 |
J. D. Davies | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | J. D. (David) Davies 1 April 1957 Llanelli, Carmarthenshire |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Occupation | British historian (naval history) |
| Known for | Author |
| Website | jddavies.com |
J. D. (David) Davies (born 1 April 1957) is a British historian, specialising primarily in naval history, and the author of both fiction and non-fiction books.
Davies was educated at Llanelli Boys' Grammar School and Jesus College, Oxford. After teaching for some years in Newquay, Cornwall, he returned to Oxford to undertake doctoral research on the naval history of the Restoration period. He was awarded the degree of DPhil in 1986. He subsequently taught history and politics at Bedford Modern School, also serving as a Sub-Lieutenant RNR (CCF). Ultimately, he served as Deputy Head (Academic) at BMS from 2000 to 2004. He then gave up full-time teaching to develop his writing career.
Davies's first book, Gentlemen and Tarpaulins: The Officers and Men of the Restoration Navy (1991) was a revised version of his doctoral thesis. [1] [ better source needed ] The American Historical Review stated the second half of the book was a "pioneering study" that was "expertly presented". [2] His second book, Pepys's Navy: Ships, Men and Warfare 1649–89 [3] [ better source needed ], was published in 2008, followed in 2010 by his first non-naval book, Blood of Kings: the Stuarts, the Ruthvens and the 'Gowrie Conspiracy'. Britannia's Dragon: A Naval History of Wales followed in 2013. His non-fiction book Kings of the Sea: Charles II, James II and the Royal Navy was published in 2017. [4] [ better source needed ]
Davies has contributed many articles and essays to historical journals and other works, including 67 entries in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and a chapter in the Oxford History of the Royal Navy. He is working on a history of the Stepney family, baronets of Llanelli.
This series of novels centres on the adventures of Captain Matthew Quinton, one of the young "gentlemen captains" promoted by King Charles II of England despite their almost complete lack of experience of the sea. The first book, Gentleman Captain, published in North America in 2009, was described by Booklist as "a splendid book, with terrific characters, a thrilling adventure, and a wonderful sense of time and place" and by Kirkus Reviews as "a delightful tale". [5] [6] The subsequent books in the series include The Mountain of Gold, [7] The Blast that Tears the Skies, The Lion of Midnight, The Battle Of All The Ages, Death's Bright Angel, [8] The Rage of Fortune and The Devil Upon the Wave. [9] [ better source needed ] [10] [ better source needed ]
Ensign Royal (2014) also features Matthew Quinton but is a novella. [11] [ better source needed ]
Source: [12]
Set in the Tudor period, the Stannard trilogy follows the fortunes of a seafaring family from Dunwich, Suffolk, during the forty year period from the sinking of the Mary Rose to the fight against the Spanish Armada. The stories are also set against the backdrops of the switchback religious changes in Tudor England and Dunwich’s relentless battle against the encroaching sea. The trilogy consists of Destiny's Tide, [13] Battle's Flood' [14] ' and Armada’s Wake. [15] [ better source needed ]
Davies won the Julian Corbett essay prize for naval history in 1986, and in 2009 Pepys’s Navy was awarded the Samuel Pepys award and Latham medal. [16] Kings of the Sea won the Anderson prize for 2017, and also received a certificate of merit for the Mountbatten prize. [17] [18] Davies served as chairman of the Naval Dockyards Society from 2005 to 2013 and as vice-president of the Navy Records Society from 2008 to 2012, having previously served several terms on the society's council. He was elected Chairman of the Society for Nautical Research in 2020. Davies was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2010 .
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, and a component of His Majesty's Naval Service. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the English Navy of the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.
Vice-Admiral Sir George Carteret, 1st Baronet was a royalist statesman in Jersey and England, who served in the Clarendon Ministry as Treasurer of the Navy. He was also one of the original lords proprietor of the former British colonies of Carolina and New Jersey.
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada, Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Kenya.
Sir William Penn was an English admiral and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1670. He was the father of William Penn, founder of the colonial Province of Pennsylvania, which is now the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, 27 July 1625 to 28 May 1672, was an English military officer, politician and diplomat from Barnwell, Northamptonshire. During the First English Civil War, he served with the Parliamentarian army, and was a Member of Parliament at various times between 1645 and 1660. Under The Protectorate, he was also a member of the English Council of State and General at sea.
Josiah Burchett, of Hampstead, Middlesex, was a British naval administrator and Whig politician, who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1705 and 1741. He was Secretary of the Admiralty in England, a position he held for almost fifty years from 26 September 1694 to 14 October 1742. In addition to his administrative duties, he was the author of the first general history of the Royal Navy, published in 1720 and based on official Admiralty records.
