Sir John Duckworth, 1st Baronet

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Sir John Thomas Duckworth, 1st Baronet, GCB
Vice-Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth
AllegianceUnited Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland
Service/branchRoyal Navy
Years of service1759–1817
RankAdmiral of the Blue Squadron
UnitHMS Rover
HMS Grafton
HMS Leviathan
HMS Superb
HMS Antelope
Commands heldCommander-in-Chief at Barbados and Leeward Islands
Commander-in-Chief at Jamaica
Second in Command of the Mediterranean Fleet
Governor of Newfoundland and Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian squadron
Commander-in-Chief of the Plymouth naval base
Battles/wars1 June 1794
Capture of Minorca
capture of the islands of St.Bartholomew and St.Martin
Ferrol expedition of 1800
blockade of Cadiz
Battle of San Domingo
Dardanelles Operation
Alexandria expedition of 1807
AwardsBattle of the Glorious First of June, 1794 Medal
Jamaica Sword of Honour
Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
London Sword of Honour
RelationsSon in law to the bishop of Exeter
Father in law to Vice-Admiral Sir Richard King

Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth, 1st Baronet, GCB[1] (9 February 1747 (Gregorian Calendar) – 31 August 1817 in Plymouth, England) was a British naval officer of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, a Governor of Newfoundland, and a member of the British House of Commons. When in England, Duckworth lived on a property called Weare House of Weare Park in Topsham[2] in the County of Devon, which he purchased in 1804 and rebuilt over several years.[3]

Early life

Born in Leatherhead, Surrey, England, Duckworth was the son of Sarah Johnson and the vicar Henry Duckworth A.M. of Stoke Poges[4] descended from a landed family. Duckworth went to Eton College, but began his naval career in 1759 at the suggestion of Edward Boscawen, when he entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman on HMS Namur.[5] On 5 April 1764 he joined the 50-gun HMS Guernsey at Chatham after leaving HMS Prince of Orange, to serve with Admiral Hugh Palliser, then Governor of Newfoundland. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant aboard the Princess Royal on which he was concussed by a head of another sailor decapitated by a cannonball[6], based on the West Indies station on 14 November 1771, serving as first lieutenant in the frigate HMS Diamond during the American War of Independence.[7] He married Anne Wallis in July 1776[8], and in 1779 after receiving his first command of a sloop-of-war HMS Rover, was promoted to Captain in 16 June 1780 in which he cruised the waters off Martinique until briefly returning to the Princess Royal with a post rank before joining HMS Grafton (74 gun) with a command of escorting English convoys.[9]

Revolutionary wars service

When the French Revolution broke out, Duckworth was serving as a flag-captain to the Admiral of the West Indies squadron, Sir George Brydges Rodney soon after in HMS Princess Royal.[10]

During the wars with France, Duckworth distinguished himself both in European waters and in the Caribbean. Aboard the Orion (74-gun) from 1793 as Commander with the Channel fleet of Admiral Lord Howe, Duckworth saw action in three battles during latter May and 1 June 1794[11], and was one of eighteen Commanders honoured with a gold medal and ribbon and thanks of both Houses of Parliament.[12]

He served as Commodore in Santo Domingo in 1796, and was promoted to Rear Admiral of the White Squadron on 14 February 1799 following the Capture of Minorca for which he sailed on 19 October 1798[13][14] where he was a joint commander with Sir Charles Stewart, commemorating the promotion in June 1799 when La Courageux was captured by his squadron of four ships.[15] Duckworth was later appointed Commander-in-Chief at Barbados and Leeward Islands, 1800-1802, and Commander-in-Chief at Jamaica, 1801-1805 during which time he, in April 1800, intercepted a large and rich Spanish convoy off Cadiz, with his share of the prize money estimated at £75,000.[16][17]

In 1800 Duckworth in HMS Leviathan (74-gun) [18] commanded four ships in a fleet of 109 vessels in the Ferrol expedition under joint commands of Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren with 20 ships of the line and 15-20,000 Army troops under James Murray-Pulteney, ostensibly sent to capture Belleisle.[19] The fleet landed with 12,500 troops under command of Sir Edward Pellew on 25 August. However, the assault on the city was inexplicably abandoned during the expected attack on Fort St.Philip due to fears of the fleet being driven off to sea by the winds, and leaving the Army troops unsupported and with no means of retreat.[20]

Duckworth was nominated a Knights Companion of the most Honourable Military Order of the Bath in 1801 and installed in 1803[21] for the capture of the islands of St.Bartholomew and St.Martin and defeat of the Swedish and Danish forces stationed there on 20 March 1801[22][23], also receiving a pension of £1,000. Much of the 1802 was again spent in the West Indies station with fifteen sail-of-the-line under command.

