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RODNEY, GEORGE BRYDGES RODNEY, BARON ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 448 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RODNEY, See also:GEORGE See also:BRYDGES RODNEY, See also:BARON (1718—1792) , See also:English See also:admiral, second son of See also:Henry Rodney of RODNEY See also:Walton-on-See also:Thames, was See also:born in See also:February 1718. His See also:father had served in See also:Spain under the See also:earl of See also:Peterborough, and on quitting the See also:army served as See also:captain in a marine See also:corps which was disbanded in 1713. George was sent to See also:Harrow, being appointed, on leaving, by See also:warrant dated the 21st of See also:June 1732, a volunteer on See also:board the " See also:Sunderland." While serving on the Mediterranean station he was made See also:lieutenant in the " See also:Dolphin," his promotion dating the 15th of February 1739. In 1742 he attained the See also:rank of See also:post-captain, having been appointed to the " See also:Plymouth " on the 9th of See also:November. After serving in See also:home See also:waters, he obtained command of the " See also:Eagle " (6o), and in this See also:ship took See also:part in See also:Hawke's victory off See also:Ushant (14th See also:October 1747) over the See also:French See also:fleet. On that See also:day Rodney gained his first laurels for gallantry, under a See also:chief to whom he was in a measure indebted for subsequent success. On the 9th of May 1749 he was appointed See also:governor and See also:commander-in-chief of See also:Newfoundland, with the rank of See also:commodore, it being usual at that See also:time to appoint a See also:naval officer, chiefly on See also:account of the See also:fishery interests. He was elected M.P. for See also:Saltash in 1751, and married his first wife, Jane See also:Compton (173o-1757), See also:sister of the 7th earl of See also:Northampton, in 1753. During the Seven Years' See also:War Rodney rendered important services. In 1757 he had a See also:share in the expedition against See also:Rochefort, commanding the " See also:Dublin " (74). Next See also:year, in the same ship, he served under See also:Boscawen at the taking of See also:Louisburg (Cape See also:Breton). On the 19th of May 1759 he became a See also:rear-admiral, and was shortly after given command of a small See also:squadron intended to destroy a large number of See also:flat-bottomed boats and stores which were being collected at See also:Havre for an invasion of the English coasts.

He bombarded the See also:

town for two days and nights, and inflicted See also:great loss of war-material on the enemy. In See also:July 176o, with another small squadron, he succeeded in taking many more of the enemy's flat-bottomed boats and in blockading the See also:coast as far as See also:Dieppe. Elected M.P. for See also:Penryn in 1761, he was in October of that year appointed commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands station, and within the first three months of 1762 had reduced the important See also:island of See also:Martinique, while both St See also:Lucia and See also:Grenada had surrendered to his squadron. During the See also:siege of Fort Royal (now Fort de See also:France) his See also:sea-men and See also:marines rendered splendid service on See also:shore. At the See also:peace of 1763 Admiral Rodney returned home, having been during his See also:absence made See also:vice-admiral of the See also:Blue and having received the thanks of both houses of See also:parliament. In 1764 Rodney was created a See also:baronet, and the same year he married Henrietta, daughter of See also:John Clies of See also:Lisbon. From 1765 to 1770 he was governor of See also:Greenwich See also:Hospital, and on the See also:dissolution of parliament in 1768 he successfully contested Northampton at a ruinous cost. When appointed commanderin-chief of the See also:Jamaica station in 1771 he lost his Greenwich post, but a few months later received the See also:office of rear-admiral of Great See also:Britain. Till 1774 he held the Jamaica command, and during a See also:period of quiet was active in improving the naval yards on his station. See also:Sir George struck his See also:flag with a feeling of disappointment at not obtaining the governorship of Jamaica, and was shortly after forced to See also:settle in See also:Paris. See also:Election expenses and losses at See also:play in fashionable circles had shattered his See also:fortune, and he could not secure See also:payment of the See also:salary as rear-admiral of Great Britain. In February 1778, having just been promoted admiral of the See also:White, he used every possible exertion to obtain a command, to See also:free himself from his See also:money difficulties.

