Jervis, John, 1st earl of St Vincent
Jervis, John, 1st earl of St Vincent (1735–1823). Promoted earl following his triumph over the Spanish fleet in February 1797, Jervis, son of a crooked Staffordshire lawyer, had an inauspicious start in life. But these circumstances formed an unflinching character of firmness and integrity; and as a hard yet humane disciplinarian Jervis attained a standing in the navy which was all his own. A symbol of professionalism, he was commanding in the Western Approaches in his 71st year. Jervis served with Wolfe at Quebec in 1759, and subsequent service in the North Sea and Mediterranean endorsed his talents as a seaman. In the 1770s he spent a year in France, familiarized himself with France's Biscay bases, and visited all the ports of the Baltic. He was present at Keppel's indecisive action off Ushant in July 1778, while at home he became MP for Launceston, Yarmouth (Walpole interest), and Wycombe 1783–94. Promoted admiral in 1787 he combined well with the army in the West Indies in 1793, but it was his command in the Mediterranean 1795–9 which established his fame, together with his affectionate tutelage of his subordinate Nelson. In 1801, as 1st lord of the Admiralty, St Vincent prosecuted an inquiry into theft in the dockyards which contributed to Lord Melville's impeachment in 1806 for malversation of funds. In 1810 Sheridan saluted St Vincent's ‘triple laurels over the enemy, the mutineer, and the corrupt’.
David Denis Aldridge
More From encyclopedia.com
George Byng Viscount Torrington , Byng, George, 1st Viscount Torrington (1664–1733). Byng entered the navy at 14 from a family in straitened circumstances. In 1688, while serving as a… Patristic Literature , patristic literature, Christian writings of the first few centuries. They are chiefly in Greek and Latin; there is analogous writing in Syriac and in… Sty , sty1 / stī/ • n. a pigpen. • v. (sties, stied) [tr.] archaic keep (a pig) in a sty: the most beggarly place that ever pigs were stied in. sty2 (also… John Benbow , Benbow, John (1653–1702). Admiral. Of the ‘tarpaulin’ rather than ‘gentleman’ breed of naval commander, Benbow was born in Shrewsbury. Entering the n… Fourteen , Skip to main content
fourteen
four·teen / ˌfôrˈtēn; ˈfôrˌtēn/ • cardinal number equivalent to the product of seven and two; one more than thirteen, o… Arthur St Clair , St. Clair, Arthur
St. Clair, Arthur
ST. CLAIR, ARTHUR. (1737–1818). Continental general. Scotland-Massachusetts-Pennsylvania. Born in Thurso, Scotlan…
About this article
John Jervis earl of St Vincent
All Sources -
You Might Also Like
NEARBY TERMS
John Jervis earl of St Vincent