Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe

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Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe

Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe , KG (born March 8, 1726 in London , † August 5, 1799 ) was a British naval admiral and First Lord of the Admiralty .

origin

Howe was the second of three sons of Emanuel Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe , and his wife Mary Sophia. His mother was the daughter of Baroness Kielmannsegg , a half-sister of King George I. This connection with the crown may have promoted the careers of all three sons, but all of them were also very capable officers. Richard's older brother was General George Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe , who was killed at Fort Ticonderoga in 1758 . The younger brother was General William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe , who was Commander in Chief of the British Forces during the early stages of the American Revolutionary War .

Career

Early career

Howe joined the Royal Navy when he was 13 . His first major trip was to be George Anson's expedition to the South Seas in 1740. However, the ship he was sailing on failed to round Cape Horn and returned. He then served aboard the Burford in the West Indies and took part in the attack on La Guaira in 1743 .

At the age of 19 he received his first command of a sloop after he had succeeded in a spectacular operation in freeing a captured British merchant ship from the port of St. Eustatius . During the Jacobite revolt of 1745 he was badly wounded in a battle against two French privateers off the Scottish coast.

After his recovery, a rapid rise followed in 1746. First he was given command of a frigate, from which he quickly switched to a 60-gun ship of the line . With this he sailed to the Caribbean , where he took command of the flagship of Admiral Charles Knowles , an 80-gun ship of the line. In this capacity he took part in the naval battle off Havana on October 2, 1748.

Several years followed, during which he received half pay , before he returned to active service as a frigate captain in 1751. In 1755 he captured the French Alcide (64 cannons) with the HMS Dunkirk (60 cannons). During the Seven Years' War he did blockade service off Brest and captured some prizes in the English Channel . Howe's ship led the battle line in the naval battle of Quiberon Bay on November 20, 1759.

Howe was known for his courage and was extremely popular with his teams as he cared very much for the welfare of his men, nicknamed "Black Dick" because of his dark complexion .

Career as a politician and promotion to admiral

In 1757 Howe was elected to the House of Commons , of which he was a member until 1782. Politically, he was on the side of the Whigs around William Pitt , who henceforth promoted Howe's career in the fleet by ensuring that this received important commands. After the death of his brother George in 1758 Howe inherited the Viscount title, which belonged to the Peerage of Ireland and was therefore not associated with a seat in the House of Lords . From 1763 he served in the Admiralty , first as Lord Commissioner , and from 1765 as Treasurer. He resigned from this post in 1770 after his promotion to Rear Admiral of the Blue and commanding admiral of the Mediterranean Fleet .

American War of Independence

In 1776 Howe was promoted to Vice Admiral and sent to America with his brother William to negotiate with the insurgents. However, since they were not granted powers to grant the colonies extensive autonomy, the negotiations were unsuccessful.

Howe, who was in command of the North America Fleet, had the task of blocking the coast and supporting the army that was commanded by his brother during the war. He put the troops on land near the cities of New York and Philadelphia , which were then captured by British troops. In this war, Howe could otherwise achieve very little, as there were only sporadic battles with French ships and no American Navy worth mentioning existed.

In September 1778 he returned to England. He refused to take over a new command as long as the government under Lord North he had rejected was in office.

First Lord of the Admiralty

In 1782 he was promoted to blue flag admiral and appointed commander of the Canal Fleet. With this he was able to end the siege of Gibraltar by a Spanish-French fleet under the command of the Spanish admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova in the sea ​​battle at Cape Spartel , at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar , although he only had 33 ships of the line against 46 of the enemy (including 11 French under the command of Lieutenant General Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte ) could muster. For this he was again awarded the title of Viscount Howe , of Langar. This title belonged to the Peerage of Great Britain and was associated with a seat in the House of Lords.

The following year Howe was named First Lord of the Admiralty. He held this office until 1788 with a brief interruption. His term of office was quite unspectacular, as he mainly had to manage the disarmament of the fleet. After leaving this office, he was promoted to Earl Howe and Baron Howe , also in the Peerage of Great Britain.

Sea Battle of the Glorious June 1st

Sea Battle of the Glorious June 1st

After Howe, who was now 68 years old and suffered from gout , was again given command of the Canal Fleet, he was given the task of intercepting and destroying a French convoy of over 100 cargo ships accompanied by 26 liners. Howe, who also had 26 ships of the line at their disposal, managed a breakthrough through the French battle line. The enemy suffered such heavy losses that he had to break off the fight and withdraw. Howe's fleet was able to displace and capture six enemy ships of the line and sink another. However, since some of the British ships had suffered severe damage, Howe could not pursue the French and the convoy was able to escape. The British were able to record this battle as a tactical victory, but had not achieved their strategic goal. Nevertheless, Howe and his fleet were received as heroes in Portsmouth on their return and were even visited by the king, who thanked the fleet and its commander for their commitment.

Mutiny of the Canal Fleet

In 1797 Howe, who had meanwhile resigned from his position for reasons of age and exhaustion, received letters of petition from the seamen of the Canal Fleet, in which they complained about their low wages . He did not answer, but forwarded the letter to the Admiralty, which, however, could not afford an increase in pay.

This led to a mutiny in the canal fleet at Spithead , an anchorage off Portsmouth . Alexander Hood, Viscount Bridport , the new in command, failed to calm the mutineers. As a result, the salary was finally increased, but it was believed that only Howe was able to credibly communicate this to the angry sailors, and therefore sent them from ship to ship. He actually succeeded in calming the mutineers, and Howe was again hailed as a hero and inducted into the Order of the Garter. However, he was later accused of complicity in the mutiny because of his passivity.

death

Howe died in 1799 and was buried in the family vault in Langar. There is a memorial to him in St Paul's Cathedral in London . In Australia , Lord Howe Island , which Henry Lidgbird Ball , a lieutenant in the British sailor HMS Supply , discovered in February 1788, is named after him.

Family and heirs to the title

Howe was married to Mary Hartop († 1800) from Welby in Leicestershire since 1758 . The couple had three daughters:

When Howe's death, the Earl dignity and the Viscount dignity from the Peerage of Great Britain expired, since they were hereditary only in the male line. The Irish Viscount was passed on to the brother William, while Howe's eldest daughter Sophia inherited the baron title by virtue of a special arrangement.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files
predecessor Office successor
George Howe Viscount Howe
1758-1799 		William Howe
New title created Earl Howe
1788-1799 		Title expired
New title created Baron Howe
1788-1799 		Sophia Howe
William Barrington Treasurer of the Navy
1765-1770 		Gilbert Elliot
Augustus Keppel First Lord of the Admiralty
1783 		Augustus Keppel
Augustus Keppel First Lord of the Admiralty
1783–1788 		John Pitt
personal data
SURNAME Howe, Richard, 1st Earl Howe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Howe, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Naval Admiral and First Lord of the Admiralty
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1726
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH August 5, 1799