Service against Napoleon

West Indies

From 1803, on the death of Lord Hugh Seymour, and until 1805, Duckworth assumed command as the commander-in-chief of the Jamaica station, with appointment as Vice-Admiral of the Blue Squadron on 23 April 1804, briefly also serving as a Colonel of Marines.[citation needed] He succeeded in capturing numerous enemy vessels and remained in Jamaica until 1805.[24]

Fortunes changed for Duckworth when in 1805 he was commanding the West Indies squadron involved in the blockade of Cádiz[25] in HMS Superb[26] with seven sail of the line[27][28] and 2 frigates. Although known for a cautious character, he abandoned the blockade and sailed in search of a French squadron reported by a frigate off Madeira in December on his own initiative[29], something he was later to be criticised for[30] because his orders, on failure to find the French, were to join Nelson with three of the vessels[31], and therefore he subsequently missed Battle of Trafalgar. This turned out to be the much sought after Rochefort squadron that had earlier escaped a blockade by Cornwallis. Although he had found the squadron of Contre-Admiral Jean Batiste Willaumez[32] then sought by Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Strachan, Duckworth was unable to engage the French on the claim of his ships being scattered, and, short on water, made the decision to continue to West Indies, where at Saint Kitts he was joined by a pair of 74 gun ships commanded by Strachan[33], and later a sloop which brought news of French at San Domingo[34] that was the French squadron[35] under the command of Vice-Admiral Corentin Urbain Leissègues which escaped from the Brest[36] and sought to reinforce the French forces at San Domingo with about 1,000 troops.[37] [38] Arriving at San Domingo on 6 February 1806, Duckworth found the French squadron with its transports anchored in the Occa bay. The French commander immediately hurried to sea, forming a line as they went. Duckworth gave signal to form two columns of four and three ships of the line.

In the Battle of San Domingo[39], Duckworth's squadron defeated the squadron of French when

Duckworth at once made the signal to attack and "with a portrait of Nelson suspended from the mizzen stay of the Superb with the band playing 'God Save the King' and 'Nelson of the Nile', bore down on the leading French ship L'Alexandre of 84 guns and engaged her at close quarters. After a severe action of two hours, two of the French ships were driven ashore and burnt with three others captured. Only the French frigates escaped.[40]

Despite this, it is thought that Duckworth used his own ship cautiously, and the credit for the victory was due more to the initiative of the individual British captains.[41] Duckworth nearly grounded his own ship as he attmpted to board L'Impérial.[42]

Duckworth's Action off San Domingo, 6 February 1806 by Nicholas Pocock (1808). The action began when the 'Superb', 74 guns, under the command of Sir John Duckworth, fired at the French 'Alexandre', 80 guns.

His victory over the French Admiral Leissègues off the coast of Hispaniola on the 6 February together with Admiral Alexander Cochrane's squadron was the highlight of his Royal Navy service career, which was a fatal blow to French strategy in the Caribbean region, and played a major part in Napoleon's eventual sale of Louisiana, and withdrawal from the Caribbean.

A promotion to Vice-Admiral in April 1806 followed, along with the presentation of a Sword of Honour by the grateful Jamaica House of Assembly, but after he returned to England again, he was called to face courts-martial charges which where later dropped.[43] On his return to England, Duckworth was granted a substantial pension of £1,000 from the House of Commons, and freedom of the city of London.[44], while his naval feats were acknowledged with several honours, including the Sword of Honour by the City of London.[45][46]

San Domingo was the last significant fleet action of the Napoleonic Wars that, despite negative claims of his character, Duckworth's displayed an understanding of the role of naval strategy in the overall war by securing for Britain mastery of the sea, and thus having sea-oriented mentality having placed a British fleet in the right position.[47] Duckworth also displayed the willingness of accept changing tactics employed by Nelson, and maintained the superiority of British naval gunnery in battle.

