 Born 9 January 1735 at Meaford, Staffordshire. He was educated at
Burton on
Trent Grammar School and subsequently at a private school in Greenwich, to
which the family moved in 1747 when his father was appointed Solicitor to the
Admiralty and Treasurer to Greenwich Hospital. He joined the navy on 4 January
1748 as an able seaman on HMS Gloucester, a 4th rate 50 gun ship going to
Jamaica. He was moved to HMS Severn on June 25 1754 as a midshipman. He returned
to England after joining HMS Sphinx on 30 Jun 1754. He spent a month in HMS
Seaford followed by a month in the yacht, Mary and completed his six years
qualifying service for Lieutenant. He was promoted to this rank after passing
his examination on 22 January 1755. He was appointed in this rank to HMS Royal
George on 19 February 1755, but was moved in March to HMS Nottingham, with which
he went out to the North American station under Admiral Edward Boscowen. In
March 1756, we was appointed to HMS Devonshire, followed by HMS Prince on 22
June, which was leaving for the Mediterranean.
In October 1756, he was moved to HMS Culloden under Rear-Admiral Charles
Saunders, under whose patronage he was to benefit from in the next few years.
During January 1757, he briefly joined HMS Experiment while her captain was ill.
In March, he commanded the ship in a severe but indecisive engagement with a
French privateer off Cape Gata. He returned to HMS Culloden, but followed
Saunders when he was transferred to HMS St George. Jervis was appointed to HMS
Foudroyant in May 1758, a captured French prize, and he was charged with taking
her back to England. On his return to England, he joined HMS Neptune and
rejoined Saunders at the North American station, where Saunders had been made
Commander in Chief. Jervis was promoted to Commander on 15 May 1759 and
appointed to HMS Scorpion where a vacancy had occurred. However, before be able
to join his ship, he was appointed as acting commander to HMS Porcupine, and
took part in the expedition to Quebec, leading the advanced squadron in charge
of the transports. On his ship, he carried General James Wolfe, who was
impressed by Jervis’ command and entrusted him with what was to become his last
message home. When Jervis eventually joined HMS Scorpion, he was charged with
returning to England with dispatches from Quebec. His return was brief; on
arrival, he was immediately ordered back to the station with important letters
for General Amherst. However, before leaving British waters, HMS Scorpion sprung
a leak and Jervis had to bring her into Plymouth. He was then directed to take
another ship, HMS Albany and finally departed on 13 January 1760. He arrived
later in February and, by May was crossing the Atlantic once more for home.
Once back in England, he joined the Channel Fleet under Rear-Admiral Rodney
until the October, when he joined HMS Gosport and was promoted to the rank of
captain. The ship was employed in the North Sea until May 1762, when it was
ordered to escort a convoy heading for North America. On May 11, the ship fell
in with and repelled a French squadron, under M. de Ternay, which was on its way
to capture Newfoundland. Jervis rejoined the North American station in September
and the ship took part in operations that recovered the captured Newfoundland
from the French. After this, HMS Gosport returned to England and was paid off in
the Spring of 1763.
Jervis was not in active service again until February 1769, when he was
appointed to HMS Alarm – possibly the first copper-sheathed frigate in the Navy.
He sailed for the Mediterranean in May and arrived in Genoa on 7 September. On
30 March 1770, while sailing around Marseilles in a violent gale, the ship was
driven on to the rocks, but after a strenuous effort, she was finally freed and
repaired. The Admiralty were greatly pleased by Jervis’ actions in this matter.
From 1771 to May 1772, the ship became the “home” of the Duke of Gloucester, who
was spending time in the Mediterranean because of ill health. She returned to
England for paying off, after which, Jervis spent some time travelling through
France and studying the language. In 1774, he took passage on a merchant ship to
Krondstadt, annotating and correcting the pilotage chart and studying the
Russian navy. On his return, he visited Sweden and Holland, studying the methods
in both their navies.
Jervis returned to active service with an appointment to HMS Kent in June 1755,
but in September, he was appointed to command the ship which he brought back to
England as a prize, HMS Foudroyant. She was employed mainly as a guardship in
Plymouth, but was attached to Admiral Keppel’s fleet in 1778 and involved in the
action off Ushant on 27 July. Jervis was a witness at the subsequent
court-martial of Admiral Keppel, due to a dispute between Keppel and his second
in command, Admiral Hugh Palliser. The evidence provided by Jervis was so
strongly in Keppel’s favour, that it was influential in acquitting the Admiral
of all charges against him. HMS Foudroyant remained with the Channel Fleet and
was involved in the reliefs at Gibraltar in 1780 and 1781.
 On April 17 1782, the ship gave chase to a French squadron, and captured one of
the largest ship, the Pegase, during which Jervis received a minor wound. His
achievement in this action was rewarded with a knighthood. One of the deciding
factors in the action had been the order and discipline of the English ship’s
crew, a feature that Jervis was noted for in the future. After a few more
actions, including another relief of Gibraltar, this time under Lord Howe in
1782, and a skirmish off Cape Spartel, the fleet returned to England, where the
Foudroyant was paid off. On his return home, Jervis married his cousin Martha,
the daughter of Sir Thomas Parker.
Jervis was elected MP for Launceston in January 1883 and served until 1884,
when, in the general election, he stood for and was elected MP for Great
Yarmouth. He seldom spoke except on naval matters, and during this period he was
promoted to Rear-Admiral on 24 September 1787, and spent a few weeks at sea on
board HMS Carnatic. He spent another few weeks at sea during 1790 on board HMS
Prince while the Spanish were rearming. Later in the year, he was returned to
Parliament as MP for Chipping Wycombe.
