward Hodges Cree was born on January 14th 1814, Devonport. He studied medicine at Dublin and Edinburgh Universities, graduating from the latter in 1837, receiving his M.R.C.S and M.D ten years after. Cree entered the Navy in 1837 where the journals begin, which subsequently continue until 1861. Cree's first appointment began in 1837 as assistant surgeon to the ROYAL ADELAIDE, ordered to do duty at the Naval Hospital, Stonehouse. He then establishes his career as a surgeon on board His Majesties vessels VOLCANO, CEYLON, FIREFLY, RATTLESNAKE, VIXEN, FURY, SPARTAN, EAGLE, RUSSELL, ORION and SATURN. Throughout his career he visited many parts of the world, including the Far East, where he witnessed actions in the First Opium War of 1839-42. His service led him to take action against piratical Chinese fleets, engagements and actions against the Russians in the Baltic; and was involved in the final stages of the Crimean War, being present at the Capture of Sebastopol and Kinburn. The water-colour illustrations and sketches contained within his journals create and rich and colourful depiction of the period whilst serving in the Navy. In addition, the book entitled The Cree Journals: The Voyages of Edward H Cree, Surgeon R.N., as related in his private journals, 1837-1856, edited by Michael Levien; is a useful supplement to the collection.
The Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty was established by Order-in-Council in 1795 for the purpose of supplying up-to-date charts and hydrographic information to ships of the Royal Navy, in the first instance from a mass of undigested material accumulated at the Admiralty. In 1809 the Department also became responsible for supplying the fleet with chronometers. Through the nineteenth century the scope of the Department was steadily expanded until by the 1880s Great Britain became the first nation to offer a world coverage of charts and sailing directions on sale to shipping of all nations.
Curzon-Howe entered the Navy in 1863. From 1868 to 1871 he went round the world in the frigate GALATEA. He was made lieutenant in 1872 while serving in the HERCULES. It was not until 1888 that he was on active service again, when he was promoted to captain and appointed to the BOADICEA, which became the flagship of Sir Edmund Fremantle on the East Indies Station. Here, as Flag-Captain and Chief of Staff, Curzon-Howe took part in the operations against the Sultanate of Vitu. In the CLEOPATRA, in 1892, he spent a period as Senior Officer, Newfoundland, reporting on the fishing question. In 1894 he was called south to Bluefields to protect the Mosquito Indians, whose reservation had been invaded by the Nicaraguans. He subsequently returned to Newfoundland and remained there until 1895, when he went to the Mediterranean in the REVENGE, staying on the Station until 1900. In 1901 he was promoted to rear-admiral and became second-in-command of the Channel Fleet in the MAGNIFICENT until, in 1903, he went out to the East in the ALBION to become second-in-command of the China Fleet. Curzon-Howe returned to the Channel in 1905 and in 1907 was given command of the Atlantic Fleet. From 1908 to 1910 he was Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, and then Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, until his death.
Legge served with his cousin, Sir Edward Spragge (d 1673), in the Second Dutch War, 1665 to 1667. During the Third Dutch War, 1672 to 1674, he was Captain of the FAIRFAX, under Sir Robert Holmes (1622-1692) and took part in the battle of Solebay, 1672. In 1673, he commanded the ROYAL KATHERINE, under Prince Rupert (1619-1682). He held various posts in the household of the Duke of York and was Lieutenant-Governor, then Governor, of Portsmouth from 1670 to 1682, when he was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance; he was created Baron Dartmouth in the same year. In 1683 he was sent to Tangier to supervise the evacuation. After the accession of James II in 1685, he was appointed Admiral of the Fleet in 1688, in the hope that he would be able to use the fleet to prevent the invasion of the Prince of Orange. This he was unable to do and he took the oath of allegiance to William and Mary in 1689. In 1691 he was accused of plotting on behalf of the exiled James and died while imprisoned in the Tower of London.
HMS DAUNTLESS, a naval shore establishment at Burghfield in Berkshire, has been used by the Women's Royal Naval Service since 1946 as a training and drafting centre.
Davison started his career as a merchant and shipowner in the Canadian trade. He first met Nelson (q.v.) in 1782 and remained a life-long friend as well as his prize agent. Davison flourished as a government contractor, and, eventually, after obtaining the prize agency for the Nile Fleet, as a banker. His fortunes dwindled after dabbling with politics and after Nelson's death. DAV/2 and DAV/2 we're separate lots purchased at a Sothebys sale.
