Regency Personalities Series-Sir Hyde Parker

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Sir Hyde Parker
1739 – 16 March 1807

Hyde Parker

Sir Hyde Parker was born in Devonshire, England, the second son of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet (1714–1783). He entered the Royal Navy at an early age, and became lieutenant on 25 January 1758, having passed most of his early service in his father’s ships. On 16 December 1762 was promoted to command the Manila, from which, on 18 July 1763, he was posted to the Baleine.

From 1766 onwards for many years he served in the West Indies and in North American waters, particularly distinguishing himself in breaking the defences of the North River at New York in 1776. His services on this occasion earned him a knighthood in 1779. In 1778 he was engaged in the Savannah expedition, and in the following year his ship was wrecked on the hostile Cuban coast. His men, however, entrenched themselves, and were in the end brought off safely. Parker was with his father at the Battle of Dogger Bank, and with Richard Howe in the two actions in the Straits of Gibraltar. He reached flag rank on 1 February 1793, the same day that war was declared against the new French Republic. As Rear Admiral, he served under Samuel Hood at Toulon and in Corsica. He was promoted to Vice-Admiral on 4 July 1794 and took part, under The Lord Hotham, in the indecisive fleet actions on 13 March 1795 and 13 July 1795. From 1796 to 1800 he was in command at Jamaica and ably conducted the operations in the West Indies.

He became a full Admiral on 14 February 1799. In 1801 he was appointed to command the fleet destined to break up the northern armed neutrality, with Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson as his second-in-command. Copenhagen, the first objective of the expedition, fell in the Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801 to the fierce attack of Nelson’s squadron – Parker, with the heavier ships, taking little part due to the shallowness of the channel. At the height of the battle Parker, who was loath to infringe the customary rules of naval warfare, raised the flag to disengage. Famously, Nelson ignored the order from his commander by raising his telescope to his blind eye and exclaiming “I really do not see the signal”(although this is generally accepted to be a myth). Nelson pressed on with the action and ultimately compelled the Danish forces to capitulate. Parker’s hesitation to advance up the Baltic Sea after his victory was later severely criticised. Soon afterwards he was recalled and Nelson succeeded him. He died on 16 March 1807.

Parker was twice married: first, to Anne, daughter of John Palmer Boteler, and by her had three sons; second, in 1800, he married Frances, a daughter of Admiral Sir Sir Richard Onslow, and made their home at the manor house in Benhall on the Suffolk coast.

His first son — the third Hyde Parker became a Rear-Admiral in turn. Two other notable family members who fought in the Napoleonic wars are Parker’s second son, John Boteler Parker, and the youngest, Harry, a lieutenant in the guards.

Read Full Post »

Regency Personalities Series-Edward O’Bryen

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Edward O’Bryen
1753 – 18 December 1808

Edward O’Bryen

A British Royal Navy officer prominent in the late nineteenth century, who is best known for his participation at the Nore Mutiny and the Battle of Camperdown, both in 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars. At the Nore, O’Bryen had recently been given command of the ship of the line HMS Nassau when the mutiny broke out. Although he was not the cause and the crew expressed their affection for him, O’Bryen had to be prevented from throwing himself overboard when his men refused to obey his orders. Just five months later, now in command of Vice-Admiral Richard Onslow’s flagship HMS Monarch, O’Bryen led the southern division of the British attack at the Battle of Camperdown, in which a Dutch fleet was destroyed and British supremacy in the North Sea confirmed. Although he was praised for his exertions in the battle, O’Bryen’s health was deteriorating and he retired from the Navy in 1803, dying at the rank of rear-admiral five years later.

Nothing is known of Edward O’Bryen’s parents or childhood, and he first appears as a junior officer aboard the frigate HMS Aeolus during the early 1770s. He later moved to HMS Prudent in the East Indies and then in 1775 became a lieutenant, at which time he was at least 21 years old. He then served on a number of ships, including the galley HMS Ferret that fought under Lord Howe in Narragansett Bay in August 1778 and later HMS Ostrich and HMS Ambuscade in the Channel Fleet. In 1781 he sailed for the Caribbean in HMS Actaeon and two years later took over the sloop HMS Jamaica. In 1784 he was promoted to post captain and returned to Europe in HMS Resistance. He was then immediately placed on the reserve list on half-pay, not serving at sea again until 1795.

As O’Bryen lacked any influence at the Admiralty, he was forced to wait more than ten years for another commission, finally being given command of HMS Southampton in April 1795. In June of that year he transferred to HMS Windsor Castle, the flagship of Rear-Admiral Robert Mann. He was still in post in July 1796 when Mann abandoned Gibraltar and returned to Britain without orders, inviting severe censure from the Admiralty, government and Admiral Sir John Jervis.

Mann was dismissed from the service and O’Bryen had to wait until February 1797 for another ship, when he was given HMS Nassau at Yarmouth, flagship of Vice-Admiral Richard Onslow. Nassau was a disaffected ship, its men had been unpaid for the previous 19 months service, and when the Nore Mutiny broke out in May 1797, O’Bryen’s authority was challenged and resisted by his crew. When the crew attempted to hang two men who would not join them, O’Bryen insisted that if anyone should die he would be the first and threatened to throw himself overboard. This checked the actions of the mutineers, but reportedly O’Bryen was left close to suicide. He left the ship shortly afterwards, and although the crew, who expressed their affection for him, invited him to return, he refused until the mutiny was over.

