Books

These documents were selected by Rear-Admiral Thursfield for the light they throw on life afloat in the Navy of the Napoleonic era rather than for their contribution to the history of the operations in which their authors took part. They comprise four ‘Journals’, based mainly on dairies kept at the time and written up at… Read more »

George Keith Elphinstone, Lord Keith (1746-1823) was a Scottish naval officer who entered the navy as a penurious midshipman towards the end of the Seven Years War. He had a long career at sea, during which he missed taking part in any major battle, but held major commands throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (except… Read more »

Henry Pattee Byng (1699-1747) was Sir George Byng’s eldest son and became the second Viscount Torrington on his father’s death in 1733 (see volumes 67, 68 and 70). This very detailed journal is concerned only with the Sicilian Campaign between 1718 and 1720. The very young Pattee Byng had spent time as an army officer… Read more »

Captain Boteler (1796-1885) came from a naval family, entering the navy as a Volunteer, First Class in 1808, was made lieutenant in September 1815, commander in 1830 and captain in 1851. He left the navy in 1830. These recollections, full of well-told naval anecdote, were written in old age, and published only for private circulation…. Read more »

Samuel Barrington (1729-1800), a son of the first Viscount Barrington, entered the Royal Navy in 1740. He was posted in 1747 and eventually was promoted to Admiral in 1787. Papers in the possession of Barrington’s collateral descendants form these two volumes and cover his naval career. They comprise order books (1747-71), a private letter book… Read more »

The Fourth Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty (for the third time in his long career) from 1771 to 1782. Blamed by the Whig opposition for many of the disasters of the American War, he was additionally loaded by 19th-century Whig historians with the false image of a corrupt libertine. It was… Read more »

Samuel Barrington (1729-1800), a son of the first Viscount Barrington, entered the Royal Navy in 1740. He was posted in 1747 and eventually was promoted to Admiral in 1787. Papers in the possession of Barrington’s collateral descendants form these two volumes and cover his naval career. They comprise order books (1747-71), a private letter book… Read more »

The Fourth Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty (for the third time in his long career) from 1771 to 1782. Blamed by the Whig opposition for many of the disasters of the American War, he was additionally loaded by 19th-century Whig historians with the false image of a corrupt libertine. It was… Read more »

The first part of the volume contains a selection from the correspondence and papers of Lt Robert Tomlinson between 1768 and 1796, together with his essays on naval manning and timber preservation. Robert Tomlinson was a protégé and loyal supporter of Sir Edward (later Lord) Hawke. He provided the parliamentary opposition with evidence with which… Read more »

The Fourth Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty (for the third time in his long career) from 1771 to 1782. Blamed by the Whig opposition for many of the disasters of the American War, he was additionally loaded by 19th-century Whig historians with the false image of a corrupt libertine. It was… Read more »

The full title of these three volumes is misleading. The project to publish the papers of Sir George Byng (1663-1733) and his fourth son John (1704-1757) was never completed. Brian Tunstall completed three volumes, but the latest document to appear in the third volume was only dated 1717. An intended fourth volume of the papers,… Read more »

The Fourth Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty (for the third time in his long career) from 1771 to 1782. Blamed by the Whig opposition for many of the disasters of the American War, he was additionally loaded by 19th-century Whig historians with the false image of a corrupt libertine. It was… Read more »