Admiral Norwich Duff

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(15 August 1792 – 21 April 1862) was a

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 ...

officer.

Life

The son of Captain

George Duff Captain George Duff RN (c. 1 February 1764 – 21 October 1805) was a British naval officer during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, who was killed by a cannonball at the Battle of Trafalg ...

RN, and Sophia Dirom, he was born at 9 South Castle Street, Edinburgh. He entered the Royal Navy in July 1805, just before his 13th birthday, serving aboard his father's ship as a midshipman. In October 1805 at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1 ...

his father was killed. Duff was promoted to lieutenant in September 1811 and was appointed flag-lieutenant to the commander-in-chief in February 1814. He served on . He was promoted to commander on 15 June 1814 and appointed to command of the 18-gun brig-sloop , part of the naval force in the

Chesapeake Chesapeake often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated plac ...

during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

, and later took part in the attack on New Orleans. In October 1816 Duff was appointed to command of the 10-gun brig-sloop and sent to the Caribbean, where he assumed command of the 18-gun in September 1817. He returned to England in August 1818. He undertook an extensive continental European tour in 1819 of which he kept a journal. He was promoted to

Post captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain ...

on 23 April 1822. In 1823 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

his proposer being Alexander Dirom. On the 10 June 1833 he married Helen Mary Shoolbred (daughter of

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 Sou ...

Surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

John Shoolbred 1766–1831) at

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

and with her produced eight recorded children. The couple's eldest daughter, (Helen) Sophia Duff 18341930, married Boscawen Trevor Griffith (whose name later changed to Griffith-Boscawen) as a result of which Norwich became the maternal grandfather of Arthur Sackville Trevor Griffith-Boscawen 18651946, a prominent British

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

politician during the early decades of the twentieth century. Another daughter, Henrietta, was a novelist. Duff was promoted to

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 ...

on 8 October 1852, and to vice admiral on 28 November 1857. He died at

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

on 21 April 1862. There is a portrait of him by Sir

Henry Raeburn Sir Henry Raeburn (; 4 March 1756 – 8 July 1823) was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland. Biography Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, on the Water of Leith: a f ...

, and a metal plaque commemorates him in

Bath Abbey The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, it was reorganised in the 10th ...

Family

In 1833 he married Helen Mary Shoolbred (1811-1895), daughter of Dr John Shoolbred

of the

References

External links

* archived Web site at Wayback Machine. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duff, Norwich 1792 births 1862 deaths Military personnel from Edinburgh Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the War of 1812 Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Life

Family

See also

References

External links