Admiral Sir Robert Holmes was an English Royal Navy officer. He participated in the second and third Anglo-Dutch Wars, both of which he is, by some, credited with having started. He was made Governor of the Isle of Wight, where he is buried in Yarmouth Parish Church.
Admiral is a senior rank of the Royal Navy, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-9, outranked only by the rank of admiral of the fleet. Royal Navy officers holding the ranks of rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals. The rank of admiral is currently the highest rank to which a serving officer in the Royal Navy can be promoted, admiral of the fleet being in abeyance except for honorary promotions of retired officers and members of the royal family.
Mary "Moll" Davis, also spelt Davies or Davys, was a courtesan and mistress of King Charles II of England. She was an actress and entertainer before and during her role as royal mistress.
The Tudor navy was the navy of the Kingdom of England under the ruling Tudor dynasty (1485–1603). The period involved important and critical changes that led to the establishment of a permanent navy and laid the foundations for the future Royal Navy.
Admiral Sir Charles Wager was an English Royal Navy officer and politician who served as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1733 to 1742. Despite heroic active service and steadfast administration and diplomatic service, Wager can be criticized for his failure to deal with an acute manning problem.
Sir Edward Spragge was a Royal Navy officer. He was a fiery, brilliantly accomplished seaman who fought in many great actions after the Stuart Restoration of King Charles II of England in 1660.
Sir John Kempthorne was an officer in the English Royal Navy during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars, who eventually rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral.
Volunteer-per-order was a name for a rating for young boys in the Royal Navy for young gentlemen who were training to become officers. The rating was introduced by Samuel Pepys in 1676 and the recipient received £24 a year and a letter from the crown which virtually guaranteed him promotion after spending two years at sea and passing the examination for lieutenant. The letter instructed the admirals and captains that the bearer was to be shown "such kindness as you shall judge fit for a gentleman, both in accommodating him in your ship and in furthering his improvement".
Lieutenant (abbreviated Lt, LT (U.S.), LT(USN), Lieut and LEUT, depending on nation) is a commissioned officer rank in many English-speaking nations' navies and coast guards. It is typically the most senior of junior officer ranks. In most navies, the rank's insignia may consist of two medium gold braid stripes, the uppermost stripe featuring an executive curl in many Commonwealth of Nations; or three stripes of equal or unequal width.
A patache is a type of sailing vessel with two masts, very light and shallow, a sort of cross between a brig and a schooner, which originally was a warship, being intended for surveillance and inspection of the coasts and ports. It was used as a tender to the fleet of vessels of more importance or size, and also for trans-Pacific travel, but later began to be used for trading voyages, carrying cargo burdens of 30 tons or more.
This Bibliography covers sources for Royal Navy history through the 18th and 19th centuries. Some sources may be duplicated in sections when appropriate. Among the contemporary and earlier historical accounts are primary sources, historical accounts, often derived from letters, dispatches, government and military records, captain's logs and diaries, etc., by people involved in or closely associated to the historical episode in question. Primary source material is either written by these people or often collected, compiled, and/or written and published by other editors also, sometimes many years after the historical subject has passed. Primary sources listed in this bibliography are denoted with an uppercase bold ' (P) before the book title. Publications that are in the public domain and available online for viewing in their entirety are denoted with E'Book.
The Glorious Revolution of 1688 rearranged the political map of Europe, and led to a series of wars with France that lasted well over a century. This was the classic age of sail; while the ships themselves evolved in only minor ways, technique and tactics were honed to a high degree, and the battles of the Napoleonic Wars entailed feats that would have been impossible for the fleets of the 17th century. Because of parliamentary opposition, James II fled the country. The landing of William III and the Glorious Revolution itself was a gigantic effort involving 100 warships and 400 transports carrying 11,000 infantry and 4,000 horses. It was not opposed by the English or Scottish fleets.
The Admiral of the Narrow Seas also known as the Admiral for the guard of the Narrow Seas was a senior Royal Navy appointment. The post holder was chiefly responsible for the command of the English navy's Narrow Seas Squadron also known as the Eastern Squadron that operated in the two seas which lay between England and Kingdom of France and England and the Spanish Netherlands later the Dutch Republic from 1412 to 1688. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Command of the Narrow Seas.
Properly speaking, the history of the Royal Navy began in 1546 with the establishment of the "Navy Royal" by Henry VIII. This became the Parliamentary Navy during the period of the Commonwealth with the modern incarnation of Royal Navy established in 1660 following the Restoration of King Charles II to the throne. The English navy began operating together with the much smaller Royal Scots Navy at the time of the Union of the Crowns under James I in 1603 but only formally merged in 1707 at the establishment of the united Kingdom of Great Britain.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
