The Faulknor family was an English family from Northamptonshire, of which several generations served as officers in the Royal Navy.
Samuel Faulknor (d. 5 October 1744) was the son of William Faulknor. He commanded the 100-gun ship Britannia in 1736, and also the 100-gun Royal Sovereign before being appointed commander of the Victory, flagship of Admiral Sir John Norris, in early 1741. On 28 July 1744 Victory sailed with a fleet of British and Dutch ships from St. Helen's for Lisbon. During the voyage they captured six French ships. On 3 October the fleet was dispersed in a gale, and on the next night Victory was lost with her entire crew. [1] It was believed that Victory struck the Casquets rocks off Alderney, but in 2009 a wreck identified as Victory was found by Odyssey Marine Exploration nearly 62 miles (100 km) from where the ship was supposed to have sunk. [2]
Robert Faulknor the elder (d. 9 May 1769) was also the son of Samuel Faulknor. Robert entered the Navy while still a boy, and in 1741, aged only 15, served during the siege of Carthagena. He was seriously wounded there—sixteen splinters of bone were taken from his ankle—but was promoted to lieutenant soon afterwards. He later served in the Battle of Minorca on 20 May 1756, and was a witness at Admiral Byng's subsequent court-martial. Soon after Faulknor was promoted to the rank of commander in a sloop-of-war, and in 1757, was advanced to post-rank, and commanded the 68-gun ship Marlborough , for a short time. In August 1761 Faulknor was in command of the seventy-four Bellona, and sailing in company with the frigate Brilliant (36) off Vigo, northern Spain, when they engaged the French seventy-four Courageux, and the 36-gun frigates Malicicuse and Ermine. Bellona fought and captured Courageux in a fierce action lasting just 55 minutes, while Brilliant engaged the frigates. Faulknor was appointed to command the Kent in 1763. In poor health after a fall from a horse whilst hunting, he then lived in Bath, and afterwards in Dijon, central France, where he died on 9 May 1769. [1]
Robert Faulknor the younger (1763–1795) was the son of Robert Faulknor the elder. He entered the Navy in 1777 and served under William Cornwallis in several ships during the American War, receiving promotion to lieutenant in 1780. After several periods on half-pay he was appointed commander of the 16-gun sloop Zebra on the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War in 1793. After an attack on Fort Royal, Martinique, Faulknor was made post and given command of the 28-gun frigate Undaunted. He then took part in the invasion of Guadeloupe. Faulknor was in command of the frigate Blanche when she captured the French frigate Pique on 6 January 1795. Faulknor was killed during the action. [1]
Jonathan Faulknor the younger was the son of Jonathan Faulknor the elder. In 1789 he married Rebecca, daughter of Lieutenant-General Horatio Spry (1730–1811) of the Cornish Spry family. He died in 1809 with the rank of rear-admiral of the red. He was the father of Commander Jonathan Faulknor, R.N., and Lieutenant Augustus Spry Faulknor, and the grandfather of Colonel Jonathan Augustus Spry Faulknor.
Captain William Faulknor (d. 1725) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Captain Samuel Faulknor (d. 1744) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Captain Samuel Faulknor (d. 1760) | Captain Robert Faulknor the elder (1726–1769) | Admiral Jonathan Faulknor (d. 1795) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Captain Robert Faulknor the younger (1763–1795) | Rear Admiral Jonathan Faulknor the younger (d. 1809) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Commander Jonathan Faulknor | Lieutenant Augustus Spry Faulknor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Constantine John Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave was an English explorer and officer in the Royal Navy. He served during the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, seeing action in a number of battles and engagements. Inheriting a title, he also went on to have a successful career in Parliament and occupied a number of political offices during his later years.
HMS Bellona was a 74-gun Bellona-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Designed by Sir Thomas Slade, she was a prototype for the iconic 74-gun ships of the latter part of the 18th century. "The design of the Bellona class was never repeated precisely, but Slade experimented slightly with the lines, and the Arrogant, Ramillies, Egmont, and Elizabeth classes were almost identical in size, layout, and structure, and had only slight variations in the shape of the underwater hull. The Culloden-class ship of the line was also similar, but slightly larger. Thus over forty ships were near-sisters of the Bellona." Bellona was built at Chatham, starting on 10 May 1758, launched on 19 February 1760, and commissioned three days later. She was the second ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name, and saw service in the Seven Years' War, American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars.