Mediterranean

Upon his return to England in the HMS Antelope (50 guns) after escorting transports from Newfoundland[48], Duckworth was appointed second in command of the Mediterranean Fleet. Sailing with with eight ships of the line and four smaller vessels he arrived at the island of Tenedos with orders to take possession of the Ottoman fleet at Constantinople, thus supporting Dmitry Senyavin's Imperial Russian Navy in the Dardanelles Operation. Accompanying him were some of the ablest Royal Navy officers such as Sydney Smith, Dacres and Blackwood but he was in doubt of having the capability to breach the shore batteries and reach the anchored Ottoman fleet. Aware of Turkish efforts to reinforce the shore artillery, he never the less took no action until 11 February 1807 and spent some time in the straight waiting for a favourable wind. Finally at Nagara the British force encountered the Ottoman fleet of twelve ships of the line and nine frigates.[49] which engaged first, but thirteen of its vessels were forced ashore and burnt, with adjacent fortifications destroyed by landing parties.[50] On the 20 February the British squadron reached the Ottoman capital, but had to engage in fruitless negotiations with the Sultan's representatives by the accompanying ambassador Mr.Arbuthnot due to the secret instructions that were issued as part of his orders for the mission[51], and therefore loosing more time as the Turks played for time to complete their shore batteries in the hope of trapping the British squadron.[52] Exasperated, and not having a significant force to land on the shore, Duckworth decided to withdraw, subjected to shore artillery fire all the way to the open sea, and sustaining casualties and damage to ships. HMS Ajax was also lost to accidental fire on-board soon after the exit from the Dardenelles.

Though blamed for indecisiveness, Duckworth's words were to ring true a century later when he said in his report on the operation:

I must, as officer, declare to be my decided opinion that, without the cooperation of a body of land forces, it would be a wanton sacrifice of the squadrons to attempt to force the passage [53]

After departure from Constantinople, as an Admiral of the Blue Squadron[54] he commanded the squadron protecting transports of the Alexandria expedition of 1807, but that was forced to withdraw after after five months due to lack of supplies.[55] Duckworth summed up this expedition, in reflection on the service of the year by commenting that

Instead of acting vigorously in either one or the other direction, our cabinet comes to the miserable determination of sending five or six men-of-war, without soldiers, to the Dardanelles, and 5000 soldiers, without a fleet, to Alexandria. [56]

Soon after he married again on 14 May 1808 to Susannah Catherine Buller, a daughter of William Buller, the bishop of Exeter.[57]

Newfoundland and War of 1812

Probably because he was thought of as irresolute and unimaginative[58], on 26 March 1810 Duckworth was appointed Governor of Newfoundland and Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian squadron. Although this was a minor command in a remote station spanning from Davis Strait to the Gulf of St Lawrence, he also received a promotion to Admiral of the Blue Squadron, still commanding the Antelope.[59] While serving as Governor he was attacked for his arbitrary powers over the territory, and retaliated against the pamphleteer by disallowing his reappointment as surgeon of the local militia unit, the Loyal Volunteers of St John, which Duckworth renamed the St John’s Volunteer Rangers, and enlarged to 500 officers and militiamen for the War of 1812 with the United States. Duckworth also took an interest in bettering relationship with the local Beothuk Indians[60], and sponsored Lieutenant David Buchan's expedition up the Exploits River in 1810 to explore the region of the Beothuk settlements. As the Governor and station naval commander, Duckworth suddenly found himself again in the midst of a war precisely over those issues which United States thought they were fighting, such as "Free Trade and Sailor's Rights." His orders and instructions to captains under his command were therefore directly concerned with fishing rights of US vessels on the Grand Banks, the prohibition of United States trade with British colonials, the searching of ships under US flag for contraband, and the impressments of seamen for service on British vessels.