In February 1793, he attained the rank of Vice-Admiral and was appointed in the
autumn to Commander in Chief West Indies. He hoisted his flag in HMS Boyne and
reached the station in January 1794, During the next few months, the British
combined forces captured Guadaloupe and Martinique. However, Jervis was
suffering from ill health and was permitted to return to England in November. On
his return he was promoted to Admiral on 1 July 1795. Once he had recovered
sufficiently, he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean fleet,
which he joined at Corsica in the November. He began to introduce a new system
of discipline which was to have a decisive influence in future engagements. The
port of Toulon was being blockaded and the French fleet were kept in port, until
the forced neutrality of Naples, when Jervis found that, with the addition of
the Spanish fleet, the British had greatly inferior numbers, without a friendly
port. In September 1798, Jervis was ordered to evacuate Corsica, the only port
the British had access to, and withdraw from the Mediterranean; this was
completed by November, when the fleet took up station in the Tagus.
Jervis realised that it was vital to keep the combined fleet from leaving the
Mediterranean, so took up station off Cape St Vincent in early February 1798. On
the 14th, 27 ships of the combined fleet were sighted – a much larger number
than the British. The fleets engaged just after noon, with the British fleet
passing through the Spanish line, splitting them up and cutting off a third of
their number. Assisted by an independent action by Captain Nelson, which allowed
the leading British ships to keep in touch with the Spanish, the battle was won
with the capture of four Spanish ships, the rest escaping in disorder. On
receiving the news in England, a vote of thanks was passed in the House of
Commons, a pension settled on him, he was given the freedom of the City of
London and was granted an earldom from the King. His earldom took the name from
the battle he had just won. Following the battle, Jervis continued to blockade
Cadiz, although rumblings of discontent, stirred by news of the mutinies at
Spithead and the Nore, were firmly suppressed. The strain of these actions were
taking their toll on Jervis’ health and temper; during this period, he quarreled
with his second in command, Sir John Orde, who asked for a formal court-martial
charges against the Admiral for being oppressively cruel. The Admiralty refused
a court-martial but wrote to Jervis in terms of strong disapproval of his
conduct. Jervis’ rigid maintenance of discipline was becoming unpopular and,
after Nelson’s battle at Aboukir Bay, he ordered the ships to be refitted at
Gibraltar rather than return to England in order to keep the blockade strength
which was not welcomed. Finally, Jervis’ health began to fail and he was forced
to resign he command in June 1799.
Back in England, he spent most of his time at his home in Rochetts, Essex, where
he had acquired property. When news of his return to health was known, Sir John
Orde, their issued a challenge to him over quarrel in the Mediterranean. The
challenge became public knowledge and both parties were bound over to keep the
peace, and Jervis was formally ordered not to accept by the Admiralty.
Although his health continued to be a problem, the Admiralty were anxious for
Jervis to return to active service as Commander in Chief Channel Fleet, to which
he finally agreed in Spring 1800. Again, he introduced his system of discipline
into the Fleet; this meant that certain privileges previously enjoyed by the
officers were curtailed, which made him unpopular with the officers, but the
benefits were apparent in routine, organisation, health and efficiency within
the fleet itself.
In Spring 1801, Jervis accepted the appointment of First Lord of the Admiralty
and went about improving the administration in the same way as he had done in
the fleet. This lead to a Royal Commission of Enquiry into irregularities within
the Navy Board who were responsible for maintaining the dockyards and supply.
This revealed widespread corruption at the highest level and Lord Melville,
formerly treasurer of the Navy and previously First Lord was impeached. This
made Jervis extremely unpopular in political circles, especially those who had
vested interest in the Navy Board activities. In May 1804, the current
government fell and Jervis was obliged to retire from his post. However, when
Prime Minister, Mr Pitt, a known political enemy of Jervis, died, Jervis was
once more asked to command the fleet and became acting Admiral of the Fleet. He
took up his post off Ushant in 1806. During the winter, he requested special
permission to stay on shore since his health was once more failing. The
government changed again in March 1807 and Jervis requested to be relieved and
this was granted on 24 April 1807. This was his last active service and he went
into retirement.
In the intervening years, he occasionally spoke on naval matters in the House of
Lords, making his last appearance in 1810. He spent most of his retirement in
Rochetts. His wife died in February 1816, leaving no children. His health
continued to deteriorate despite taking up residence for the winter of 1818-19
in the south of France. On the accession of George IV (formerly Prince Regent),
Jervis was confirmed in rank of Admiral of the Fleet on 19 July 1821. He died on
March 14, 1823 at Rochetts. He had requested that he was buried at Stone in
Staffordshire and a memorial was erected in St Paul’s Cathedral. The earldom
became extinct as he died without heirs, but his sister’s son succeeded to the
Viscountcy (Edward Jervis Ricketts) and changed his name to Jervis.
© Royal Naval Museum Library, 2000 |
What has Burton Grammar School & George Washington got in
common?
Gilbert Stuart was an American painter who was also active
in England and Ireland. He was in London from 1775 until 1787, where early
in 1775, he entered the studio of Benjamin West, 1738-1820, for whom he
painted drapery and finished portraits. Stuart exhibited for the first time
at the Royal Academy in the spring of 1787. He maintained an expensive
London establishment, and had considerable success as a fashionable portrait
painter to both English and American sitters who found themselves in London.
However, in 1787, Stuart fled to Dublin-almost certainly to escape his
creditors-and where he remained for five years. In the spring of 1793, he
returned to America, leaving behind scores of unfinished canvases. He
subsequently lived and worked in New York, and then Philadelphia, where
George Washington posed for him during 1795. He moved to Boston in 1805
where he remained for the rest of his life, both painting and advising
fellow artists.
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