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.
Courageux was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1753. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1761 and taken into service as HMS Courageux. In 1778 she joined the Channel Fleet, and she was later part of the squadron commanded by Commodore Charles Fielding that controversially captured a Dutch convoy on 31 December 1779, in what became known as the Affair of Fielding and Bylandt. On 4 January 1781, Courageux recaptured Minerva in a close-range action west of Ushant that lasted more than an hour. That April, Courageux joined the convoy under George Darby which successfully relieved the Great Siege of Gibraltar.
Vice-Admiral John Campbell (1720–1790) was born in the parish of Kirkbean in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. Campbell was a British naval officer, navigational expert and colonial governor.
Captain Archibald Kennedy, 11th Earl of Cassilis was a Scottish peer who lived in the English colony of New York which became part of the United States.
HMS Zebra was a 16-gun Zebra-class sloop of the Royal Navy, launched on 31 August 1780 at Gravesend. She was the second ship to bear the name. After twenty years of service, including involvement in the West Indies campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars, she was converted into a bomb vessel in 1798. In this capacity she took part in attacks on French ports, and was present at both battles of Copenhagen. The Navy sold her in 1812.
Jonathan Faulknor was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary Wars, in a career which spanned fifty years.
Robert Faulknor the younger (1763–1795) was an 18th-century Royal Navy officer, part of the Faulknor naval dynasty. He was court-martialled and died in an action off Guadeloupe in the eastern Caribbean Sea.
Admiral Sir Thomas Pakenham GCB, styled The Honourable from birth to 1820, was an Anglo-Irish naval officer and politician.
Admiral of the White Hugh Pigot, of Wychwood Forest in Oxfordshire, was a Royal Navy officer. He commanded York at the reduction of Louisbourg in June 1758 and commanded Royal William at the capture of Quebec in September 1759 during the Seven Years' War. He went on to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands Station during the American Revolutionary War and then became First Naval Lord. He also served as a Member of Parliament.
James Richard Dacres was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He eventually rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral.
Admiral Sir Lawrence William Halsted GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Samuel Granston Goodall was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars in a career that spanned 50 years, rising to the rank of Admiral of the White.
Admiral Robert Linzee was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Rear-Admiral Christopher Hill was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, River Medway and the Nore. Having joined the Royal Navy in 1731, Hill served off Ireland, Portugal, and in the Mediterranean Sea before being promoted to commander in 1746. After several commands he was then promoted to post-captain in 1747. While commanding HMS Dover he captured the French East Indiaman Pondichéry during the Seven Years' War. Hill was on half pay between 1760 and 1769, then being given command of HMS Augusta and serving as Commander-in-Chief, River Medway and the Nore for the following year. His last command was HMS Barfleur towards the end of the year. A well thought of officer, Hill was promoted to rear-admiral in January 1778 but was killed in a fall from his horse six months later.
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.
Admiral Sir Thomas Rich, 5th Baronet was a British naval officer and Member of Parliament.
Rear-Admiral George Murray, 6th Lord Elibank was a British naval officer. He joined the Royal Navy in the early 1720s and fought in the Battle of Porto Bello in 1739 as a lieutenant on board the ship of the line HMS Hampton Court. Murray was promoted to commander in 1740 and given command of the sloop HMS Tryall to take part in George Anson's voyage around the world. A series of illnesses and deaths in Anson's squadron meant that by early 1741 Murray had been promoted to post captain and given command of the frigate HMS Pearl. Pearl and another ship lost contact with Anson in April of that year and after taking heavy damage and casualties through storms and sickness, sought safety in Rio de Janeiro before sailing for England.
Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hardy, also known as Sir Charles Hardy the Elder, was a Royal Navy officer of the eighteenth century. Hardy entered the Royal Navy in 1695, joining his cousin Captain Thomas Hardy's ship HMS Pendennis. Promoted to lieutenant in 1701, he served in several ships of the line before being promoted to commander in 1705. Hardy commanded sloops in the English Channel, Mediterranean and North Seas, before taking command of HMS Dunwich in 1709, in which he was promoted to post captain. Hardy subsequently served for a year at Jamaica before commanding two ships during the Great Northern War between 1718 and 1720. Having changed commands several times, in 1727 he fought at the thirteenth siege of Gibraltar in HMS Kent.