Robinson Elsdale (1744–1783), was an English

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

and autobiographer. He was the son of Samuel Elsdale (1704–1788) and Mary Elsdale, of

Surfleet Surfleet is a small village and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the B1356 road, north of Spalding, in the Lincolnshire fens. The River Glen runs through the village to the east wher ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. He was baptised on 25 December 1744 at Surfleet. His sister Mary (1739–1772) was the mother of

John Molson John Molson (28 December 1763 – 11 January 1836) was an English people, English-born brewer and entrepreneur in colonial Province of Quebec (1763–91), Quebec, which during his lifetime became Lower Canada. In addition to founding Molson Brewe ...

who founded the

Molson Brewery The Molson Brewery is a Canada-based brewery based in Montreal and was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Canadian operati ...

. Elsdale entered the

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 ...

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 ...

, but left early by reason of the slowness of promotion, and served in various

s cruising against the French, chiefly off the coast of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

and the west coast of Africa, between 1762 and 1779, when he retired. For the benefit of his wife he wrote an account of some of the most exciting adventures and experiences which he had met with during his sea life. Those episodes in a life of adventure are told in a fresh, simple, and lively style, and abound in hair-breadth escapes and romantic incidents. The manuscript fell into the hands of Captain Marryat, and was freely used by him in the earlier chapters of ''The Privateersman'' (1846), also known as ''Extracts from the Log of a Privateersman One Hundred Years Ago''. After his retirement from active service Elsdale lived quietly on an estate at Surfleet which had been in his family for many generations. He died on 15 October 1783.

Family

Elsdale married on 31 March 1779 Miss Ann Gibbons, a lady of great beauty and intelligence, by whom he had two sons, Samuel and Robinson. Samuel Elsdale was educated at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...

, graduating B.A. in 1803, M.A. 1809, took holy orders and a fellowship, and became the master of Moulton Grammar School, Lincolnshire, was a frequent contributor to magazines, and the author of a volume of sacred poetry entitled ''Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell; a Poem, with Hymns and other Poems'', 1812, 8vo; 3rd ed. 1813. He died on 13 July 1827. Robinson Elsdale junior (1783–1850) was educated at

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils 13–18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oakham School. ...

and

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

; he took holy orders and a fellowship and became the High Master of

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) is a highly Selective school, selective Private_schools_in_the_United_Kingdom, private day school for boys aged 7-18 in Manchester, England, which was founded in 1515 by Hugh Oldham (then Bishop of Exeter). ...

References

1744 births 1783 deaths English autobiographers English privateers People from South Holland (district) {{England-writer-stub