By May he had, through the splendid generosity of his Parisian friend See also:

Marshal See also:Biron, effected the latter task, and accordingly he returned to See also:London with his See also:children. The See also:debt was repaid out of the arrears due to him on his return. The See also:story that he was offered a French command is fiction. Sir George was appointed once more commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands See also:late in 1779. His orders were to relieve See also:Gibraltar en his way to the See also:West Indies. He captured a See also:Spanish See also:convoy off Cape Finisterre on the 8th of See also:January 178o, and eight days later defeated the Spanish admiral See also:Don Juan de Langara off Cape St See also:Vincent, taking or destroying seven See also:ships. On the 17th of See also:April an See also:action, which, owing to the carelessness of some of Rodney's captains, was indecisive, was fought off Martinique with the French admiral See also:Guichen. Rodney, acting under orders, captured the valuable Dutch island of St Eustatius on the 3rd of February 1781. It had been a great See also:entrepot of neutral See also:trade, and was full of See also:booty, which Rodney confiscated. As large quantities belonged to English merchants, he was entangled in a See also:series of costly lawsuits. After a few months in See also:England, recruiting his See also:health and defending himself in Parliament, Sir George returned to his command in February 1782, and a See also:running engagement with the French fleet on the 9th of April led up to his crowning victory off See also:Dominica, when on the 12th of April with See also:thirty-five See also:sail of the See also:line he defeated the See also:comte de See also:Grasse, who had thirty-three sail. The French inferiority in See also:numbers was more than counterbalanced by the greater See also:size and See also:superior sailing qualities of their ships, yet five were taken and one sunk, after eleven See also:hours' fighting.

This important See also:

battle paved Jamaica and ruined French naval See also:prestige, while it enabled Rodney to write: " Within two little years I have taken two Spanish, one French and one Dutch admirals." A See also:long and wearisome controversy exists as to the originator of the manceuvre of " breaking the line " in this battle, but the merits of the victory have never seriously been affected by any difference of See also:opinion on the question. A shift of See also:wind See also:broke the French line of battle, and See also:advantage was taken of this by the English ships in two places. Rodney arrived home in See also:August to receive unbounded See also:honour from his See also:country. He had already been created Baron Rodney of Rodney Stoke, See also:Somerset, by patent of the 19th of June 1782, and the See also:House of See also:Commons had voted him a See also:pension of £2000 a year. From this time he led a quiet country See also:life till his See also:death, which occurred on the 24th of May 1792, in London. He was succeeded as 2nd baron by his son, George (1753-1802), from whom the See also:present baron is descended. Rodney was unquestionably a most able officer, but he was also vain, selfish and unscrupulous, both in seeking See also:prize money, and in using his position to push the fortunes of his See also:family. He made his son a post-captain at fifteen. He was accused' by his second-in-command, See also:Hood, of sacrificing the See also:interest of the service to his own profit, and of showing want of See also:energy in pursuit of the French on the 12th of April 1782. It must be remembered that he was then prematurely old and racked by disease. See See also:General Mundy, Life and See also:Correspondence of Admiral See also:Lord Rodney (2 vols., 1830); See also:David See also:Hannay, Life of Rodney; Rodney letters in 9th See also:Report of Hist. See also:MSS.

See also:

Corn., pt. iii. ; " See also:Memoirs," in Naval See also:Chronicle, i. 353—93 ; and See also:Charnock, Biographia Navalis, v. 204—28. Lord Rodney published in his lifetime (probably 1789) Letters to His See also:Majesty's Ministers, &c., relative to St Eustatius, &'c., of which there is a copy in the See also:British Museum. Most of these letters are printed in Mundy's Life, vol. ii., though with many variant readings.

End of Article: RODNEY, GEORGE BRYDGES RODNEY, BARON (1718—1792)

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