Edward Peyton

Last updated

Edward Peyton
Died26 October 1749
Buried
Service / branch Royal Navy
Rank1707–1749
Commands HMS Grampus
HMS Salamander
HMS Greyhound
HMS Kennington
HMS Rochester
HMS Medway
East Indies Station
Battles / wars
Spouse(s)Esther Higgins

Edward Peyton (died 4 April 1749) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the War of the Austrian Succession and took part in an inconclusive battle off Bengal.

Peyton entered the navy in 1707. From 1744 to 1746 he was captain of the 60-gun HMS Medway. [1] In 1746, he was appointed a commodore in succession of Curtis Barnett and was commanding a squadron of seven ships of the line off Bengal. The French commander Mahé de la Bourdonnais had been sent to the East Indies in response to attacks by Peyton's predecessor. Peyton sighted Bourdonnais and his French fleet off Negapatnam on 25 June 1746 and attacked. The clash was inconclusive as the British fleet held back too far to do sufficient damage. The British lost 14 killed and 46 wounded and the French lost 27 killed and 53 wounded. After the action Peyton held a council of war with his captains, and decided to break off the action and return to Tricomalee for repairs. By withdrawing, Peyton left Bourdonnais unopposed on the Coromandel Coast where he went on to attack Madras. [2] [3]

Peyton, was censured by the East India Company and arrested by his successor, Thomas Griffin. He was recalled to England but no charges were filed. He died on 4 April 1749, a broken man. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Nile</span> 1798 naval battle during the French Invasion of Egypt

The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy and the French Republic Navy at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the Nile Delta of Egypt between 1–3 August 1798. The battle was the climax of a naval campaign that had raged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under General Napoleon Bonaparte. The British fleet was led in the battle by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson; they decisively defeated the French under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, destroying the best of the French navy, which was weakened for the rest of the Napoleonic Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War of the Austrian Succession</span> 1740–1748 war between European powers

The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King George's War in North America, the War of Jenkins' Ear, the First Carnatic War, and the First and Second Silesian Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 3 July 1810</span> Minor naval engagement during the Napoleonic Wars

The action of 3 July 1810 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, in which a French frigate squadron under Guy-Victor Duperré attacked and defeated a convoy of Honourable East India Company East Indiamen near the Comoros Islands. During the engagement the British convoy resisted strongly and suffered heavy casualties but two ships were eventually forced to surrender. These were the British flagship Windham, which held off the French squadron to allow the surviving ship Astell to escape, and Ceylon. The engagement was the third successful French attack on an Indian Ocean convoy in just over a year, the French frigates being part of a squadron operating from the Île de France under Commodore Jacques Hamelin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Carnegie, 6th Earl of Northesk</span> Scottish naval officer and peer

Admiral George Carnegie, 6th Earl of Northesk was a Scottish naval officer and peer. He was the son of David Carnegie, 4th Earl of Northesk and Lady Margaret Wemyss and was born on 2 August 1716. A career Royal Navy officer, he fought in the War of the Austrian Succession and the First Carnatic War, where in the East Indies he participated in the action of 6 July 1746. His service was curtailed by a series of debilitating illnesses and he never served at sea again after being promoted to rear-admiral in 1756. He died on 20 January 1792 at age 75.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Palliser</span> Royal Navy admiral (1723–1796)

Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser, 1st Baronet was a Royal Navy officer. As captain of the 58-gun HMS Eagle he engaged and defeated the French 50-gun Duc d'Aquitain off Ushant in May 1757 during the Seven Years' War. He went on to serve as Commodore Governor of Newfoundland, then Controller of the Navy and then First Naval Lord. During the American Revolutionary War he came into a famous dispute with Augustus Keppel over his conduct as third-in-command of the Channel Fleet at the inconclusive Battle of Ushant in July 1778; the dispute led to Palliser being court-martialled, although he was subsequently acquitted. In retirement Palliser became Governor of Greenwich Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Trincomalee</span> Battle fought between a British fleet and a French fleet off the coast of Trincomalee

The Battle of Trincomalee was fought between a British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes and a French fleet under the Bailli de Suffren off the coast of Trincomalee, then Ceylon, on 3 September 1782. It was the fourth in a series of battles fought between the two fleets off the coast of the Indian subcontinent during the American Revolutionary War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Cornwallis</span> Royal Navy admiral (1744–1819)

Admiral Sir William Cornwallis, was a Royal Navy officer. He was the brother of Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, British commander at the siege of Yorktown. Cornwallis took part in a number of decisive battles including the siege of Louisbourg in 1758, when he was 14, and the Battle of the Saintes but is best known as a friend of Lord Nelson and as the commander-in-chief of the Channel Fleet during the Napoleonic Wars. He is depicted in the Horatio Hornblower novel, Hornblower and the Hotspur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnatic wars</span> 18th century wars between the French and the British

The Carnatic wars were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century in India's coastal Carnatic region, a dependency of Hyderabad State, India. The first Carnatic wars were fought between 1740 and 1748.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 6 November 1794</span> Naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars

