John Surman Carden
John Surman Carden | |
---|---|
Born | 15 August 1771 Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire |
Died | 22 April 1858 Ballycastle, Antrim | (aged 86)
Allegiance | Kingdom of Great Britain United Kingdom |
Service/ | Royal Navy |
Years of service | 1788–1837 |
Rank | Admiral |
Battles/wars | French Revolutionary Wars • Glorious First of June • Capture of Immortalite Napoleonic Wars War of 1812 • Action of 25 October 1812 |
Life
Carden was born in 1771, the son of Army officer Major Carden of Tredington Court in Tewkesbury. Carden spent his childhood at home, his mother refusing to allow him to become a pageboy in the household of Queen Charlotte and also resisted orders to enlist him in his father's regiment at the age of eight. Both his parents died while he was young: his mother died aged only 26, while his father was killed in action during the American Revolutionary War. Carden was educated privately until he was 17, when he enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1788, joining HMS Edgar under Captain Charles Thompson and later moving to the frigate HMS Perseverance under Captain Isaac Smith. In 1790 he became a midshipman and in 1793, at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, he moved to the ship of the line HMS Marlborough under Captain George Cranfield Berkeley.[1]
Marlborough served in the
In 1799, Carden took command of the armed storeship
In October 1812, not long after the breakout of the
Very little is known of Carden's life beyond that he was once married and had a daughter, Jemima (born c. 1800). Carden remained in the Navy despite the lengthy period of inaction and in 1836 was superannuated, a form of retirement. He was promoted to rear-admiral the same year and although he was subsequently reinstated in the Navy and continued to receive promotions based on his seniority, he did not hold any further naval position. He died in Antrim in 1858, at the age of 86 with the rank of full admiral.[1]
References
Further reading
- Tracy, Nicholas (1998). Who's Who in Nelson's Navy; 200 Naval Heroes. Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-244-5.
- O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). John Murray – via Wikisource. . .
- Carden, John Surman (1912). A curtail'd memoir … Ed Atkinson, C T. Oxford.