The partnership of Devitt and Moore was started in 1836 by Thomas Henry Devitt (1800-1860) and Joseph Moore (fl 1836-1870). They began as trading brokers for a number of merchants who owned sailing vessels on the Australia run. On the death of Thomas H Devitt in 1860 his eldest son, Thomas Lane Devitt (1839-1923), who had joined the company in 1855, and Joseph Moore Jr became partners with Joseph Moore Sr. Under the direction of Thomas L Devitt, the business was greatly expanded and in 1863 the company purchased their first sailing ships and began their long association with the passenger and cargo trade to Australia. In 1870 they purchased their only steamship. In December 1878 Devitt and Moore joined with F Green and Co of London. As the importance of the sailing ship in the Australian trade began to decline the company turned its attention to the training of sea cadets, and The Ocean Training Scheme, devised by Lord Brassey and Thomas Lane Devitt, was begun in 1890. Known as the 'Brassey Scheme', its vessels were owned jointly by Lord Brassey and Devitt and Moore but managed by the latter company. The object was to develop a method of training officers for the Merchant Marine. Apart from practical seamanship, training instructions were provided on board the vessels to teach the cadets arithmetic, algebra, geometry, navigation and nautical astronomy. The first vessels acquired for the new scheme were the iron ships Harbinger and Hesperus. The four-masted barque PORT JACKSON was acquired in 1906. Another four-masted barque, the MEDWAY, was purchased in 1910 and the training scheme extended under a new company, Devitt and Moore Ocean Training Ship Ltd. The MEDWAY remained in service until 1918. In 1917 Devitt purchased 'Clayesmore', a large country house near Pangbourne and, together with his youngest son Philip Henry Devitt (1876-1947) founded the Nautical College. In 1929 the firm of Verne, Son and Eggar took over the shipbroking and chartering business of Devitt and Moore. In 1931 the company was reconstructed and renamed Devitt and Moore Nautical College Ltd.
Born at Whitchurch, Hampshire, on 19 November 1904, Sir Norman Egbert Denning joined the navy as a special entry cadet in 1921, leaving Andover grammar school. He joined the paymaster branch instead of becoming an executive officer due to his eyesight. He excelled in this branch and was quickly rewarded for his competency, appointed secretary to senior executive officers. In 1937, paymaster lieutenant-commander Denning was appointed to the Admiralty's intelligence division. He then became chief adviser to the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty. Denning acted as the link between the operational intelligence centre (OIC) and components of the naval intelligence division including the Ministry of Economic Warfare, the army, the Secret Intelligence, the Special Operations Executive and Bomber commands of the RAF. Denning was later promoted paymaster-commander, 1941 and then paymaster-captain, 1951. After World War Two, Denning was appointed director of administrative planning in the Admiralty, later becoming director of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in 1956. In 1958 Denning was promoted to rear-admiral on the general list. In 1958, he became deputy chief of naval personnel and director of manpower in the Admiralty, 1959. From 1964 to 1965 Denning acted as deputy chief of defence staff. Denning was appointed OBE in 1945, CB in 1961, and KBE in 1963. Retiring in 1967 he was secretary of the services, press and broadcasting committee, otherwise known as the 'D Notice Committee'. He died at Micheldever, Hampshire, on 27 December 1979.
Born James Whitley Deans, he took the name of Dundas on marrying his cousin in 1808. He entered the Navy in 1799, served in the Mediterranean and Channel fleets and was made lieutenant in 1805. For the rest of the Napoleonic War he served in the Baltic or the North Sea. After a succession of peacetime commands, he was made rear-admiral in 1841, and briefly, a member of the Board of the Admiralty. From 1846 to 1847 he was Second Naval Lord and was First Naval Lord from 1847 to 1852. He was Member of Parliament for Greenwich, 1832 to 1834 and 1841 to 1852 and for Devizes, 1836 to 1838. In 1852 he was made Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, and a vice-admiral. He was in command when the Crimean War started and his responsibilities included the transport of the army to the Crimea and support of the allies in the battle of Alma and at Sebastopol. Having completed the usual term of command he was relieved in January 1855. He was promoted to admiral in 1857 but saw no further service.
