Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet ...

Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, KB (2 December 17262 May 1814), of

Cricket St Thomas Cricket St Thomas is a parish in Somerset, England, situated in a valley between Chard and Crewkerne within the South Somerset administrative district. The A30 road passes nearby. The parish has a population of 50. It is noted for the historic m ...

, Somerset, was an

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Pruss ...

and

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

Origins

He was a younger son of the Rev. Samuel Hood (1691/2 – 1777), Vicar of

Butleigh Butleigh is a small village and civil parish, located in Somerset. The nearest village to it is Barton St David, and it is located a short distance from Glastonbury and Street. Its population is 823. Butleigh has a church, small village shop, a ...

and

prebend A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of t ...

ary of

Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedra it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built as a ...

(both in Somerset) and Vicar of Thorncombe in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

(whose monument survives in St Leonard's Church, Butleigh), by his wife Mary Hoskins, a daughter of Richard Hoskins,

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

, of

Beaminster Beaminster ( ) is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the Dorset Council administrative area approximately northwest of the county town Dorchester. It is sited in a bowl-shaped valley near the source of the small River ...

, Dorset. His elder brother was Admiral

Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (12 December 1724 – 27 January 1816) was an admiral in the Royal Navy. As a junior officer he saw action during the War of the Austrian Succession. While in temporary command of , he drove a French ship ashore in ...

(1724–1816). The sons of his first cousin Samuel Hood (1715–1805), a purser in the Royal Navy included Admiral

Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet (27 November 1762 – 24 December 1814), of 37 Lower Wimpole Street, London, was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served as a Member of Parliament for Westminster in 1806. He is not to be confused ...

(1762–1814), Captain Alexander Hood (1758–1798) and Captain Arthur Hood (1754–1776).

Career

The story of his entry into the navy is recounted by Edmund Lodge (1756–1839) (a personal acquaintance of Lord Bridport) in his ''Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain'': Alexander entered the navy in January 1741 and was appointed

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in in 1746. He was promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

in 1756 and served as flag captain for

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

Sir Charles Saunders, first in in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

(the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the ...

of Rear-Admiral Saunders, under whom Hood had served as a lieutenant), then in the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...

.Alexander Hood at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref>

Seven Years' War

Captain Alexander Hood, 1726-1814 RMG L8414

In the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...

Hood fought at the

Battle of Quiberon Bay The Battle of Quiberon Bay (known as ''Bataille des Cardinaux'' in French) was a decisive naval engagement during the Seven Years' War. It was fought on 20 November 1759 between the Royal Navy and the French Navy in Quiberon Bay, off the coast ...

on 20 November 1759, and in 1761 ''Minerva'' recaptured after a long struggle, the 60-gun of equal force, which had been captured by the French in 1756. For the remainder of the war, from 1761 to 1763, he was captain of in the Mediterranean.

American War of Independence

From this time forward Hood was in continuous employment afloat and ashore. In 1778 he was appointed to and fought at the

First Battle of Ushant The Battle of Ushant (also called the First Battle of Ushant) took place on 27 July 1778, and was fought during the American Revolutionary War between French and British fleets west of Ushant, an island at the mouth of the English Channel o ...

on 22 July. In the

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

of Admiral Augustus Keppel that followed the battle, although adverse popular feeling was aroused by the course which Hood took in Keppel's defence, his conduct does not seem to have injured his professional career. In 1780 Hood was promoted to

Rear Admiral of the White The Rear-Admiral of the White was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Rear-admiral of the red (see order of precedence below). Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, ...

, and succeeded Kempenfeldt as one of Howe's flag officers. In the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, in , he took part in Howe's relief of

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...

in 1782.

French Revolutionary War

Hood served in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

for a time. Promoted vice-admiral in 1787, he was appointed a

Knight of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as on ...

in the following year, and on the occasion of the Spanish Armament in 1790 flew his flag again for a short time. On 22 October 1790 he was a member of the court that acquitted

William Bligh Vice-Admiral William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The mutiny on the HMS ''Bounty'' occurred in 1789 when the ship was under his command; after being set adrift i ...

of losing his ship . On the outbreak of war with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1793 he went to sea again. In the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that suc ...

, on 1 June 1794, in (100), he was third in command to Admiral Lord Howe at the battle of the

Glorious First of June The Glorious First of June (1 June 1794), also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, (known in France as the or ) was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic ...

. For his exploits in this battle he was elevated to the Irish

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks. Peerages include: Australia * Australian peers Belgium * Be ...

as Baron Bridport and received the large Naval Gold Medal and chain. Henceforth Hood was practically in independent command. On 23 June 1795, with his flag in ''Royal George'', he fought the inconclusive

Battle of Groix The Battle of Groix was a large naval engagement which took place near the island of Groix off the Biscay coast of Brittany on 23 June 1795 ( 5 messidor an III) during the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle was fought between elements of the ...

against the French under Rear Admiral

Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse Louis-Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse (29 May 1747Granier, p.87Some biographers give a date of 1750 (Levot, p.541). Granier quotes the registers of Sainte-Marie parish. – 24 July 1812Levot, p.544) was a French admiral. Villaret was born at Auc ...

off the Île de Groix and captured three ships. He was much criticized in the navy for his failure to win a more decisive victory. However the British public considered the battle a great victory and his peerage was made

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

and he was promoted to

Vice-Admiral of Great Britain The Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom is an honorary office generally held by a senior Royal Navy admiral. The title holder is the official deputy to the Lord High Admiral, an honorary (although once operational) office which was vested in th ...

