John Braithwaite (1696–1740), was an English

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

Career

Braithwaite (also spelt Brathwaite and other variants) was the author of ''The History of the Revolution in the Empire of Morocco upon the Death of the late Emperor Muley Ishmael'', published in 1729 and translated into Dutch in 1729,

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in 1730, and French in 1731. In his preface Braithwaite describes himself as being in the service of the African Company, and as having, when very young, served in the fleet in

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's reign, and then having been a

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in the Welsh

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s, ensign in the Royal Guards, and

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to his kinsman Christian Cole, the

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resident at

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, with whom he travelled through

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. Braithwaite married Christian's niece Silvia, whose father was a merchant in

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. He also states that he was in the

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and Saint Vincent expeditions, and was present at the siege of

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(1727). Thence he crossed to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and joined the British

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, John Russel, in his expedition in the emperor's dominions, the experiences of which he relates in his book. The diary of the narrative extends from July 1727 to February 1728.

Death and family

Col John Braithwaite was killed when the vessel "Baltick Merchant" was attacked and captured by a Franco-Spanish privateer (the "Biscaya") off the Scilly Isles. Braithwaite was murdered after the surrender. He was survived by his wife, Silvia (née Cole), his elder daughter Caroline, who married Robert Armitage, his only son Major-General Sir John Braithwaite, 1st Baronet and a younger daughter, Sylvia. The last is assumed to have been born after the death of Colonel Braithwaite. She married the

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Bonnell Thornton. Her mother remarried Reverend Thomas Winstanley and had a further son, Thomas, who died at 21. The elder Silvia died in 1799. A

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Braithwaite is mentioned in the ''

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'' as being appointed in 1749 to command the ''Peggy'' sloop, and again in 1761 as commanding the ''Shannon''. However, this was Richard Braithwaite, a younger cousin. In February 1768, a John Braithwaite was removed from the post of secretary to the

governor of Gibraltar The governor of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territories, British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of ...

; but it is certain this is not Col John Braithwaite.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braithwaite, John 1696 births 1740 deaths 18th-century English writers 18th-century English male writers Scots Guards officers