Douglas saw early service in the IPSWICH, 1734 to 1735, and in the SALAMANDER, 1739. He became a lieutenant in 1732, a captain in 1744 and in 1745, in the VIGILANT, was present at the capture of Louisburg. In 1760, in the DUBLIN, he commanded a squadron in the Leeward Islands and in the following year led a successful expedition to capture the island of Dominica. When Admiral Rodney (1719-1792) relieved him in the Leeward Islands in 1761, he was given command of the Jamaica Squadron and was with Rodney as his second-in-command at the capture of Martinique, 1762. He was made rear-admiral in the same year and became a vice-admiral in 1770. From 1773 to 1776 he was Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, flying his flag in the BARFLEUR and the RESOLUTION and was made an admiral in 1778. Douglas was Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland, 1754 to 1768.
Doughty entered the Navy as a cadet in 1847 in the VICTORY. He went to the Mediterranean in the Rodney and remained there firstly in the HOWE and then in the BULLDOG. From 1850 to 1854 he was in the PORTLAND on a voyage to Pitcairn Island and, still on the Pacific Station, he joined the CENTAUR in 1855, the year in which he became a lieutenant. From 1860 Doughty was in the Mediterranean as First Lieutenant of the FOXHOUND until 1864. He was appointed to command the WEAZEL in 1866 on the China Station and returned to the Shannon in 1868 to take up coastguard duties in the VALIANT. His next commission was to the East Indies in the MAGPIE, 1870 to 1872, and he was promoted to captain in 1875. Between 1878 and 1881 he commanded the CROCODILE, an Indian troopship, until he was sent to the Constance on the Pacific Station, 1882 to 1886, during which time he court-martialled his first lieutenant. The REVENGE, the flagship at Queenstown, was his last command, in 1887, and he was placed on the retired list as rear-admiral in 1890.
Duckworth went to sea in 1759 and became a lieutenant in 1771. He saw service in North America during the War of American Independence. He was made Commander of the ROVER in 1779 and a captain in 1780, serving in the West Indies until 1781. He commanded the BOMBAY CASTLE during the mobilization of 1790. In 1793 be was appointed to the ORION, under Lord Howe (q.v.) in the Channel fleet, and fought at the battle of the First of June 1794. In 1795 he returned to the West Indies as Captain of the LEVIATHAN and commanded the fleet for a time in 1796. After a short period in home waters, he joined Earl St. Vincent (q.v.) in the Mediterranean and was in command of the naval forces at the capture of Minorca, 1798. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1799 and continued to serve in the Mediterranean until 1800. He then took command of the blockading squadron off Cadiz, captured a Spanish convoy, and in the same year was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands Station. He received a knighthood for his services against the colonies of the Northern Confederation in 1801. In 1803 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Jamaica, and brought about the surrender of the French army in San Domingo. He was promoted to vice-admiral in 1804. After Trafalgar, he was ordered to join Collingwood (q. V.) in the blockade of Cadiz and when there, heard that a French squadron had escaped; he defeated it at San Domingo on 6 February 1806. Afterwards he returned to Cadiz and the Mediterranean. In February and March 1807 he commanded the squadron which forced the passage of the Dardanelles. The ineffectual outcome of this mission caused Duckworth to be severely criticized. He was ordered to join the Channel fleet. Subsequently he remained in home waters until 1810 when he was promoted to admiral and appointed Commander-in-Chief and Governor of Newfoundland, returning home in 1813. He was elected Member of Parliament for New Romney in 1812. Shortly before his death he was appointed Commander-in-Chief at Plymouth.
After serving his time as a midshipman, Dudman joined the CUMBERLAND as fifth officer in 1808. On his next voyage, in 1812, he left her at Whampoa to join the INGLIS. He stayed with this ship until 1834, having taken command of her in 1828. Dudman's family owned a shipyard at Deptford which built warships and East Indiamen and two other commanders of East India Company ships also came from the family. In 1836 Dudman went into partnership with Thomas Bush, a hop and seed merchant of Southwark.
Anne Dixon was the sister of Admiral Lord Gardner.
Gilbert Elliot was called to the Scottish Bar in 1743 He entered Parliament in 1753 as Member for the county of Selkirk, but from 1765 until his death sat for the county of Roxburgh. In 1756 he was appointed a Lord of the Admiralty until 1761 when he became a Lord of the Treasury. He also became Treasurer of the Chamber in 1762 and, in 1766, Keeper of the Signet in Scotland. In 1770 he was made Treasurer of the Navy, which post he held until his death.