. From 1795 until Hood's retirement in 1800, he was commander of the

Channel Fleet The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915. History Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history the ...

. In 1796 and 1797 he directed the war from , rarely hoisting his

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

afloat save at such critical times as that of the Irish expedition in 1797. He was about to put to sea when the Spithead fleet mutinied. He succeeded at first in pacifying the crew of his flagship, who had no personal grudge against their admiral, but a few days later the mutiny broke out afresh, and this time was uncontrollable. For a whole week the mutineers were supreme, and it was only by the greatest exertions of the old Lord Howe that order was then restored and the men returned to duty. After the mutiny had been suppressed, Hood took the fleet to sea as commander-in-chief in name as well as in fact, and from 1798 he personally directed the

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are leg ...

of Brest, which grew stricter and stricter as time went on. In 1800 he was relieved by

John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent (9 January 1735 – 13 March 1823) was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Jervis served throughout the latter half of the 18th century and into ...

. In reward for Hood's fine record his peerage was made a

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicia ...

y. He spent the remaining years of his life in retirement and died on 2 May 1814.

Builds Cricket House

In 1786 he built the surviving

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Georgian

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals ...

, known as "Cricket House", to the designs of his friend the architect Sir

John Soane Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor of architecture at the R ...

(1753–1837). The Admiral had purchased the estate in 1775 from Richard Hippisley Coxe. It is unknown whether the new house incorporated elements of the earlier 14th century house or whether it was completely new. Soane completed further alterations in 1801–7. The Georgian

orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...

attached to the house was later turned into a parrot house.

Marriages

He married twice, but failed to produce any issue: *Firstly in 1758 to Maria West (c.1726-1786), known as "Molly", a daughter of the Reverend Richard West, Prebendary of Winchester, by his wife Mary Temple, a daughter of

Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet (28 March 1634 – 8 May 1697) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1654 and 1697. Life Temple was the son of Sir Peter Temple, 2nd Baronet of Stowe and his second ...

, of Stowe, Buckinghamshire, and sister of

Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham (24 October 1675 – 14 September 1749) was a British soldier and Whig politician. After serving as a junior officer under William III during the Williamite War in Ireland and during the Nine Years' War, ...

. Her modest mural monument designed by Sir

(1753–1837) (who in 1786 rebuilt Cricket House for her husband) survives in Cricket St Thomas Church, comprising an urn capped by a segmental pediment surmounting a tablet inscribed as follows:Sir John Soane's Museum Collection Online
/ref> ::''"Sacred to the Memory of Mary Wife of Rear Admiral Alexander Hood, who died 12 September 1786, After a short illness. She was Daughter of the Reverend Doctor West And Niece to Lord Viscount Cobham of Stow in Buckinghamshire Whose Eldest Sister her Father Married. From the purest sentiments of esteem And in just testimony of her pious benevolence And most amiable disposition, Her affectionate Husband, has caused this humble Monument to be Erected. 1787"''. *Secondly in 1788 to Mary Sophia Bray (d.1831), only daughter and heiress of Thomas Bray of Edmonton, Middlesex.

Death and succession

St Thomass church, Cricket St Thomas - monument to Viscount Bridport (geograph 3096518)

He died without issue on 2 May 1814 when the Viscountcy in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great ...

became extinct. His Irish barony passed by special remainder to his younger great-nephew Samuel Hood, 2nd Baron Bridport (1788–1868), the husband of Charlotte Mary Nelson, 3rd Duchess of Bronte (1787–1873), daughter and heiress of William Nelson, 1st Earl Nelson, 2nd Duke of Bronte (1757–1835), elder brother and heir of the great Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (1758–1805). Samuel and Charlotte's son Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, 3rd Baron Bridport (1814–1904) (Viscountcy created 1868), 4th Duke of Bronte in Sicily, sold Cricket House and its estate in 1898 to the chocolate manufacturer Francis Fry (d.1918), the estate having become heavily mortgaged.

Burial and monument

He was buried in Cricket St Thomas Church, where survives his monument designed by his friend Sir

(1753–1837), who in 1786 rebuilt Cricket House for him. It is inscribed as follows:

References

* William James, ''Naval History of Great Britain'', 1793–1827. * ''The Naval Chronicle, Volume 1'' 1799, J. Gold, London. (reissued by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

, 2010. )

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridport, Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount 1726 births 1814 deaths Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the Seven Years' War Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath Viscounts in the Peerage of Great Britain Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

Peers of Ireland created by George III Peers of Great Britain created by George III