Admiral Sir Manley Dixon, KCB (3 January 1757; 8 February 1837) was a prominent

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

officer during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Born into a military family in the late 1750s or early 1760s, Dixon joined the Navy and served as a junior officer in 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 a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of ...

, gaining an independent command in the last year of the war. Promoted to captain seven years later, Dixon then served in the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Pruss ...

in 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 the ...

and off

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

until 1798, when he gained command of the 64-gun HMS ''Lion'' with the Mediterranean Fleet. Employed in 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 ar ...

of Cartagena, on 15 July 1798 ''Lion'' fought four Spanish frigates and successfully captured one, ''Santa Dorothea''. Transferred to the Siege of Malta later the same year, Dixon remained off the island for two years, capturing the French ship of the line ''Guillaume Tell'' at the action of 31 March 1800. After the

Peace of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France 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 se ...

, Dixon remained in various active commands but saw no action and later retired, advancing to a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one ...

and a full admiral.

Life

According to various sources, Manley Dixon was born in either 1757 or 1760 into a military family: his brother George W. Dixon became a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

Major-General serving with the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

. Joining the Navy at a young age, Dixon served throughout the

and by 1782 was a commander with the

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular ...

in the Caribbean and the following year took over . He saw little service during the peace of 1783–1793, although in 1790 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 ...

. His daughter Frances Elizabeth Dixon was born in 1784 and his son

Manley Hall Dixon Admiral Manley Hall Dixon (8 June 1786 – 3 March 1864) was a Royal Navy officer who became Commander-in-Chief, Queenstown. Naval career Born the son of Admiral Sir Manley Dixon, Dixon joined the Royal Navy in 1794 and took part in the action ...

was born in 1786. In 1793 Dixon took command of the

sixth rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works a ...

off

and later moved to the frigate HMS ''Espion'' in the

. In 1798, Dixon sailed in the 64-gun ship of the line for the Mediterranean Fleet under Vice-Admiral

Earl St Vincent Viscount St Vincent, of Meaford in the County of Stafford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 27 April 1801 for the noted naval commander John Jervis, Earl of St Vincent, with remainder to his nephews William He ...

based in the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to ...

. There he was assigned to the

of Cartagena and on 15 July 1798 fought an action against four Spanish frigates, successfully dividing the squadron and capturing the ''Santa Dorothea''.''The Gentleman's Magazine'', July 1837, p. 207 Later in the year, ''Lion'' was attached to the squadron blockading

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 was ...

during the Siege of Malta, remaining on the station for two years. In March 1800, the French ship of the line ''Guillaume Tell'' attempted to break out of Valletta and was intercepted by a British squadron including ''Lion''. During the ensuing battle Dixon was heavily engaged and inflicted severe damage on his French opponent, which was eventually forced to surrender. In August 1802 during the

, ''Lion'' returned to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

and Dixon was briefly placed in reserve. When the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

broke out in 1803, Dixon returned to service as captain of the 74-gun and in 1804 transferred to in the Channel Fleet. In 1808 he was promoted to rear-admiral and raised his flag in in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...

. In 1810 his first wife Christiana Sophia Dixon died suddenly while at dinner with friends in

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. In 1812 he was transferred to the Brazilian station in and remained there until the end of the war, receiving a promotion to vice-admiral in 1813 and returning to Britain in 1815 on board . Entering semi-retirement, Dixon did not return to the Navy and although he was made a

in August 1819 and was promoted to full admiral in 1825, he never again commanded at sea. He was

Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth The Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. Plymouth Command was a name given to the units, establishments, and staff operating under the admiral's command. Between 1845 and 1896, this offic ...

from 1830 to 1833. Admiral Dixon died in February 1837 of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

at his home in

Exmouth Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon. Histo ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

References

Bibliography

* Retrieved on 1 November 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Manley 1760s births 1837 deaths Royal Navy admirals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars