Thomas Dilkes
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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 ...
Sir Thomas Dilkes (c.1667 – 12 December 1707) was an officer in 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 ...
.


Early life

Thomas Dilkes was born in around 1667 to a junior branch of the Dilke family of
Maxstoke Castle Maxstoke Castle is a privately owned moated castle dating from the 14th century, situated to the north of Maxstoke in Warwickshire, England. History Maxstoke Castle was built by Sir William de Clinton, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, in 1345 to a rect ...
in Warwickshire. He was also related to Sir William Coventry. He joined 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 ...
in 1683, and served as a Volunteer-per-order until 1686. He was appointed second
lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
of the on 29 April 1687, and of the on 3 September 1688. On 8 April 1689 he was given his first command: the
fire ship A fire ship or fireship is a large wooden vessel set on fire to be used against enemy ships during a ramming attack or similar maneuver. Fireships were used to great effect against wooden ships throughout naval military history up until the ad ...
.


Captain

In 1692 he achieved post rank with command of the
fourth-rate In 1603 all English warships with a complement of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers, a six-tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided ...
, and commanded this vessel in the
battles of Barfleur and La Hogue The Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue took place during the Nine Years' War, between 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.) and 4 June O.S. (14 June N.S.) 1692. The first was fought near Barfleur on 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.), with later actions occurring ...
. In October of that year he captured two
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 ...
s in combination with the , then captured a large privateer on his own in December. In July 1693 he was given command of the , followed by the in 1694, the in 1695, and the in 1696. In 1696, he was part of an ill-fated squadron that sailed to the
West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
under the command of
Vice-admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...
John Nevell. When Nevell, his second in command George Mees, and almost all the other captains died of yellow fever, Dilkes succeeded to the command and brought the squadron home in October 1697. In the peace which followed the
Treaty of Ryswick The Peace of Ryswick, or Rijswijk, was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Rijswijk between 20 September and 30 October 1697. They ended the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War between France and the Grand Alliance, which included the Dutc ...
he held a succession of short-lived commands, and was seriously injured in a shipwreck on the Irish coast in 1699. Tha accession of Queen Anne and the outbreak of the
War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...
in 1702 brought Dilkes a new command: the 80-gun . He took part in the expedition to Cadiz under Sir George Rooke, who transferred his flag to that ship during the
battle of Vigo Bay The Battle of Vigo Bay, also known as the Battle of Rande (; ), was a naval engagement fought on 23 October 1702 during the opening years of the War of the Spanish Succession. The engagement followed an Anglo-Dutch attempt to capture the Spanish ...
, deeming his flagship the too large to enter the harbour.


