Samuel Graves

This article is about the Admiral Samuel Graves. For the politician Samuel B. Graves, see Sam Graves .

Admiral Samuel Graves (1713–1787) ( James Northcote )

Samuel Graves (* 1713 ; † 1787 in Hembury Fort, Honiton , Devon ) was a British admiral who fought on the British side in the American Colonies' War of Independence against Great Britain.

Family history

The lineage of the Graves family can be traced back to the reign of Henry III. ( 1216 - 1272 ) when the Greves or Greaves lived in the parish of Beeley near Chatsworth , in the northern part of Derbyshire .

Many descendants of the Graves family settled in London and other major British cities. Especially between 1629 and 1649 , members of the Graves family emigrated to the North American colonies, and Samuel Graves belongs to the 8th generation of the descendants of the Graves emigrants.

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Samuel Graves was born in 1713 and first married Elizabeth Sedgwick, daughter of John Sedgwick of Staindrop, County Durham . After Elizabeth's death in 1767, he married Margaret Spinkes in 1769, daughter of Elmer Spinkes from Aldwinkle in Northamptonshire and sister of Elizabeth Simcoe's mother. He was godfather of John Graves Simcoe , who married Elizabeth in 1782.

Professional career

In 1759, Graves took part in the naval battle of Quiberon Bay as captain of the HMS Duke . In 1774 he was sent to North America with the task of enforcing British trade laws as commander of the North American squadron of the Royal Navy. He commanded the British naval operations in the early stages of the Revolutionary War in the fighting for Boston in 1775/76. On October 18, 1775, he ordered the bombing of Falmouth in the British colony of Maine . In early 1776 he was replaced by Admiral Richard Howe . His cousin Thomas Graves later commanded the united British squadrons in the 1781 naval battle of Chesapeake .