Charles Hardy (Royal Navy officer, died 1744)

Add links
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For other people named Charles Hardy, see Charles Hardy (disambiguation).
Sir Charles Hardy
Bornc.1680
Lord of the Admiralty
Battles/wars
AwardsKnight Bachelor
Spouse(s)
Elizabeth Burchett
​
​
(m. 1715⁠–⁠1744)​
Other workMember of Parliament for Portsmouth

post captain. Hardy subsequently served for a year at Jamaica before commanding two ships during the Great Northern War between 1718 and 1720. Having changed commands several times, in 1727 he fought at the thirteenth siege of Gibraltar in HMS Kent
.

Hardy commanded the

Lord of the Admiralty, Member of Parliament for Portsmouth, and second-in-command of the Channel Fleet. In the Channel Fleet Hardy participated in the manoeuvres that halted the planned French invasion of Britain, and at the start of King George's War was sent with a squadron to escort transports to the Mediterranean Fleet. Having completed this in May 1744 he returned to England, losing one of his squadron in the action of 8 May 1744. He returned to the Admiralty
, where he died on 27 December.

Naval service

Early service

Charles Hardy was born at

lieutenant on 28 February 1701.[1][2]

In this rank Hardy was appointed third lieutenant of the 70-gun

guardship HMS Royal Ann in December 1704, serving for some time in the English Channel, before being promoted to commander on 27 November 1705.[1][5] Hardy's first command was the 10-gun sloop HMS Weazel on fishery protection duties in the English Channel, which he commanded until September 1706 when he was moved into the 10-gun sloop HMS Swift by Vice-Admiral Sir John Leake.[1][6]

Captain

Admiral Sir John Norris, under whom Hardy frequently served

Hardy started his command of Swift in the

HMS Dunwich, in which he was promoted to post-captain on 28 June 1709.[1][2][7] Stationed in the North Sea, Dunwich operated as an escort to convoys sailing off the east coast of England.[1][8] Hardy was not onboard Dunwich on 24 August when the ship captured the French privateer Le Chasseur, but had returned to command by February 1710 when Dunwich captured a 10-gun privateer that had been attacking coastal shipping.[8][9] Having left Dunwich, he was appointed to command the 50-gun fourth-rate HMS Nonsuch later in 1710, sailing to Jamaica as part of the fleet of Commodore James Littleton.[3][10] He returned to British waters in the following year and captured the French privateer La Trompeuse on 8 June. He left the ship before the end of 1711.[10]

Hardy was then given command of Weymouth, in which he had previously served.

Plymouth Dockyard throughout his period in command, in 1715.[11] Hardy was given his next ship in 1718, the newly rebuilt 50-gun fourth-rate HMS Guernsey.[1][12] In that ship he served in the Baltic Fleet of Admiral Sir John Norris, supporting Denmark against Sweden in the Great Northern War.[1][3] The fleet returned to England in 1719, with Hardy translated into the 60-gun fourth-rate HMS Defiance.[1][3] In 1720 the fleet returned to the Baltic, and Hardy continued in Defiance until the end of the year when Norris' fleet returned to England again.[1][8][13]

Hardy became an Elder Brother of

Straits of Gibraltar in October.[15] Hardy afterwards joined Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Wager's fleet off the coast of Spain.[1][8] With Wager he participated in the thirteenth siege of Gibraltar in early 1727, the Anglo-Spanish War having begun, with Wager using Kent as his flagship for part of this period. In November Wager moved Hardy from Kent into the 70-gun ship of the line HMS Stirling Castle in which he continued in the Mediterranean.[1][15]

The naval historian John Charnock wrote disparagingly of this period of Hardy's service, saying that "the events of this expedition were almost too uninteresting to require any particular detail...a dull routine of cruises undistinguished by any event so memorable as to be worth relating".[16] The author John Campbell also noted that "the events of this expedition were unimportant".[14] Hardy returned to England with Wager in April 1728.[1][14]

Lord of the Admiralty

HMS Duke, which served as Hardy's flagship in 1743

On 9 February 1730 Hardy was appointed to command the

Lord of the Admiralty, replacing Admiral Philip Cavendish who had died in the previous year.[1][20] It was expected that one of the Lords should always be an active flag officer, and Hardy was brought in to fill that role.[21]

Channel Fleet

In December 1743 Hardy hoisted his flag on board the 90-gun ship of the line

storeships sent to restock the Mediterranean Fleet.[1][16] Hardy had as his flagship the 90-gun ship of the line HMS Saint George.[Note 3][28]

Hardy sailed with his squadron in late April. At the same time the Spanish were expecting a valuable convoy from

