Regency Personalities Series-Sir John Hill

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 John Hill
1774 – 20 January 1855

Sir John Hill joined the navy on 25 September 1781, being entered on the books of the bomb vessel HMS Infernal as a first-class volunteer under Commander James Alms. His name was borne on Infernal‘s books until March 1783. From 20 April 1788 he served aboard the 16-gun HMS Nautilus at Newfoundland under Commander Thomas Thompson, and from 1789 went on to serve aboard several ships of the line. He held the ranks of master’s mate, and later midshipman, aboard the 74-gun ships HMS Goliath, Captain Archibald Dickson, and HMS Bedford, Captain Robert Mann, and the 24-gun HMS Proserpine, Captain James Alms, seeing service in the English Channel and in the West Indies. Hill was promoted to lieutenant on 28 July 1794 and was at first posted to the 74-gun HMS Invincible, serving with the Channel Fleet under Captain Hon. Thomas Pakenham. Hill followed Pakenham to his next command the following year, the 80-gun HMS Juste, and spent a brief period in 1797 serving under his old commander, James Alms, aboard the 64-gun HMS Repulse.

Hill then went out to the Mediterranean aboard the 98-gun HMS Princess Royal, the flagship of Sir John Orde. He transferred to the 74-gun HMS Minotaur under Captain Thomas Louis in May 1798, and served as her senior lieutenant at the Battle of the Nile in early August that year. His good service in the battle led to a commission to the rank of commander, dated 8 October 1798. He was for some time without a command, until being appointed to take over HMS Heroine on 2 February 1800.

Heroine was a former 32-gun fifth rate frigate, but had been reduced to 16 guns and converted to carry troops. He went out with her to the Mediterranean and supported the Egyptian campaign between 1800 and 6 March 1802, when he relinquished command. Hill did not receive any commands during the drawdown of the navy during the Peace of Amiens, but returned to service after the resumption of the wars, with an appointment to the hired 16-gun sloop Humber, in the Channel between 31 March 1804 and 27 October 1808.

Hill saw limited opportunities for service after the expiration of this posting, and it was not until 23 March 1813 that he received another appointment, as an Agent for Transports. He had responsibilities for this in the Baltic and off the French and Dutch coasts for the next six years, being promoted to post captain on 28 October 1815. A summary of his services reported that while in the transport service, he had embarked and disembarked the Swedish Army from Sweden to Pomerania, earning the thanks of Charles XIV John of Sweden. Hill had also been principal agent for transports under General Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch, and oversaw the transport of troops prior to the Battle of Waterloo, earning the thanks of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, and his support for his promotion to post-captain. Hill remained in Europe for several years, based at Calais, and overseeing the transport of troops, wounded soldiers, and prisoners of war.

Following on from his transport duties, Hill was made Captain-Superintendent of Deptford Victualling Yard in 1820, holding the post until 1838. He was made a comptroller in 1822, and a patent commissioner in 1826, followed by captain-superintendent in 1832. Hill was knighted by King William IV on 31 August 1831. From Deptford Hill was moved to be Superintendent at Sheerness Dockyard on 9 March 1838, where he remained until returning to Deptford as superintendent of the dockyard on 11 December 1841. While at Sheerness he was nominally captain of the 98-gun HMS Ocean, where in mid-1838 he received orders from the captain-superintendent, Thomas Fortescue Kennedy, to have HMS Temeraire, then serving as the “Guardship of the Ordinary and Captain-Superintendent’s ship of the Fleet Reserve in the Medway”, prepared for sale and disposal. Hill oversaw the removal of Temeraire‘s masts, stores and guns, and the paying off of her crew. Temeraire‘s final voyage to the breaker’s yard was painted by J. M. W. Turner as The Fighting Temeraire.

The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up, 1838, by J. M. W. Turner.