The action of 6 November 1794 was a naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars. Two British ships of the line, HMS Alexander and HMS Canada were intercepted while returning to Britain through the Celtic Sea by a large French squadron. The French squadron had sailed from Brest in search of an inward bound British convoy in October, but instead encountered the two British ships returning from escorting an outward-bound convoy. There had been no warning of the French approach as the British force assigned to watch Brest was absent at Plymouth due to the policy of operating a distant blockade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaloner Ogle</span> 18th-century British Royal Navy officer and politician

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Chaloner Ogle KB was a Royal Navy officer and politician. After serving as a junior officer during the Nine Years' War, a ship he was commanding was captured by three French ships off Ostend in July 1706 in an action during the War of the Spanish Succession. Ogle was given command of the fourth-rate HMS Swallow and saw action against the pirate fleet of Bartholomew Roberts in the Battle of Cape Lopez in February 1722. The action was to prove a turning point in the war against the pirates and many consider the death of Roberts to mark the end of the Golden Age of Piracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Rowley</span> British admiral

Vice-Admiral Sir Joshua Rowley, 1st Baronet was a Royal Navy officer who was the fourth son of Admiral Sir William Rowley. Sir Joshua was from an ancient English family, originating in Staffordshire (England) and was born on 1 May 1734. Rowley served with distinction in a number of battles throughout his career and was highly praised by his contemporaries. Unfortunately whilst his career was often active he did not have the opportunity to command any significant engagements and always followed rather than led. His achievements have therefore been eclipsed by his contemporaries such as Keppel, Hawke, Howe and Rodney. Rowley however remains one of the stalwart commanders of the wooden walls that kept Britain safe for so long.

HMS <i>Salisbury</i> (1698) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Salisbury was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Richard and James Herring at Baileys Hard on the Beaulieu River in Hampshire, England, and launched on 18 April 1698.

HMS <i>Expedition</i> (1679) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Expedition was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line built at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1677/79. She was in active commission during the War of the English Succession participating in the battles of Beachy Head and Barfleur. She was rebuilt in 1699. Again, for the War of Spanish Succession she was in commission for the operation at Cadiz then returned to England where she sat for two years. She was in the Mediterranean for the Battle of Marbella in 1705. She then went to the West Indies and fought in Wager's action off Cartagena in 1708. She was rebuilt in 1709-14 to the 1706 Establishment. She spent her time split between the Baltic and as guard ship at Portsmouth before being broken at Portsmouth in 1736. She was rebuilt in 1736/40 at Deptford Dockyard.

HMS <i>Seahorse</i> (1748) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Seahorse was a 24-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1748. She is perhaps most famous as the ship on which a young Horatio Nelson served as a midshipman. She also participated in four battles off the coast of India between 1781 and 1783. The Royal Navy sold her in 1784 and she then became the mercantile Ravensworth. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1786 and 1788. In 1789, she was sold to the French East India Company which had her refitted and renamed her Citoyen. In 1793 the French Navy purchased her and used her as a frigate. She was last listed in 1801.

HMS <i>Rippon</i> (1758) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Rippon was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir Joseph Allin and built by Israel Pownoll at Woolwich Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment as amended in 1752, and launched on 20 January 1758.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Madras</span> Battle of the War of the Austrian Succession

The Battle of Madras or Fall of Madras took place in September 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession when a French force attacked and captured the city of Madras from its British garrison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Carnatic War</span> 1740–1748 war in India

The First Carnatic War (1740–1748) was the Indian theatre of the War of the Austrian Succession and the first of a series of Carnatic Wars that established early British dominance on the east coast of the Indian subcontinent. In this conflict the British and French East India Companies vied with each other on land for control of their respective trading posts at Madras, Pondicherry, and Cuddalore, while naval forces of France and Britain engaged each other off the coast. The war set the stage for the rapid growth of French hegemony in southern India under the command of French Governor-General Joseph François Dupleix in the Second Carnatic War.

HMS Salisbury was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built during the War of the Austrian Succession and went on to see action in the Seven Years' War, serving in the East Indies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 6 July 1746</span> 1746 naval battle

The action of 6 July 1746 was an inconclusive naval engagement between the British and French fleets during the War of the Austrian Succession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Cape Finisterre (1761)</span> 1761 naval battle of the Seven Years War

The Battle of Cape Finisterre was a naval engagement fought off the Northern Spanish Atlantic coast near Cape Finisterre between British and French squadrons during the Seven Years' War. A British force comprising the 74-gun ship of the line HMS Bellona and 36-gun frigate HMS Brilliant was sailing from Lisbon to Britain with a cargo of specie when on 13 August they encountered a French force comprising the 74-gun Courageux and the 32-gun frigates Malicieuse and Hermine. The British ships immediately chased the French squadron, maintaining contact through the night, and on the following morning two separate engagements occurred as Brilliant fought the French frigates and Bellona battled Courageux.

References

  1. British Fourth Rate Ship of the Line
  2. "Modern day Commando.com". Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  3. "Wind Machines – Age of Sail". Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  4. DNB Epitome – Edward Peyton