Admiral Nicholas Haddock (1686 – 26 September 1746) was an admiral in the

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 ...

and Commander-in-Chief of Britain's naval forces in the

Mediterranean 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 Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

between 1738 and 1742. Despite an active and successful early and middle career, his reputation was tarnished in 1740 when he failed to prevent the Spanish and French fleets from combining to support an invasion of Italy. Amid public outcry he was forced to resign his naval responsibilities and return to England, where he fell into a melancholic state. Haddock never returned to sea. He held public office as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Rochester, but there is no record of him attending parliament or casting a vote. He died at Wrotham Park in Kent, in 1746.

Early life

Haddock was born in 1686, the third and youngest son of Sir Richard Haddock, then

Controller of the Navy The post of Controller of the Navy (abbreviated as CofN) was originally created in 1859 when the Surveyor of the Navy's title changed to Controller of the Navy. In 1869 the controller's office was abolished and its duties were assumed by that of ...

, and his wife Elizabeth. He joined the Royal Navy at thirteen as a volunteer-per-order and was promoted to midshipman three years later. At around this time he also saw his first active service at sea, being present at the Battle of Vigo Bay off Spain in 1702. Promoted to lieutenant, he served at the relief of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in 1706. On 6 April 1707 he was promoted to the rank of captain and placed in command of the 42-gun

fifth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal ...

HMS ''Ludlow Castle''.Charnock 1795, p. 383 England was at war with France, and Haddock's orders were to hunt for enemy privateers. On 30 December he brought ''Ludlow Castle'' into range with two such vessels, ''Nightingale'' and ''Squirrel'', both former English merchantmen captured and refitted by the French. Haddock ordered that ''Ludlow Castle'' give chase, and was rewarded with the capture of ''Nightingale''. This vessel, Haddock's first

prize ship In admiralty law prizes are equipment, vehicles, vessels, and cargo captured during armed conflict. The most common use of ''prize'' in this sense is the capture of an enemy ship and her cargo as a prize of war. In the past, the capturing force ...

, was returned to England along with her crew. Haddock was also present at the Battle of Cape Passaro off Sicily in 1718; he was Captain of the 70-gun ''Grafton'', and led the attack.

Later career

In 1723 he purchased the estate of Wrotham Place in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. In 1732 he was appointed to command of

The Nore The Nore is a long bank of sand and silt running along the south-centre of the final narrowing of the Thames Estuary, England. Its south-west is the very narrow Nore Sand. Just short of the Nore's easternmost point where it fades into the ch ...

. He was Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean Fleet from 1738 to 1742. After the outbreak of the

War of Austrian Succession War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, with only 10 ships at his disposal, he was unable to prevent the crossing of two Spanish armies from Barcelona to Italy. In November 1741, a Spanish fleet with 14,000 troops sailed to

Orbetello Orbetello is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Grosseto (Tuscany), Italy. It is located about south of Grosseto, on the eponymous lagoon, which is home to an important Natural Reserve. History Orbetello was an ancient Etruscan settleme ...

and in mid-December, 52 ships carrying almost 12,800 men successfully crossed towards La Spezia. Only with the arrival of additional ships from Britain in February 1742, he was able to successfully blockaded the Spanish coastReed Browning, ''The War of the Austrian Succession'', p. 97. and take valuable prizes including two treasure ships, but failed to force the Spanish fleet into an action. He was recalled from the Mediterranean in December 1741 and succeeded first by Richard Lestock and then

Thomas Mathews Thomas Mathews (October 16762 October 1751) was a British officer of the Royal Navy, who rose to the rank of admiral. Mathews joined the navy in 1690 and saw service on a number of ships, including during the Nine Years' War and the War of the ...

. He was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1734 and promptly took up a political career, obtaining the Admiralty-controlled

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorate ...

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

in the elections in that year. Although no longer a serving sea officer he continued to progress through seniority, reaching the rank of vice-admiral in 1744 and Admiral of the Blue in 1744. He remained in Parliament as Member for Rochester until his death in 1746. His estate, comprising Wrotham Place and a fortune in South Sea and

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

shares, was inherited by his eldest son Nicholas.

References

External links

Portrait of Nicholas Haddock, at the National Maritime Museum

Portrait of Nicholas Haddock, at the National Portrait Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haddock, Nicholas 1746 deaths 1686 births Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession Royal Navy personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession Royal Navy admirals British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 People from Wrotham British military personnel of the War of the Quadruple Alliance

Early life

Later career

References

Further reading

External links