Hill remained at Deptford until his promotion to rear-admiral in 1851. He had been granted a pension of £150 a year by Parliament, to be paid after his retirement, for “…special services … superintending the relief granted in times of scarcity in Ireland and in Scotland…”

Hill was reported to have married and to have at least one son, who became a colonel in the British Army, and a daughter, who married the naval officer Captain William Langford Castle in 1835, but died in 1837.

Rear-Admiral Sir John Hill died at Walmer Lodge, Deal, Kent on 20 January 1855, at the age of 81. He left an estate valued at around £80,000.

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Regency Personalities Series-Thomas Fortescue Kennedy

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.

Thomas Fortescue Kennedy
9 November 1774 – 15 May 1846

Kennedy was born into a family with a history of military service, and entered the navy shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. After some service on frigates during the various armament crises, in which Kennedy saw service on foreign stations, he was actively involved in the Siege of Toulon, and afterwards was promoted to lieutenant.

He spent some time in the East Indies, distinguishing himself in action, before returning to British waters and serving under a number of prominent naval officers aboard ships of the line. One such officer was Eliab Harvey, who later asked for him to become first-lieutenant on his ship, the 98-gun HMS Temeraire.

Aboard Temeraire Kennedy fought at Trafalgar and played a key role in the capture of the French Fougueux. Promoted to commander for his services, Kennedy captained a ship during the Walcheren Campaign, before being promoted to post-captain shortly before the end of the Napoleonic Wars. His last posting was in 1834, as Captain-Superintendent at Sheerness Dockyard.

For the last two years of his commission he commanded his old ship, HMS Temeraire, which was at Sheerness, serving as a guardship. He was required to arrange and oversee the sale and disposal of the Trafalgar veteran in 1838, one of his last duties before his own commission ended later that year. Kennedy subsequently went into retirement and died in 1846.

Kennedy was born on 9 November 1774, the son of Dr Kennedy, the Inspector-General of Army Hospitals and physician to thePrince of Wales. One of several brothers, Thomas was not alone in choosing a military career. At least two brothers joined the army, one became a captain in the 19th Foot and died in Ceylon in 1801. Another, Sir Robert Hugh Kennedy, served as head of the Army Commissariat under the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War.

Thomas Kennedy differed from his brothers in embarking on a career in the navy, joining up on 12 August 1789 as a volunteer first class, under the patronage of Admiral Lord Hood. He was assigned to serve aboard the 74-gun HMS Colossus, which at the time was the guardship at Portsmouth, successively under the commands of Captains Hugh Cloberry Christian and Henry Harvey.

He was then assigned to the 28-gun HMS Pomona, under Captain Henry Savage, and sailed with her to Africa and the West Indies. His service here lasted until September 1790, after which he served as a midshipman on the Home and Newfoundland stations. He was first aboard the 36-gun HMS Crescent, under Captain William Young, before moving to the 74-gun HMS Alcide, under Captain Sir Andrew Snape Douglas, and finally to the sloop HMS Bonetta, successively under Captains William Elliot and Graham Moore.

Kennedy then served aboard the 74-gun HMS Terrible, at first under Captain Skeffington Lutwidge, and then Captain George Campbell. With Terrible Kennedy went out to join the Mediterranean Fleet, and saw service ashore during the Siege of Toulon. He earned particular praise from Hyde Parker, the captain of the fleet under Admiral Lord Hood, for his role in bringing off 60 French civilians, mostly women, as the city fell to the republicans.

Kennedy returned to Britain in 1794 aboard the frigate HMS Sybille, under Captain Edward Cooke, and afterwards transferred to the 36-gun HMS Lively. Kennedy served under two of her captains, Lord Garlies and George Burlton, before returning to HMS Sybille. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1796, while serving aboard Sybille, and went on to distinguish himself in January 1798 in an attack on a gunboat armed with five guns and carrying 50 men in the Bay of Manilla. Despite having only the ships’ barge and 13 men, Kennedy nevertheless captured the gunboat and took possession of it. He was appointed to command his prize during an attack on Samboangon, on Maguindanao, carried out by Lively and HMS Fox.