Cadiz and Spanish at Cartagena. The French, however, only left Toulon on 20 September, and Hardy entered Lisbon on 3 May to ensure the safety of his ships.[29][30] While making his voyage, two ships of his squadron, the 60-gun fourth-rate HMS Dreadnought and 14-gun sloop HMS Grampus, captured the French 26-gun frigate Médée on 27 April.[31] At Lisbon Hardy left the convoy, which was expected to make its way to Gibraltar in sections.[Note 4][29]

Return from Lisbon

HMS Northumberland in the action of 8 May 1744

Hardy set sail for England, and on 8 May lost one of his warships, the 70-gun ship of the line HMS Northumberland, in the action of 8 May 1744. Hardy had detached Northumberland from the squadron to investigate a strange sail, but when the weather worsened he ordered the ship to return to him. Captain Thomas Watson of Northumberland was however suffering from a fractured skull, and was drunk because of this. He continued on and discovered that the strange sail was actually two French 64-gun ships of the line and a 26-gun frigate.[31] Northumberland attacked all three warships, and with Watson killed early on in the action the ship was quickly captured.[33][1] Hardy reached England with the rest of his squadron on 20 May.[29] He then relinquished command of his squadron and left Saint George later in the month, returning to his seat in the Admiralty.[1][28] He died in his house there on 27 November.[1][2]

Family

Hardy married Elizabeth Burchett, the only daughter of the

Secretary of the Admiralty Josiah Burchett, in around 1715. Together the couple had three sons and three daughters before Elizabeth's death some time before 1744. Their children included:[1][19]

Notes and citations

Notes

  1. ^ Hardy has been mistakenly labelled as the son of Sir Thomas Hardy in some works.[3]
  2. vice-admiral of the red 23 June 1744.[19]
  3. ^ Hardy's squadron was as follows: The 90-gun HMS Saint George (Hardy's flagship), 90-gun HMS Sandwich (Rear-Admiral William Martin's flagship), 100-gun HMS Victory, 90-gun HMS Duke, 90-gun HMS Princess Royal, 80-gun HMS Princess Amelia, 80-gun HMS Cornwall, 80-gun HMS Shrewsbury, 70-gun HMS Northumberland, 70-gun HMS Monmouth, 70-gun HMS Captain, 60-gun HMS Princess Mary, 60-gun HMS Dreadnought, 40-gun HMS Torrington, 14-gun HMS Grenado and 14-gun HMS Grampus.[27]
  4. ^ The merchant ships Hardy had left were forced to stay for a while because the winds were against them. While held up there the French discovered their location and sent a force from Brest to blockade them.[16][29] Admiral Sir John Balchen broke the blockade with a large fleet on 28 July.[16][32][29]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Davies (2008).
  2. ^ a b c d e Watson, Paula. "HARDY, Sir Charles (c.1680-1744)". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Campbell (1813), p. 141.
  4. ^ Winfield (2009), p. 456.
  5. ^ Winfield (2009), p. 150.
  6. ^ a b Winfield (2009), p. 714.
  7. ^ Winfield (2007), pp. 1380–1381.
  8. ^ a b c d Charnock (2011), p. 9.
  9. ^ a b Winfield (2007), p. 1132.
  10. ^ a b Winfield (2007), p. 647.
  11. ^ Winfield (2007), p. 640.
  12. ^ Winfield (2007), p. 681.
  13. ^ Winfield (2007), p. 565.
  14. ^ a b c Campbell (1813), p. 142.
  15. ^ a b Winfield (2007), p. 261.
  16. ^ a b c d Charnock (2011), p. 10.
  17. ^ Broadley & Bartelot (1906), p. 8.
  18. ^ Winfield (2007), p. 1133.
  19. ^ a b Syrett & DiNardo (1994), p. 200.
  20. ^ Schomberg (1802), p. 194.
  21. ^ Baugh (1965), p. 73.
  22. ^ Winfield (2007), p. 129.
  23. ^ Clowes (1898), p. 89.
  24. ^ Clowes (1898), pp. 89–90.
  25. ^ Beatson (1804), p. 182.
  26. ^ Clowes (1898), p. 91.
  27. ^ Beatson (1790), pp. 52–53.
  28. ^ a b Winfield (2007), p. 128.
  29. ^ a b c d e Clowes (1898), p. 107.
  30. ^ Beatson (1804), p. 225.
  31. ^ a b Clowes (1898), p. 274.
  32. ^ Baugh (2008).
  33. ^ Clowes (1898), p. 275.

References

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Member of Parliament for Portsmouth

1743–1744
With: Martin Bladen 		Succeeded by
Isaac Townsend
Martin Bladen
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Hardy_(Royal_Navy_officer,_died_1744)&oldid=1182668854"