In July, Onslow and O’Bryen moved to HMS Monarch and on 11 October 1797 served with Admiral Adam Duncan’s fleet at the Battle of Camperdown. Monarch lead the larboard division into action against the Dutch rear. O’Bryen’s ship was heavily engaged, and fought successfully against the Dutch ships Jupiter, Haarlem and Monnikendam, all of which were eventually captured.

Monarch suffered 136 casualties and O’Bryen was praised by King George III for his role in the battle. Monarch remained active in the North Sea during the remainder of 1797, but in 1798 O’Bryen was struck by the first of recurring bouts of ill-health and briefly retired ashore, returning briefly to service in 1801 to command HMS Kent in the Mediterranean. O’bryen retired permanently from the Navy in 1803.

O’Bryen subsequently lived with his wife Mary Alsop and their daughter, also named Mary, at Catisfield in Hampshire until his wife’s death in 1807, shortly after which he was married to Martha Charlotte Bradbury. O’Bryen was promoted to rear-admiral in 1805, but ill-health prevented any return to the sea and he died in December 1808, acknowledging an illegitimate son named James Cavendish in his will.

Read Full Post »

Regency Personalities Series-Sir Richard Onslow

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Sir Richard Onslow
23 June 1741 – 27 December 1817

Sir Richard Onslow

He was the younger son of Lt-Gen. Richard Onslow and his wife Pooley, daughter of Charles Walton. Onslow’s uncle was Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the British House of Commons, and he enjoyed considerable interest as he rapidly rose through the Navy.

He was made fourth lieutenant of the Sunderland in 1758 by V-Adm. George Pocock, fifth lieutenant of the Grafton in 1759, and fourth lieutenant of Pocock’s flagship, the Yarmouth on in 1760, upon which he returned to England.

Onslow became commander of the Martin in 1761, cruising in the Skagerrak until his promotion to captain of the Humber in 1762. He joined the Humber in June, but she was wrecked off Flamborough Head while returning from the Baltic in September. Onslow was court-martialed for her loss, but was acquitted, the pilot being blamed for the wreck. In 1762, he was appointed to command the Phoenix.

Onslow did not receive another command until 1776, when he was appointed to the St Albans. He took a convoy to New York City in 1777 and joined Lord Howe in time for the repulse of d’Estaing in 1777 at Sandy Hook. Onslow sailed for the West Indies in 1778 with Commodore Hotham, and took part in the capture of Saint Lucia and its defense against d’Estaing that December at the Cul-de-Sac. In 1779, he brought a convoy from St Kitts to Spithead.

He was placed in command of the Bellona, in the Channel Fleet under Admiral Francis Geary, in February 1780, and captured the Dutch 54-gun ship Prinses Carolina in 1780. Onslow took part in the Relief of Gibraltar under Admiral Darby in 1781, and again under Howe in 1782. The Bellona captured La Solitaire in the West Indies before Onslow returned home and took half-pay in June 1783.

In early 1789, he was appointed to command the Magnificent at Portsmouth, but was out of employment again in 1791. He was promoted Rear-Admiral of the White in 1793 and Vice-Admiral in 1794. In 1796, he was made port admiral at Portsmouth, and in November, he went aboard the Nassau to act as second-in-command of the North Sea Fleet under Admiral Duncan.

During the Spithead and Nore mutinies, Onslow suppressed a rising aboard the Nassau, and was sent by Duncan to quell the Adamant. When the Nassau refused to sail on 26 May 1797, Onslow moved his flag to the Adamant and until the end of the mutiny, Duncan (in the Venerable) and Onslow maintained the blockade off the Texel alone, making signals to an imaginary fleet over the horizon.

Onslow moved his flag again to the Monarch on 25 July 1797, and it was aboard her that he took part in the Battle of Camperdown. His flag captain, Edward O’Bryen, supposedly warned him that the Dutch ships were too close together to get between, to which Onslow replied “The Monarch will make a passage.” Indeed, Monarch was the first to break the Dutch line and attack the Jupiter of 72 guns, flagship of Vice-Admiral Reyntjes, who subsequently surrendered to Onslow.

For his exertions at Camperdown, Onslow was created a baronet and presented with the Freedom of the City of London. He became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in 1796.

He went on sick leave in 1798 and retired as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth a few weeks later. He was promoted Admiral of the Red in 1805 and received the GCB in 1815. He died in 1817 at Southampton.

In 1765, Onslow, known for his conviviality, was a founder of the Navy Society dining club. In 1766, he was appointed to command the frigate Aquilon in the Mediterranean, which he did until 1769, and from 12 October 1770, commanded the Diana in the West Indies.

Admiral Rodney gave him command of Achilles in 1773, in which he returned to England, where he acquired an estate and married Anne, daughter of Commodore Matthew Michell. They had three sons and four daughters:

• Matthew Richard Onslow, married Sarah Seton in 1805 and had two daughters
• Sir Henry Onslow, 2nd Baronet
• Capt. John James Onslow
• Frances Onslow, married V-Adm. Sir Hyde Parker
• Anne Onslow, married Francis Lake, 2nd Viscount Lake in 1833; married Henry Gritton in 1837
• Elizabeth Onslow, married Robert Lewis
• Harriet Onslow, married J.N. Creighton

Read Full Post »