Philip Wodehouse (Royal Navy officer)
Philip Wodehouse | |
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Born | 16 July 1773 |
Died | 21 January 1838 | (aged 64)
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | Royal Navy |
Years of service | c. 1794–1838 |
Rank | Vice-admiral |
Commands held |
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Battles/wars |
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Relations | John Wodehouse, 1st Baron Wodehouse (father) |
Philip Wodehouse was born on 16 July 1773.
French Revolutionary Wars
The first recorded service of Wodehouse in the Royal Navy is his promotion to
Peterel was serving in
Wodehouse was next given command of the 24-gun frigate
Napoleonic Wars
Now without a ship, in spring 1804 Wodehouse was instead appointed to superintend the Sea Fencibles, a coastal defence force, at Harwich. He continued in that post until August 1805, at which point he was given command of the 64-gun ship of the line HMS Intrepid which had recently completed a refit at Deptford Dockyard. Wodehouse took Intrepid out to the Mediterranean, where in June 1806 she formed part of Rear-Admiral Sidney Smith's squadron supporting the defence against the French invasion of Naples.[17] Towards the end of 1807 Wodehouse again moved commands, commissioning the brand new 74-gun ship of the line HMS Cumberland in October. Cumberland sailed to join Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood's Mediterranean Fleet on 30 January 1808.[2][18] By February 1809 Wodehouse's ship was serving in a squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Strachan, who commanded the Rochefort blockade.[18][19]
Having returned to the Mediterranean, on 21 October Cumberland was serving under Collingwood blockading Toulon when François-André Baudin escaped that port with a squadron including three ships of the line. Baudin was attempting to escort supplies and reinforcements to relieve Barcelona. He was discovered by the British on 23 October and Collingwood ordered Rear-Admiral George Martin to chase the French squadron with eight of the best sailing ships in the fleet, which included Cumberland.[20] At 3 p.m. Baudin split his warships away from the convoy and sailed towards the French coast. Martin and six of his ships, including Cumberland, discovered Baudin and four of his ships early in the morning on 24 October. The British chased Baudin through the day but had to stop when night began to fall as they were dangerously close to the coastline. They made contact with the French again on the following day; two of the ships succeeded in getting into the harbour at Cette, but at 11:45 a.m. the 80-gun ship of the line Robuste and 74-gun ship of the line Lion ran ashore at Frontignan.[21] The French set the ships on fire and in the night of 26 October they both exploded.[18][22]
Martin's squadron afterwards returned to Collingwood, who later in the month discovered that the convoy escorted by Baudin was in Rosas Bay. [2][18] Captain Benjamin Hallowell was sent to capture or destroy the convoy, for which purpose he was given a squadron including Cumberland. In the night of 31 October Cumberland and the larger vessels of the squadron anchored off the bay and sent their small boats in with the squadron's brigs. The French force was defended by several small warships and was covered by soldiers on the beach and forts above it, but by daylight on 1 November all the ships had been either captured or destroyed. The British lost fifteen men killed and a further fifty wounded, of which the latter included three officers from Cumberland.[23] Subsequently Cumberland was stationed off Sicily as part of the force protecting that island. Wodehouse continued with Cumberland in the Mediterranean until July 1811 when, having at some point been wounded, he handed over to Captain Robert Otway and withdrew from sea-service.[2][18][24]
Commissioner at Halifax
Wodehouse was subsequently appointed Resident Commissioner, Halifax on 9 September 1811.[2][18][25] This position, the senior-most of the Navy Board in Halifax, gave Wodehouse control over the Royal Naval Dockyard there; he was in command of all financial, administrative, building, and repair work relating to it.[26] With the War of 1812 having begun, he oversaw a great expansion of the dockyard facilities which by 1814 were servicing 120 Royal Navy warships.[27]
In around July 1813 Wodehouse was caught up in a dispute between the naval hospital's surgeon
By 1815 both the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars had ended. Wodehouse began a campaign to convince the Navy Board to release funds to him for repairs, arguing that most of the dockyard was "in the most defective state". Very few repairs were sanctioned by the Navy Board during Wodehouse's tenure, and in March 1819 he was still bargaining with it, suggesting that the repairs could be done gradually to save money.[31] In November 1815 Wodehouse supervised the start of the construction of Admiralty House for the use of the commanders-in-chief of the North America Station. The house was completed in 1819.[32][33]
