Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Joseph Bingham (ca. 1769 - 10 December 1825) was a

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 who was appointed Commander-in-Chief,

East Indies Station The East Indies Station was a formation and command of the British Royal Navy. Created in 1744 by the Admiralty, it was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies. Even in official documents, the term ''East Indies Station'' wa ...

but never took up the post.

Naval career

Bingham joined the Royal Navy in 1781 as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

on HMS ''Dublin'' and took part in the relief of Gibraltar.Biographical Index of Deaths for 1826
/ref> In January 1793 while serving as third lieutenant on HMS ''Ganges'' he assisted in the capture of Le Général Dumourier and other ships, and received his portion of a large amount of prize money. In May 1794 while serving as first lieutenant on HMS ''Audacious'' he was involved in engaging with La Révolutionaire and his good conduct was reported to the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

. He was promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

and appointed to the sloop HMS ''Cormorant'' and sailed for Jamaica in February 1795. He subsequently commanded HMS ''Hannibal'', HMS ''Sampson'' and HMS ''Jamaica'' before being given the 74 gun HMS ''Leviathan''. In 1798 he was appointed to HMS ''Prince George'', the flagship of Sir William Parker. He subsequently transferred, with Admiral Parker, to HMS ''America'' and was court martialled when that ship was stranded on the

Formigas Formigas Islets ( ; literally, ''Islets of the Ants''), sometimes referred to as the Formigas Bank, are a group of uninhabited rocky outcroppings in the eastern group of the Azores archipelago, an autonomous region of Portugal. The bank is loca ...

in 1800. He was acquitted by the Court and appointed to HMS ''St Fiorenzo'' in 1802. Bingham sailed to the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

, and spent the next couple of years operating in the Indian Ocean. On 14 January 1804, ''St Fiorenzo'' gave chase to the French naval

chasse-marée In English, a chasse-marée is a specific, archaic type of decked commercial sailing vessel. In French, ''un chasse-marée'' was 'a wholesale fishmonger', originally on the English Channel, Channel coast of France and later, on the Atlantic coa ...

and

aviso An ''aviso'' was originally a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat", carrying orders before the development of effective remote communication. The term, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word for "advice", "notice" or "warning", an ...

''Passe-Partout'' off Mount Dilly on the

Malabar Coast The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the West Coast of India, western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regio ...

. When the wind began to fail, Bingham sent three of his boats after the quarry. Once alongside, in two minutes the British had captured the French vessel, despite fire from two brass six-pounder guns, six brass

swivel gun A swivel gun (or simply swivel) is a small cannon mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rot ...

s and small arms. Out of her 25-man crew, ''Passe-Portout'' had two dead and five seriously wounded, including the captain, who was mortally wounded; the British suffered only one man slightly wounded. Bingham discovered that the French had outfitted ''Passe Partout'' to land three officers on the coast to incite the Mahratta states to attack the British. Bingham passed on the intelligence with the result that the British at

Poona Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

were able to capture the Frenchmen. In 1804 he was appointed to HMS ''Sceptre''. He accompanied the expedition sent to the

Scheldt The Scheldt ( ; ; ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old Englis ...

under Admiral Strachan and caught the Walcheren Fever. After partially recovering in 1811 he was appointed to HMS ''Egmont''. Promoted to

rear-admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

in 1819, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief,

but died on 10 December 1825 before he could take up the post.

Family

He married Sarah Parker, daughter of Admiral Sir William Parker, 1st Baronet.The Peerage.com
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bingham, Josph 1760s births 1825 deaths Royal Navy rear admirals