Admiral

On 1 March 1703, Dilkes was promoted to be rear-admiral of the white, hoisting his flag aboard the . In July of that year he led his fleet in an operation described by
William Laird Clowes Sir William Laird Clowes (1 February 1856 – 14 August 1905) was a British journalist and historian whose principal work was ''The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900'', a text that is still in print. He also wrote numerous ...
as "one of the most brilliant of the early part of the war." Sailing from
Spithead Spithead is an eastern area of the Solent and a roadstead for vessels off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast, with the Isle of Wight lying to the south-west. Spithead and the ch ...
on 22 July, he learned of a large number of
merchantmen A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which ar ...
heading for Granville. Arriving outside that town on , he found forty-five merchant vessels guarded by three small
men-of-war In Royal Navy jargon, a man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a powerful warship or frigate of the 16th to the 19th century, that was frequently used in Europe. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually rese ...
. Though the French withdrew to waters too shallow for the larger English ships to follow, Dilkes attacked vigorously with his ships' boats and shallower draft vessels. In the three days that followed he captured one man-at-war, destroying the other two. He also captured fifteen merchantmen and burned or sunk twenty-six, leaving just four survivors of the original flotilla. As a result, Queen Anne ordered gold medals to be struck and presented to Dilkes and his captains. He spent the next few months based in
Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...
, escorting convoys and patrolling the entrance to the
English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
, before returning to Spithead just in time to avoid the
Great Storm of 1703 The Great storm of 1703 was a destructive extratropical cyclone that struck central and southern England on 26 November 1703. High winds caused 2,000 chimney stacks to collapse in London and damaged the New Forest, which lost 4,000 oaks. Ships wer ...
on 26 November. During this year he was elected to represent
Castlemartyr Castlemartyr (, formerly anglicised as ''Ballymarter'' or ''Ballymartyr'') is a large village in County Cork, Ireland. It is around east of Cork city Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Irel ...
in the
Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...
. The following year, with his flag still in the ''Kent'', he sailed with Sir Cloudesley Shovell to join Sir George Rooke's fleet off Lisbon. Operating with this fleet, on , he led the ''Kent'', and in the pursuit and capture of three Spanish warships: ''Porta Cœli'', ''Santa Theresa'' and ''St. Nicholas''. He was not present at the
capture of Gibraltar The capture of Gibraltar by Anglo-Dutch forces of the Grand Alliance occurred between 1 and 4 August 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. Since the beginning of the war the Alliance had been looking for a harbour in the Iberian Penins ...
, but soon afterwards took a prominent part in the battle of Málaga as rear-admiral of the white squadron, in acknowledgment of which he was
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
by the Queen on 22 October shortly after his return to England. He was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Red on 18 January 1705, and sent to escort a convoy of merchant ships to Lisbon the following month, hoisting his flag in the . On arrival in the Tagus, he placed himself under the command of Sir John Leake and, on , had a principal share in dealing with the French squadron that was blockading Gibraltar. The French force, consisting of five ships of the line, fled on the approach of the much larger British fleet. In the ensuing Battle of Cabrita Point, Dilkes led the capture of the sixty-gun , whilst the remaining French vessels were either captured or destroyed. On , Sir Cloudesley Shovell arrived in Lisbon with reinforcements, and Dilkes remained through the summer with this grand fleet under the joint command of Shovell and Lord Peterborough. He took part in the successful siege of Barcelona before returning to England with Shovell in November. He seems to have spent 1706 in home waters, employed chiefly in the blockade of
Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...
, but the following year he sailed once more for the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
. He joined the fleet commanded by Sir Cloudesley Shovell and took part in operation to besiege Toulon in combination with land forces commanded by
Prince Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy-Carignano (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736), better known as Prince Eugene, was a distinguished Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the Army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty durin ...
. The arrival of French reinforcements meant that siege had to be abandoned, but Shovell was determined to get something from the engagement and ordered Dilkes to bombard the French fleet confined within the town. On he hoisted his flag aboard the and led a flotilla of bomb ketches close inshore. They continually bombarded the town, destroying two French ships and damaging three more, until being driven off by shore batteries the following morning. The French completed the job themselves, seeking to avoid their capture or destruction, they scuttled their entire fleet. Shovell left for England immediately after the siege was raised, though he would perish ''en route'' in the Scilly naval disaster. Dilkes was left in command of the Mediterranean fleet and went to
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
to confer with
Archduke Charles Archduke Charles Louis John Joseph Lawrence of Austria, Duke of Teschen (; 5 September 177130 April 1847) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian field marshal, the third son of Emperor Leopold II and his wife, Maria Luisa of Spain. He was also the youn ...
, the
Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
claimant to the Spanish throne. Charles wanted him to invade
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
and concentrate on defending the coast of
Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
, but as these projects did not fit with his orders from London, Dilkes declined. Following this conference, he sailed for
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, anchoring in
Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...
on . On arrival, a dispute arose between the admiral and the local authorities over the priority of saluting. Dilkes claimed the right to be saluted first by the castle, but the answer came that this honour was only offered to admirals or vice-admirals. Rear-admiral Dilkes had to be content with this answer, and as a conciliatory gesture he was invited to a public dinner on shore on . Returning to his flagship after this meal he caught a chill, followed by a fever, from which he died on 12 December 1707. His death coming so soon after his dispute with the grand-ducal court led to rumours that he had been poisoned; John Campbell, for example, writing that his fever was "caused, as most people imagined, by an Italian dinner." These rumours have been dismissed as groundless. He was buried in the British cemetery outside the city on . According to John Charnock, "as for the character of this brave and unfortunate man we find much to applaud and nothing to censure ..the respect of those who were his superiors in command he always possessed; the service on which he was ordered, he constantly did his utmost to accomplish."


Politics

In 1703, Dilkes was returned to the
Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...
as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of
Castlemartyr Castlemartyr (, formerly anglicised as ''Ballymarter'' or ''Ballymartyr'') is a large village in County Cork, Ireland. It is around east of Cork city Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Irel ...
in County Cork. He held the seat until 1709.


Family

He married Mary, daughter of
Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin Murrough MacDermod O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin (September 1614 – 9 September 1673), was an Irish nobleman and soldier, who came from one of the most powerful families in Munster. Known as ''Murchadh na dTóiteán'' ("Murrough the Burner"), ...
and widow of Henry Boyle of
Castlemartyr Castlemartyr (, formerly anglicised as ''Ballymarter'' or ''Ballymartyr'') is a large village in County Cork, Ireland. It is around east of Cork city Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Irel ...
. Together they had one son: Michael O'Brien Dilkes who died a
lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...
in 1774. After Dilkes's death, Mary married again – to Colonel John Irwin. She died on 25 April 1727 and was buried in
Ripley, Surrey Ripley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England. It is centred southeast of Woking, northeast of Guildford and southwest of London. Neighbouring villages Send and Send Marsh to the South-West and Ockham to the East have fewer sho ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dilkes, Thomas 1660s births 1707 deaths Irish MPs 1703–1713 Royal Navy rear admirals 17th-century Royal Navy personnel Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cork constituencies Knights Bachelor 18th-century Royal Navy personnel English military personnel of the Nine Years' War British naval commanders in the War of the Spanish Succession Infectious disease deaths in Tuscany