George Rooke
Sir George Rooke | |
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Irish Squadron Mediterranean Fleet | |
Battles/wars | Third Anglo-Dutch War Nine Years' War Great Northern War War of the Spanish Succession |
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rooke (1650 – 24 January 1709) was an English naval officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Solebay and again at the Battle of Schooneveld during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. As a captain, he conveyed Prince William of Orange to England and took part in the Battle of Bantry Bay during the Williamite War in Ireland.
As a flag officer, Rooke commanded a division of the Royal Navy during their defeat at the
Rooke commanded the unsuccessful allied expedition against Cádiz but on the passage home he destroyed the Spanish treasure fleet at the Battle of Vigo Bay in the opening stages of the War of the Spanish Succession. He also commanded the allied naval forces at the capture of Gibraltar and attacked the French fleet at the Battle of Málaga.
Early career
Born the son of Colonel Sir William Rooke and Jane Rooke (née Finch), Rooke joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1672.[1] Promoted to lieutenant later in the year, he was appointed to the first-rate HMS London, flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Spragge, and saw action when a combined British and French fleet was surprised and attacked by the Dutch, led by Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, at the Battle of Solebay off the Suffolk coast in May 1672 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. He transferred to the first-rate HMS Royal Prince, flagship of the Duke of York, in 1673 and saw action again at the Battle of Schooneveld in June 1673.[1]
Promoted to
Senior command
Promoted to
Rooke joined the
Rooke hoisted his flag in the second-rate HMS Shrewsbury in Spring 1700 and took command of an Anglo-Dutch Squadron, which while working in co-operation with a Swedish fleet under Admiral-General Hans Wachtmeister, attacked Copenhagen so facilitating the landing of King Charles XII of Sweden and his army in Denmark in August 1700 in the opening phase of the Great Northern War.[1] When the Admiralty was reconstituted under a council headed by the Lord High Admiral (an office vested at that time in the Earl of Pembroke), Rooke was appointed a member of the council of the Lord High Admiral in January 1702. He was also appointed Vice-Admiral of England later that year.[2]
The Allies resolved upon an expedition, led by Rooke, to capture the southern Spanish port of Cádiz, and at a stroke cut off Spain's transatlantic trade.[5] However, on arrival in August 1702 the Allies made little or no progress in the assault on Cádiz. Fort Matagorda held out, and after several days Rooke declared that even if the fort was taken, another stronghold guarding the entrance to the Puntales (a sandy spit near the entrance to the inner harbour) would prevent the fleet from navigating the narrow passage: and so the mission was abandoned.[6] However the English Government had become aware that a Spanish treasure fleet was sitting in Vigo Bay and instructed Rooke to intercept it in October 1702.[7] The third-rate HMS Torbay, commanded by Thomas Hopsonn, led the assault on the boom across the bay[8] and, once it was breached, there was not a single French or Spanish vessel that had not been either captured or destroyed at the Battle of Vigo Bay.[9] Rooke received the thanks of Parliament in this important action in the opening stages of the War of the Spanish Succession.[2]
Rooke safely delivered Archduke Charles of Austria (the claimant to the Spanish throne) to Windsor Castle in December 1703. Flying his flag in the second rate HMS Royal Katherine, he commanded the allied naval forces who arrived in Gibraltar in August 1704: after a bombardment by 22 ships directed by Admiral George Byng[10] a landing party disembarked, hoisted the Union Flag and captured Gibraltar.[11] Rooke also attacked the French fleet at the Battle of Málaga later that month.[2]
Suffering severely from gout, he retired from the navy on account of ill-health in January 1705, stood down from the council of the Lord High Admiral in June 1705 and gave up his seat in Parliament in 1708.[2] He died at his home, Lawrence House in Canterbury,[12] on 24 January 1709 and was buried at St Paul's Church in Canterbury.[1] In November 2004 Peter Caruana, Chief Minister of Gibraltar, unveiled a statue of Rooke as part of the 300th anniversary celebration of the capture of Gibraltar.[13]
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St Paul's church, Canterbury, where Rooke was buried
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The statue of Admiral Rooke on Gibraltar's Devil's Tongue Battery erected in Gibraltar in 2004 to celebrate 300 years of British rule. Sculpted by Sharon Keenan.
Family
In around October 1684 Rooke married Mary Howe. After the death of his first wife he married Mary Luttrell in January 1701; they had one son. After the death of his second wife, he married Catherine Knatchbull in January 1706.[1]
Honours
The ship's badge of HMS Hogue, a chess rook on a field blue within a chaplet of laurel gold, was derived from his coat of arms.[14]
References
- ^ required.)
- ^ a b c d e f "Rooke, Sir George (1650–1709), of St. Lawrence, Canterbury, Kent". History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
- ^ "Sainty, J. C., Lord High Admiral and Commissioners of the Admiralty 1660–1870', Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 4: Admiralty Officials 1660–1870 (1975), pp. 18–31". Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
- ^ Rodger 1979, p. 34
- ^ Rodger 2006, p. 165
- ^ Trevelyan, p. 266
- ^ Le Fevre & Harding, p. 87
- ^ Trevelyan, p. 270
- ^ Trevelyan, p. 271
- ^ Trevelyan, p. 411
- ^ Trevelyan, p. 412
- ^ "St. Lawrence's Hospital, Canterbury". Retrieved 25 May 2015.
- ^ "Gibraltar anticipates rough year with Spain because of Treaty of Utrecht 300 years". Merco Press. 14 January 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
Sources
- Le Fevre, Peter; Harding, Richard (2000). Precursors of Nelson: British admirals of the eighteenth century. London: Chatham. ISBN 978-0811729017.
- ISBN 0900963948.
- ISBN 0-14-102690-1.
- Trevelyan, G. M. (1948). England Under Queen Anne: Blenheim. Longmans, Green and cC.
Further reading
- Rooke, Sir George (1897). The Journal of Sir George Rooke. London: Navy Records Society.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 705–706.
External links
Media related to George Rooke at Wikimedia Commons
- George Rooke Three Decks
- Hutchinson, John (1892). . Men of Kent and Kentishmen (Subscription ed.). Canterbury: Cross & Jackman. pp. 117–118.