Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel
Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel (born April 25, 1725 , † October 2, 1786 in Elveden , Suffolk ) was a British admiral and politician. After the First Battle of Ushant , which was not clearly won , he had to appear before a court martial and was acquitted. He was a member of the House of Commons for decades and most recently for a short time First Lord of the Admiralty .
Early years
Keppel was a descendant of the Dutch general Arnold van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle . He was the second son of General Willem van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle . His mother Anne Lennox was a daughter of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond .
He joined the Royal Navy in 1735 as a midshipman at the age of ten and initially served on ships in the Mediterranean for several years. He participated in the circumnavigation of George Anson between 1740 and 1744 , where he distinguished himself during the sack of Paita in South America. During the trip he was promoted to acting lieutenant. On his return he passed the lieutenant examination.
Thanks to his family connections, Keppel became commander as early as 1744 and captain in the same year. He commanded several smaller ships and frigates before he was given command of the Maidstone with 50 cannons in 1745 . He ran aground with her during the War of the Austrian Succession in pursuit of a French ship near Belle-Île in 1747 , was captured by the French, but was soon released again. Because of the loss of his ship, he was brought before a court martial, but was acquitted.
Promotion to rear admiral
After the end of the War of the Austrian Succession, he owed it to his connections that he could continue to serve in the fleet. He was appointed commodore in 1751 and served in the Mediterranean. Keppel was charged with unsuccessful negotiations with the Dey of Algiers. From 1754 he was stationed in North America. Before the official start of the Seven Years' War he fought against the French together with General Braddock . Temporarily back in England, he commanded the Swiftsure and the Torbay .
He was a member of the court martial against Admiral John Byng . The court found the admiral guilty, but the judges spoke out against an execution. Keppel soon realized that the Admiralty was acting negatively on this issue and tried in vain to save Byng's life in the House of Commons to which he belonged. Keppel was assigned to the fleet under Edward Hawke and was involved in the blockade of the French coast until 1759. He also took part in the sea battle in the Bay of Quiberon . In 1761 he took command of the Valiant and a squadron for the conquest of Belle-Île . As a result, he patrolled the area until his ships were damaged by a strong storm and the squadron returned to England.
After that he was deputy commander of the fleet that took Havana under George Pocock . Together with his two brothers, who served in the land troops, he earned £ 75,000 in prize money during the conquest. While the Admiral was returning to Great Britain, Keppel commanded the squadron before returning to Europe in 1764. From 1762 he was Rear Admiral of the Blue . In 1765 he was appointed Lord Commissioner to the Admiralty. A year later he escorted Princess Caroline to Rotterdam for her wedding to Christian VII, King of Denmark .
Politician and admiral
Keppel was a member of the House of Commons between 1755 and 1782. Between 1755 and 1761 he represented Chichester , between 1761 and 1780 New Windsor and then Surrey . In Parliament he joined the Whigs under Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham .
In 1770 he was appointed vice admiral. In the following years he remained a supporter of the Whigs. He was in contrast to the First Lord of the Admiralty John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich . As a Whig, he was hostile to the war against the independence movement in America. Political tension between him and Montagu heightened when the post of marines commander went to a Montagu supporter. He saw his promotion to Admiral of the Canal Fleet as a trap for his political opponents. He refused to fight the Americans and did not accept command until Britain was at war with France. In 1778 he took over the post and made HMS Victory his flagship . The fleet was in poor condition and only a few ships were operational. This led to renewed conflicts with Montagu until Keppel was assigned some ships from another squadron.
On July 27, 1778, Louis Guillouet d'Orvilliers took part in the First Battle of Ushant (Battle of d'Ouessant (1778)) between the Canal Fleet and a French fleet . The battle ended without a clear victory for either side. The French fleet returned to Brest unhindered. There were casualties and badly damaged ships on both sides.
Court martial and ministerial office
There were public debates about the events. Various writings attacked Hugh Palliser , one of the subordinate commanders of the British fleet, accusing him of insubordination and blaming him for the unglorious outcome of the battle. Palliser asked Keppel to rectify the matter. When the latter did not respond, Palliser defended himself in a pamphlet. Keppel accused Palliser of insubordination, while the Keppel attested weak leadership.
The dispute reached parliament in November. Palliser - also a member of parliament - asked for an investigation into the matter and was supported by Sandwich. Two court martial proceedings were initiated against Keppel and Palliser. The trial of Keppel had lasted twenty-seven days since January 7, 1779. If convicted, Keppel faced the death penalty. In public, Keppel received support from the Whigs. They used the opportunity to attack the North government with the national hero stylized Keppel . Keppel was eventually acquitted. Palliser was also exonerated, but shortly thereafter lost his post as commander of the marine infantry and also his seat in parliament.
Keppel was not given a new command and was retired. As a result, numerous naval officers also resigned out of solidarity. This weakened the strength of the fleet in the American Revolutionary War . In 1782 he was once again Commissioner of the Admiralty and was elevated to Viscount Keppel , of Elveden in the County of Suffolk on April 22, 1782 . As an opposition MP, Keppel attacked the Tory government on naval issues in parliament. After the fall of the government in 1782 and the formation of a government of the Whigs, Keppel became First Lord of the Admiralty in the Cabinet. H. Naval Minister. After the fall of the government in 1783, he retired from public life. He retired to Naples to relax. Because he died unmarried and childless, his title expired with him.
Paintings and afterlife
Several portrait paintings by Keppel have survived. Joshua Reynolds painted it for the first time in 1749 in the Mediterranean to thank Keppel for taking it with him and making his trip to Italy possible. This was followed in 1752 by a painting with Keppel in the pose of Apollo Belvedere . Reynolds painted it again in 1779 in connection with the Keppel trial. The portrait was part of the Whigs' propaganda.
Various geographic objects such as the Keppel Islands in Australia or Keppel Island in the Falkland Islands are named after Keppel .
swell
- The trial of the Honorable Augustus Keppel, Admiral of the Blue Squadron (…) Portsmouth, 1779 digitized
literature
- Alastair Wilson, Joseph F. Callo: Who's Who in Naval history. Abingdon, 2004 p. 174.
- Lewis Namier, John Brooke: The House of Commons 1754-1790 I. London, 1964 pp. 7-11.
- Thomas Keppel: The Life of Augustus Viscount Keppel. 2 volumes. London, 1842.
Web links
- Entry on royalnavalmuseum.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ European Enlightenment between Vienna and Trieste: the diaries of Governor Karl Graf von Zinzendorf 1776–1782 Vienna, 2009, p. 301.
- ^ Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock: Klopstock letters 1776–1782. Vol. 3 Berlin, 1982, p. 1066.
- ↑ Keppel, Viscount (GB, 1782 - 1786) at Cracroft's Peerage
- ↑ Jörg Traeger : Goya: the art of freedom. Munich, 2000, p. 101.
- ^ Elise Goodman: Art and culture in the eighteenth century: new dimensions and multiple perspectives. Newark, 2001, p. 119.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| John Montagu |
First Lord of the Admiralty 1782–1783 |
Richard Howe |
| Richard Howe | First Lord of the Admiralty 1783 |
Richard Howe |
| New title created |
Viscount Keppel 1782-1786 |
Title expired |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Keppel, Augustus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British admiral and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 25, 1725 |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 2, 1786 |
| Place of death | Elveden , Suffolk |