Kennedy rejoined Lively after this, and continued in her until April 1798. His next appointment was to the 74-gun HMS Triumph, serving at first under Captain William Essington, and later under captains Thomas Seacombe, Eliab Harvey and Sir Robert Barlow. Terrible spent some time during this period as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, and Kennedy served in the English Channel and in the Mediterranean.

After leaving Triumph in 1803, Kennedy took command of the small tender Eliza and Jane in 5 October until 15 November. His role was to convey impressed men from Dublin to Plymouth.

He was then asked by his former commander, Eliab Harvey, to join him as his first-lieutenant aboard the 98-gun HMS Temeraire. Both Kennedy and Harvey fought at the Battle of Trafalgar in which Temeraire was second in line behind Lord Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory.

During the battle Temeraire was engaged in close action with two French warships, Redoutable and Fougueux. After firing several broadsides into Fougueux, Harvey ordered Kennedy to take command of a party of boarders and lead them onto Fougueux.

Kennedy’s party entered the French ship via her main deck ports and chains. The French tried to defend the decks port by port, but were steadily overwhelmed. Fougueux‘s captain, Louis Alexis Baudoin, had suffered a fatal wound earlier in the fighting, leaving Commander Francois Bazin in charge. On learning that nearly all of the officers were dead or wounded and that most of the guns were out of action, Bazin surrendered the ship to Kennedy.

Following the decisive victory at Trafalgar, a round of promotions were made to a number of the officers and men who had fought in the battle. Most of the first-lieutenants present at the battle were promoted to commander, and Kennedy duly received his promotion, dated 24 December 1805. The shortage of ships available for officers of his rank meant that it was not until 1808 that he received a posting, to the 10-gun HMS Cordelia. He commissioned her for service in the North Sea and in 1809 served in the Walcheren Campaign.

While in command he took part in the capture of three privateers and a number of merchantmen, and later commanded a squadron of eight brigs tasked with blockading two 40-gun French frigates at Dunkirk. His blockade was successful, and being unable to escape, the frigates were eventually laid up. He was eventually promoted to post-captain in 1813, but did not receive another ship before the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

The draw-down of the navy in peacetime offered few opportunities for further service, but in 1834 Kennedy received a posting as Captain-Superintendent at Sheerness Dockyard. At Sheerness at this time was the ship Kennedy had served on at Trafalgar, HMS Temeraire, now reduced to serving as a victualling hulk.

Her final role was as a guardship at Sheerness, under the title ‘Guardship of the Ordinary and Captain-Superintendent’s ship of the Fleet Reserve in the Medway’. For the last two years of her service, from 1836 to 1838 she was under the nominal command of Captain Kennedy, in his post as Captain-Superintendent of Sheerness. Kennedy was now commander of the ship he had been first-lieutenant of at Trafalgar, and would be her last commander before her sale and disposal.

Kennedy received orders from the Admiralty in 1838 to have Temeraire valued in preparation for her sale out of the service, and work began on dismantling her that July. Kennedy delegated this task to Captain Sir John Hill, commander of HMS Ocean. Temeraire was sold by Dutch auction on 16 August 1838 to John Beatson, a shipbreaker based at Rotherhithe, for £5,530. She was then towed up the Thames to his yard, a voyage that J. M. W. Turner depicted in his painting The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up, 1838. Kennedy’s commission did not long outlive Temeraire‘s. He left his post at Sheerness in 1838 and went into retirement, dying on 15 May 1846.

Kennedy married twice. His first marriage took place in 1806 to Louisa Adlam. The marriage produced two sons who survived him, both of whom entered the military and became officers: George Kennedy served in the Royal Artillery, and his brother Hugh Kennedy served in the Royal Marines.

Kennedy remarried in 1834 to Hannah Kennedy, the widow of a Dr Kennedy, but no children are reported.

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