Molyneux Shuldham, 1st Baron Shuldham
The Lord Shuldham | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1717 |
Died | 30 September 1798 (aged 80–81) |
Allegiance | Kingdom of Great Britain |
Service/ | Royal Navy |
Rank | Admiral |
Commands held | |
Battles/wars | War of Jenkins' Ear Seven Years' War |
Family and early life
Molyneux Shuldham was born in Ireland c. 1717, and was the second son of the Reverend Lemuel Shuldham, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Molyneux of Ballymulvy, of
On 31 August 1739 he was promoted to be lieutenant of HMS Tilbury, one of the ships which went out to the West Indies with Sir Chaloner Ogle, and took part in the unsuccessful attack on Cartagena in 1741. In 1742 he was first lieutenant of her when, on 21 September, she was set on fire in a drunken squabble between a marine and the purser's boy and burnt, with a large proportion of the ship's company. Shuldham, with the captain and other officers, was tried by court-martial on 15 October but was acquitted of all blame.
Command
He was promoted to commander of HMS Blast in Jamaica on 1 May 1744. On 9 November 1745 he was attacked and captured by two Spanish privateers off the Black River, after stiff resistance. Shuldham suffered mistreatment by privateers, but was compensated by the Spanish governor of Havana.[1] After finally returning to England, he was promoted to be captain of HMS Sheerness on 12 May 1746, then employed on the coast of Scotland; in December 1748 he was appointed to HMS Queenborough, and in March 1749 to HMS Unicorn. In October 1754 he was appointed to HMS Seaford, from which, in March 1755, he was moved to the 60-gun HMS Warwick, going out to the West Indies, where, near Martinique on 11 March 1756, she fell in with a French 74-gun ship and two frigates, which overpowered and captured her.
Seven Years' War
War had not then been declared, but hostilities had been going on for several months, as Shuldham very well knew, and the story that he mistook the enemy's ships of war for merchantmen would be but little to his credit if there was any reason to suppose it true. He, with the crew of the Warwick, was sent to France, kept a prisoner at large at Poitiers for nearly two years, and returned to England in a cartel on 16 March 1758. A court-martial acquitted him of all blame for the loss of the ship, and on 25 July 1758 he was appointed to HMS Panther, in which he joined Commodore Sir John Moore in the West Indies and took part in the reduction of Guadeloupe and its dependent islands, March to May 1759 under Commodore Moore.
In July he was moved by Moore into
Governor of Newfoundland
On 14 February 1772 he was appointed commodore and commander-in-chief on the
Flag rank
On 31 March 1775 he was promoted to be
He died at Lisbon in the autumn of 1798. His body was transported back to England aboard HMS Colossus, which was also carrying many of the antique vases collected by Sir William Hamilton. Colossus was wrecked in a gale on the Isles of Scilly, but while many of Sir William's vases were lost, Shuldham's body was recovered through 'heroic efforts'. He had married Margaret Irene, widow of John Harcourt of Ankerwycke Park but left no issue, and thus the title became extinct.[5]
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Shuldham, Molyneux". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- ^ "Lord Molyneux Shuldham". morethannelson.com. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
- ^ "Extract of a Letter from Portsmouth, August 14". The Caledonian Mercury. Edinburgh: Walter Ruddiman, John Richardson and Company. 20 August 1763. p. 2. Retrieved 14 April 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "No. 11679". The London Gazette. 29 June 1776. p. 1.
- ^ "Library and Archive catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
- ^ Brke, Bernard. A Genealogical and Heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland.
External links
- Biography at Government House The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador
- "Molyneux Shuldham, 1st Baron Shuldham". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.