Semi-retirement

On 2 December 1812, soon after arriving in Devon, resigned as Governor after being offered a parliamentary seat for New Romney on the coast of Kent. At about this time he found out that his oldest son George Henry was killed in action while serving in the rank of a Colonel[61] with the Duke of Wellington in Spain at the Battle of Albuera at the head of 48th (Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot.[62] He was created a baronet on 2 November 1813, adopting a motto Disciplina, fide, perseverantia (Discipline, fidelity, perseverance)[63], and in January 1815 was appointed Commander-in-Chief at the Plymouth naval base 45 miles from his home; a post considered one of semi-retirement by his successor, Lord Exmouth.[64] Duckworth passed away at his post on the base in 1817, a fitting end to a long and distinguished service with the Royal Navy.[65]

Duckworth was buried on the 9 September at the Topsham church where he was laid to rest in the family vault, with his coffin covered with crimson velvet studded with 2,500 silvered nails to resemble a ship's planking.[66]

Memorials

Duckworth Street in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada is named in his honour.

Perhaps the greatest, if a somewhat unusual memorial to Duckworth was the use of his property, and half of the golf course, now occupied by the Exeter Golf and Country Club, as the largest US Navy Supply Depot in the south of England during the Second World War, with some later retained for use by a UK MOD Naval Store.[67]

See also

Citations and notes

  1. ^ Prior to 1815 the order had only a single class, Knights Companion (KB), which no longer exists.
  2. ^ the new spelling is Wear, in Countess Wear on the outskirts of Exeter]]
  3. ^ Exeter Memories, Countess Wear, Weare Park
  4. ^ county Bucks, p.173, Debrett
  5. ^ Whiteley
  6. ^ p.209, Clarke
  7. ^ Whiteley
  8. ^ with whom he had one son and one daughter
  9. ^ p.209, Clarke
  10. ^ Whiteley
  11. ^ Whiteley
  12. ^ Whiteley
  13. ^ p.278, Ross
  14. ^ pp.108-122, Lysons; later inscribed on his Arms Supporters
  15. ^ p.348, Mostert
  16. ^ Whiteley
  17. ^ this was roughly the cost of building and manning a first rate ship of the line such as HMS Royal George he was to command later which in 1805 cost £35.4 per ton; [1], Watts
  18. ^ Captain James Carpenter; some mention only Levithan, Swiftsure and Emerald, p.37, James
  19. ^ p.597, Bisset; Sir Ralph Abercromby serving as second in command to Pulteney
  20. ^ p.179, Phillips
  21. ^ Whiteley
  22. ^ p.209, Clarke
  23. ^ The ground troops were two brigades commanded by Lieutenant-General Trigg of 1,500 and 1,800 troops, and included the 64th Regiment of Foot, and the 2nd and 8th West Indies Regiments supported by two detachments of Royal Artillery, and two companies of sailors about 100 in strength each
  24. ^ pp.108-122, Lysons
  25. ^ Cádiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain
  26. ^ Captain Keats as Flag Captain, later Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats
  27. ^ p.793, Debrett
  28. ^ all 74-gun except HMS Canopus of 80, and HMS Agamemnon of 64
  29. ^ it was the squadron of Admiral Allemand; p.308, Miller
  30. ^ p.184, Ireland
  31. ^ p.103, Barham
  32. ^ Who was heading for the Cape of Good Hope
  33. ^ p.308, Miller
  34. ^ p.184, Ireland
  35. ^ 5 ships: L'Imperial of 130 guns, 2 of 84 and 2 of 74 and two frigates.
  36. ^ p.184, Ireland
  37. ^ p.102, Anderson
  38. ^ p.308, Miller
  39. ^ Added to his Arms as words; the British sailor was added to the Supporters of the Arms in 1814
  40. ^ [2] The Fourth Superb - Napoleonic glory
  41. ^ p.184, Ireland
  42. ^ p.309, Miller
  43. ^ [3] Sir John Thomas Duckworth, K.B., Papers, 1801-1807 Manuscript Group 18
  44. ^ Whiteley
  45. ^ [4] Sir John Thomas Duckworth, K.B., Papers, 1801-1807 Manuscript Group 18
  46. ^ Richard Teed (1756-1816) was responsible for the manufacture and supply of the swords presented by the Patriotic Fund to deserving sailors and soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars, 1803-14; it is a part of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich sword collection [5]
  47. ^ pp.2-3, Wegener
  48. ^ [6] The Salisbury And Winchester Journal, Monday, November 30th 1812
  49. ^ p.311,Miller
  50. ^ p.189, Ireland
  51. ^ pp.3-5, Howard
  52. ^ p.189, Ireland
  53. ^ p.114, Chatterton
  54. ^ pp.108-122, Lysons
  55. ^ p.522, Mostert
  56. ^ p.3, Higgins
  57. ^ they had two sons; she passed away on 27 April 1840, p.xxvi, Debrett
  58. ^ p.323, Miller
  59. ^ Whiteley
  60. ^ Whiteley
  61. ^ p.210, Clarke
  62. ^ p.173, Debrett
  63. ^ p.716, Burke
  64. ^ p.206, Osler
  65. ^ Whiteley
  66. ^ Whiteley
  67. ^ Exeter Memories, Countess Wear, Weare Park

