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 ...

Robert Swanton (1710 – 11 July 1765) 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 became commander-in-chief of the

Leeward Islands Station The Leeward Islands Station originally known as the Commander-in-Chief at Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands was a formation or command of the Kingdom of Great Britain and then the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed at English Harbour, Antigua, ...

Naval career

Swanton joined the Royal Navy on 8 September 1724 as a cadet. He was given an operational post as lieutenant in January 1734. In May 1735, he was serving on HMS Rippon moving to HMS Oxford in April 1737. In February 1738, he moved to HMS Flamborough on which he was part of the attack on St Augustine in 1740. Promoted to

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 ...

in 1743, he took command of the

fifth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal N ...

in August 1744, the

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Rating When the rating system was f ...

HMS ''Hampton Court'' in 1757 and the third-rate HMS ''Vanguard'' later that year. In HMS ''Vanguard'', he saw action at the Siege of Louisbourg in 1758 and at the

Battle of Pointe-aux-Trembles The Battle of Pointe-aux-Trembles was a naval and land engagement during the conquest of New France that took place on 16 May 1760 on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, near the future site of Neuville, Quebec, Canada. In the previous ...

in 1760 during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

. He became commander-in-chief of the

in 1763. He died in Westminster on 11 July 1765.

Family

His wife Emma died in 1822. They had a daughter, Frances (d. 1841). He was brother-in-law to Admiral John Carter Allen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swanton, Robert Royal Navy rear admirals 18th-century births 1765 deaths Royal Navy personnel of the Seven Years' War