The Navy Board decided in May the same year to close the dockyard and use its remaining facilities as a supply depot, it being surplus to peacetime requirements. This signalled the end of Wodehouse's tenure at Halifax and soon after transport was arranged for him and his family to return to Britain.[34] Described by the historian Julian Gwyn as "intelligent, warm, and kind-hearted", with the closing Wodehouse received testimonials of affection from Halifax town, Nova Scotia Council, and his dockyard officers and clerks. With most of his workers becoming unemployed when the yard closed, Wodehouse lobbied successfully to secure their pensions and for those who lived on site to continue to do so.[35]
The historian Harry Piers suggests that while at Halifax Wodehouse had his portrait painted by Robert Field, but as of 1927 no such portrait had been located.[36] Having left Halifax, on 12 August 1819 Wodehouse was promoted to rear-admiral.[Note 1][2][25] He had no further active service within the Royal Navy after this, but was promoted to vice-admiral on 22 July 1830. He died on 21 January 1838.[1]
Personal life
While serving at Halifax Wodehouse married Mary Hay Cameron, the second daughter of Charles Cameron, Governor of the Bahamas, on 7 May 1814.[2][37] Together the couple had seven children:[38][39][4]
- Margaret Hay Wodehouse (b. 19 March 1816)
- ADC (17 April 1817 – 6 October 1870), Royal Artillery officer and father of Sir Frederick Wodehouse
- Jane Wodehouse (b. 9 January 1821)
- Agnes Wodehouse (b. 22 June 1822)
- Eleanor Mary Wodehouse (b. 28 May 1824)
- Reverend Constantine Griffith Wodehouse (b. 31 March 1827), rector of Mongewell
- Reverend Philip Cameron Wodehouse (b. 22 January 1837), chaplain at Hampton Court Palace
Notes and citations
Notes
- vice-admiral of the white 10 January 1837[5]
Citations
- ^ a b c O'Byrne (1849), p. 1314.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Marshall (1823b), p. 770.
- ^ Thorne, R. G. "Wodehouse, Sir John, 6th Bt. (1741–1834), of Kimberley House, Wymondham, Norf". The History of Parliament.
- ^ a b Mair (1881), p. 364.
- ^ a b Syrett & DiNardo (1994), p. 477.
- ^ Laughton (1896), p. 317.
- ^ Winfield (2008), p. 229.
- ^ Laughton (1896), p. 319.
- ^ Winfield (2008), p. 202.
- ^ a b Winfield (2008), p. 199.
- ^ a b Winfield (2008), p. 213.
- ^ a b Winfield (2008), p. 183.
- ^ Winfield (2008), p. 203.
- ^ a b Winfield (2008), p. 150.
- ^ Clarke & McArthur (2011), p. 175.
- ^ a b Grocott (2002), p. 150.
- ^ Winfield (2008), p. 101.
- ^ a b c d e f Winfield (2008), p. 86.
- ^ Marshall (1823a), p. 290.
- ^ Clowes (1900), pp. 278–279.
- ^ Clowes (1900), p. 279.
- ^ Clowes (1900), pp. 279–280.
- ^ Clowes (1900), pp. 280–281.
- ^ Gwyn (2004), p. 68.
- ^ a b Clowes (1900), p. 5.
- ^ Pacey (1988), p. 58.
- ^ Gwyn (2004), p. 125.
- ^ Gwyn (2004), pp. 50–51.
- ^ Gwyn (2004), p. 51.
- ^ Gwyn (2004), p. 52.
- ^ Gwyn (2004), pp. 40–41.
- ^ Pacey (1988), pp. 58–60.
- ^ Gwyn (2004), p. 55.
- ^ Gwyn (2004), p. 146.
- ^ Gwyn (2004), p. 76.
- ^ Piers (1927), p. 143.
- ^ Mackenzie (1884), p. 279.
- ^ Mackenzie (1884), pp. 279–280.
- ^ Sharpe (1830), p. 6M 8.
References
- Clarke, James Stanier; McArthur, John (2011) [1802]. The Naval Chronicle. Vol. 8. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-51-173160-0.
- OCLC 162571422.
- Grocott, Terence (2002). Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-164-5.
- Gwyn, Julian (2004). Ashore and Afloat: The British Navy and the Halifax Naval Yard before 1820. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press. ISBN 0-7766-3031-8.
- OCLC 2022609.
- Mackenzie, Alexander (1884). History of the Camerons. Inverness: A. & W. Mackenzie. OCLC 2706236.
- Mair, Robert H. (1881). Debrett's Peerage and Titles of Courtesy. London: Dean & Son. OCLC 767528727.
- Marshall, John (1823a). . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. 1, part 1. London: Longman and company. pp. 284–291.
- Marshall, John (1823b). . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. 1, part 2. London: Longman and company. pp. 769–770.
- A Naval Biographical Dictionary. London: John Murray. p. 1314.
- Pacey, Elizabeth (1988). Georgian Halifax. Hantsport, Nova Scotia: Lancelot Press. ISBN 0-88999-349-1.
- OCLC 1184749445.
- Sharpe, John (1830). Sharpe's Peerage. London: John Sharpe. OCLC 1065286181.
- Syrett, David; DiNardo, R. L. (1994). The Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy 1660–1815. Aldershot: Scolar Press. ISBN 1-85928-122-2.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-78346-926-0.