References

  • Anderson, William, The Scottish Nation: Or The Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours, and Biographical History of the People of Scotland, Fullarton, 1862
  • Barham (Lord), Charles Middleton, Letters and Papers of Charles, Lord Barham, Admiral of the Red Squadron: 1758-1813, Volume III Adamant Media Corporation, 2004
  • Bisset, Robert, The History of the Reign of George III.: To which is Prefixed, A View of the Progressive Improvement of England, in Prosperity and Strength, to the Accession of His Majesty ..., Volumes II-III, E. Littell, London, 1828
  • Burke, John, A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, Vol. II, 5th ed., Published by H. Colburn and R. Bentley, London, 1832
  • Chatterton, E. Keble, Dardanelles Dilemma; The Story of the Naval Operations, Rich & Cowan, Ltd., London, 1935
  • Clarke, The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the Most Eminent Persons, who Have Flourished in Great Britain, from the Accession of George the First to the Demise of George the Fourth, Vizetelly, Branston and Co., London, 1833
  • Debrett, John, (Ed.), The Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in two volumes, Volume Two, Scotland and Ireland, Thirteenth edition, London, 1820
  • Debrett, John, Debrett's baronetage of England revised, corrected and continued by George William Collen, William Pickering Publisher, London 1840
  • Higgins, Trumbull, Winston Churchill and the Dardanelles; A Dialogue in Ends and Means, McMillan, London, 1963.
  • Howard, Edward, Memoires of Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, K.C. B., & c., Volume 2, Adamant Media Corporation, 2003
  • Ireland, Bernard, Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail: War at Sea 1756-1815, Collins, 2001
  • Lysons, Daniel and Samuel, General history: Baronets, Magna Britannia: volume 6, Devonshire, 1822 [7]
  • Miller, Nathan, Broadsides: The Age of Fighting Sail, 1775-1815, Wiley, 2001
  • Mostert, Noel, The line upon a wind: an intimate history of the last and greatest war fought at sea under sail, 1793-1815, Jonathan Cape, London, 2007
  • Osler, Edward, The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth, BiblioBazaar, 2007
  • Phillips, Richard, (ed.), The Monthly Magazine, Volume XI, Part I, January to June, London, 1801
  • Ross, Sir John, Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord De Saumarez: From original papers in possession of the family, Volume 1, Adamant Media Corporation, 2001
  • Watts, Sir Percy, The Ships of the Royal Navy as they existed at the time of Trafalgar, Read to the Institution of Naval Architects, July 19th 1905
  • Wegener, Edward, H. Wegener (Translator), The Soviet Naval Offensive, Naval Institute Press, 1976
  • Whiteley, William H., Duckworth, Sir John Thomas, Dictionary of Canadian Biography online, http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=36502

Recommended reading

  • Dr Leslie Southwick, Journal of the Arms and Armour Society, Vol. XI pp47-55, Vol. XII pp223-284 and 291-311 and Vol XIII pp173-220. (Swords of Honour)

External links

"Sir John Duckworth, 1st Baronet". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.

Political offices
Preceded by Commodore Governor of Newfoundland
1810-1812 		Succeeded by
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
New creation
 Baronet
(of Topsham)
1813–1817 		Succeeded by
John Thomas Buller Duckworth
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