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KEPPEL, AUGUSTUS KEPPEL, VISCOUNT (17...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 752 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KEPPEL, See also:AUGUSTUS KEPPEL, See also:VISCOUNT (1725-1786) , See also:British See also:admiral, second son of the second See also:earl of See also:Albemarle, was See also:born on the 25th of See also:April 1725. He went to See also:sea at the See also:age of ten, and had already five years of service to his See also:credit when he was appointed to the " See also:Centurion," and was sent with See also:Anson See also:round the See also:world in 1740. He had a narrow See also:escape of being killed in the See also:capture of See also:Paita (Nov. 13, 1741), and was named acting See also:lieutenant in 1742. In 1744 he was promoted to be See also:commander and See also:post See also:captain. Until the See also:peace of 1748 he was actively employed. In 1747 he ran his See also:ship the " See also:Maidstone " (50) ashore near Belleisle while See also:chasing a See also:French See also:vessel, but was honourably acquitted by a See also:court See also:martial, and reappointed to another command. After peace had been signed he was sent into the Mediterranean to persuade the See also:dey of See also:Algiers to restrain the piratical operations of his subjects. The dey is said to have complained that the See also:king of See also:England should have sent a See also:beard-less boy to treat with him, and to have been told that if the beard was the necessary qualification for an See also:ambassador it would have been easy to send a " Billy See also:goat." After trying the effect of bullying without success, the dey made a treaty, and Keppel returned in 1751. During the Seven Years' See also:War he saw See also:constant service. He was in See also:North See also:America in 1755, on the See also:coast of See also:France in 1756, was detached on a cruise to reduce the French settlements on the See also:west coast of See also:Africa in 1758, and his ship the " Torbay " (74) was the first to get into See also:action in the See also:battle of See also:Quiberon in 1759. In 1757 he had formed See also:part of the court martial which had condemned Admiral Byng, and had been active among those who had endeavoured to secure a See also:pardon for him; but neither he nor those who had acted with him could produce any serious See also:reason why the See also:sentence should not be carried out.

When See also:

Spain joined France in 1762 he was sent as second in command with See also:Sir See also:George See also:Pocock in the expedition which took Havannah. His See also:health suffered from the See also:fever which carried off an immense proportion of the soldiers and sailors, but the 25,000 of See also:prize See also:money which he'received freed him from the unpleasant position of younger son of a See also:family ruined by the extravagance of his See also:father. He became See also:rear-admiral in See also:October 1762, was one of the See also:Admiralty See also:Board from See also:July 1765 to See also:November 1766, and was promoted See also:vice-admiral on the 24th of October 1770. When the See also:Falkland See also:Island dispute occurred in 1770 he was to have commanded the See also:fleet to be sent against Spain, but a See also:settlement was reached, and he had no occasion to hoist his See also:flag. The most important and the most debated See also:period of his See also:life belongs to the opening years of the war of See also:American See also:Independence. Keppel was by family connexion and See also:personal preference a strong supporter of the Whig connexion, led by the See also:Marquess of See also:Rockingham and the See also:Duke of See also:Richmond. He shared in all the passions of his party, then excluded from See also:power by the resolute will of George III. As a member of See also:Parliament, in which he had a seat for See also:Windsor from 1761 till 1780, and then for See also:Surrey; he was a steady See also:partisan, and was in constant .hostility with the " King's See also:Friends." In See also:common with them he was prepared to believe that the king's ministers, and in particular See also:Lord See also:Sandwich, then First Lord of the Admiralty, were capable of any villany. When therefore he was appointed to command the Western See also:Squadron, the See also:main fleet prepared against France in 1778, he went to sea predisposed to think that the First Lord would be glad to cause him to be defeated. It was a further misfortune that when Keppel hoisted his flag one of his subordinate admirals should have been Sir See also:Hugh Palliser (1723-1796), who was a member of the Admiralty Board,' a member of parliament, and in Keppel's See also:opinion, which was generally shared, jointly responsible with his colleagues for the See also:bad See also:state of the See also:navy. When, therefore, the battle which Keppel fought with the French on the 27th of July 1778 ended in a highly unsatisfactory manner, owing mainly to his own unintelligent management, but partly through the failure of Sir Hugh Palliser to obey orders, he became convinced that he had been deliberately betrayed. Though he praised Sir Hugh in his public despatch he attacked him in private, and the Whig See also:press, with the unquestionable aid of Keppel's friends, began a See also:campaign of calumny to which the ministerial papers answered in the same See also:style, each See also:side accusing the other,ofadeliberate See also:treason: The result was a scandalous See also:series of scenes in parliament and of courts martial.

Keppel was first tried and acquitted in 1779, and then Palliser was also tried and acquitted. Keppel was ordered to strike his flag in See also:

March 1779. Until the fall of Lord North's See also:ministry he acted as an opposition member of parliament. When it See also:fell in 1782 be became First Lord, and was created Viscount 'eppel and See also:Baron Elden. His career in See also:office was not distinguished, and he See also:broke with his old See also:political associates by resigning as a protest against the Peace of See also:Paris. He finally discredited himself by joining the See also:Coalition ministry formed by North and See also:Fox, and with its fall disappeared from public life. He died unmarried on the 2nd of October 1786. See also:Burke, who regarded him with See also:great See also:affection, said that he had " something high" in his nature, and that it was " a See also:wild stock of See also:pride on which the tenderest of all See also:hearts had grafted the milder virtues." His popularity disappeared entirely in his later years. His portrait was six times painted by Sir See also:Joshua See also:Reynolds. The copy which belonged originally to Burke is now in the See also:National See also:Gallery. There is a full Life of Keppel (1842), by his See also:grand-See also:nephew, the Rev. See also:Thomas Keppel.

(D.

End of Article: KEPPEL, AUGUSTUS KEPPEL, VISCOUNT (1725-1786)

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