Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many 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. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

John Child Purvis (13 March 1747 – 1825) was a British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century best known for his service with the British Mediterranean Fleet during the French Revolutionary and

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. Coming from a naval family, Purvis first saw action in small ships during 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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, later commanding a

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

with the Mediterranean Fleet during 1793-1796. During this period he fought in several significant battles against the French. He then served with 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 th ...

operating at 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 ...

of Brest and in the Napoleonic Wars was promoted and tasked with maintaining the blockade of Cadiz. After the outbreak of the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

, Purvis was active in preventing the French capture of Cadiz and at one stage destroyed the city's seaward defences. He retired post-war to his home in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

Life

Purvis was born into a prominent naval family on 13 March 1747, the second son of George Purvis, the secretary to the Sick and Wounded Board, and his wife Mary Oadham. He was the grandson of Captain

George Purvis Captain George Purvis (27 July 1680 – 8 March 1741), of Darsham, Suffolk, was a Royal Navy officer and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1732 to 1741. Purvis was the eldest son of George Purvis of Darsham and his wife Margar ...

Darsham Darsham is a village in Suffolk, England. It is located approximately north-east of Saxmundham. The village is bypassed by the A12 and is served by Darsham railway station, which is approximately one mile away from the village centre, on the ...

, Suffolk, MP for Aldeburgh and comptroller of the navy in the 1730s. He was the brother of Captain Richard Purvis who died in May 1802, and of George Purvis, who served as secretary to Admiral Lord Howe and later to Admiral the Earl of St. Vincent in the Mediterranean. Purvis joined the Royal Navy at a young age, and by 1778 he was a lieutenant on first and then during the

. In 1782 he was promoted to commander and sailed off

Cape Henry Cape Henry is a cape on the Atlantic shore of Virginia located in the northeast corner of Virginia Beach. It is the southern boundary of the entrance to the long estuary of the Chesapeake Bay. Across the mouth of the bay to the north is Cape Ch ...

in the 16-gun HMS ''Duc de Chartres''. On 19 August Purvis encountered the 22-gun

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

''Aigle'', capturing the French ship after a fierce engagement. For this victory, he was promoted to

Post Captain Post-captain or post captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term "post-captain" was descriptive only; it was never used as a title in the form "Post-Captain John Smith". The term served to di ...

, although the end of the war soon afterwards limited his opportunities for service. He was recalled at the outbreak of the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

in 1793 and give command of first the

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

and then the flagship of Rear-Admiral Samuel Goodall, , in which he sailed for the Mediterranean. ''Princess Royal'' was heavily engaged at the

Siege of Toulon The siege of Toulon (29 August – 19 December 1793) was a military engagement that took place during the Federalist revolts and the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. It was undertaken by forces of the French Re ...

later in the year, and following the withdrawal Purvis assisted the British forces during the invasion of Corsica, seeing action at the

Siege of Bastia The siege of Bastia was a combined British and Corsican military operation during the early stages of the French Revolutionary Wars. The Corsican people had risen up against the French garrison of the island in 1793, and sought support from the ...

and the

Siege of Calvi The siege of Calvi was a combined British and Corsican military operation during the Invasion of Corsica in the early stages of the French Revolutionary Wars. The Corsican people had risen up against the French garrison of the island in 1793, ...

. The following year he was with the fleet which fought at the

Battle of Genoa The Battle of Genoa (also known as the Battle of Cape Noli and in French as ''Bataille de Gênes'') was a naval battle fought between French and allied Anglo-Neapolitan forces on 14 March 1795 in the Gulf of Genoa, a large bay in the Ligurian S ...

and

Battle of the Hyères Islands The Battle of the Hyères Islands was a naval engagement fought between a combined British and Neapolitan fleet and the French Mediterranean Fleet on 13 July 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Since the start of the war in 1793 the Fr ...

and inflicted minor defeats on the French Mediterranean Fleet during the

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

. At the withdrawal from the Mediterranean in late 1796, ''Princess Royal'' was paid off and Purvis given command of the 98-gun ship of the line with the

, serving at the blockade of Brest. In 1801 he moved to the 100-gun and briefly returned to shore at the

Peace of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France, the Spanish Empire, and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it set t ...

. In 1803 he returned to service once more in the

, and spent a year in command of until promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1804. In 1806 in this position he was sent to serve with the Mediterranean Fleet once more, commanding the blockade of the Spanish port of Cadiz. Following the outbreak of the

in 1808, Purvis led his squadron into Cadiz harbour to secure the Spanish fleet from capture by the advancing French and at one point deliberately destroyed the seaward defences of the port when it seemed likely that the French would overwhelm the landward defences. Ultimately however the French were unable to take the city. Purvis was present at Cadiz in 1810, when a storm blew several Spanish and Portuguese ships ashore where they were destroyed by French artillery fire. Purvis later retired ashore and became a Commissioner of the

Navy Board The Navy Board (formerly known as the Council of the Marine or Council of the Marine Causes) was the Regulatory agency, commission responsible for the day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. The board was headqua ...

. He married three times, first in 1784 to Catherine Sowers with whom he had two children. Secondly in 1790 to Mary Longhurst Garrett, with one son; his wife died in 1798. Finally he married Elizabeth Dickson, daughter of Sir Archibald Dickson, who survived him. He was promoted to Admiral of the Blue, and died at home at

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest (district), New Forest district of Hampshire, England. The town faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a Roll-on/roll-off, car ferry s ...

in the summer of 1825.New Monthly Magazine, ''Admiral John Child Purvis''

Notes

References

* Retrieved on 4 October 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Purvis, John Child 1825 deaths Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War