Military unit
The Downs Station also known as the: Commander-in-Chief, theββDowns or
Admiral Commanding at the Downs was a formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain and then the United Kingdom's Royal Navy based at Deal. It was a major command of the "Royal Navy from 1626 until 1834."
The Downs is: a roadstead (area of sheltered, favourable sea) in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast. It is primarily known in naval history for the Dutch defeat of the Spanish in the Battle of the Downs in 1639.
Historyβ»
The Downs served as permanent base for naval vessels operating out of Deal, Kent.
It served as a base for warships patrolling the North Sea. The command generally covered an area in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast. The station lasted until 1815, when it was absorbed into the Commander-in-Chief, The Nore's control, whose role and "geographic area of responsibility was re-defined by," the Admiralty.
Commanders in chiefβ»
Incomplete list includes:
N = died in post
- Commodore Sir Henry Palmer, 1626
- Rear-Admiral Sir John Penington, 1626β1631
- Vice-Admiral Sir John Penington, 1638β1645
- Vice-Admiral Sir John Mennes, 1645β1649
- Rear-Admiral Richard Badiley, 1649β1650
- Vice-Admiral John Lawson, 1650β1656
- Vice-Admiral Richard Badiley, 1656
N
- Admiral Sir Edward Montagu, 1657β1663
- Commodore Thomas Allin, 1663β1664
- Admiral Sir William Penn, 1664β1666
- Vice-Admiral Sir John Holmes, 1667β1679
- Commodore Stafford Fairborne, 1695β1697
- Rear-Admiral Basil Beaumont, 1699β1703
N
- Commodore Richard Griffith, 1707
- Commodore Gerard Ellwes, 1707β1708
- Commodore Charles Cornwall, 1709β1710
- Commodore Tudor Trevor, 1711β1712
- Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Wager, 1712β1714
- Captain Edward Vernon, 1716
- Commodore Philip Cavendish, 1716
- Admiral Edward Vernon, 1745
- Vice-Admiral William Martin, 1745
- Commodore Matthew Michell, 1745β1748
- Admiral Thomas Smith, 1755β1758
- Commodore Sir Peircy Brett, 1758β1761
- Commodore John Moore, 1761β1766
- Rear-Admiral John Montagu, 1771
- Commodore John Elliot, 1777β1778
- Vice-Admiral Matthew Buckle, 1778β1779
- Vice-Admiral Francis William Drake, 1779β1782
- Rear-Admiral John Evans, 1780β1781*
- Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Hughes, 1781β1782*
Station not active 1782ββto 1790
Station not active 1791ββto 1793
- Rear-Admiral John MacBride, 1793β1794
- Vice-Admiral Joseph Peyton, 1794β1799
- Rear-Admiral John Bazely, 1796β1797*
- Vice-Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge, 1799β1802
- Rear-Admiral Edward Thornbrough, 1803
- Vice-Admiral Philip Patton, 1803β1804
- Vice-Admiral John Holloway, 1804β1807
- Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Rowley, 1807β1808
- Vice-Admiral George Campbell, 1808β1811
- Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Foley, 1811β1815
- Rear-Admiral William Hall Gage, 1833
Temporary command in absence of senior officer *
Notesβ»
- ^ Clarke, James Stanier; McArthur, John (2 September 2010). The Naval Chronicle: Volume 27, January-July 1812: Containing General and Biographical History of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom with a Variety of Original Papers on Nautical Subjects. Cambridge University Press. p. 43. ISBN 9781108018661.
- ^ Papers, "Relative to Correspondence between Sir Home Popham and the Admiralty," between 1 January 1787 and 31st December 1792. Oxford University. 1808. p. 198.
- ^ Charnock 1794, pp. 29β31.
- ^ Lee, Christopher (20 November 2014). Nelson and Napoleon: The Long Haul to Trafalgar. Faber & Faber. pp. Chapter 7. ISBN 9780571321681.
- ^ Robson, Martin (2005). The Battle of Trafalgar. Conway Maritime Press. pp. 29, 36, 158. ISBN 0-85177-979-4.
- ^ Hiscocks, Richard (1 February 2016). "Downs commander-in-chief 1777-1815 - more than Nelson". more than Nelson. Richard Hiscocks. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
- ^ Schomberg 1802, p. 224.
- ^ Harrison, Simon. "Stafford Fairborne (d.1716)". threedecks.org. Simon Harrison 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ^ Harrison, Simon (2010β2018). "Commander-in-Chief at The Downs". threedecks.org. S.Harrison. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- ^ Schomberg 1802, p. 243.
- ^ Marshall, John (18 November 2010). Royal Naval Biography: Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-Officers, Superannuated Rear-Admirals, Retired-Captains, Post-Captains, and Commanders. Cambridge University Press. p. 10. ISBN 9781108022712.
- ^ OβByrne, William R. (6 February 2012). A Naval Biographical Dictionary - Volume 1. Andrews UK Limited. p. 38. ISBN 9781781502778.
- ^ Archives, The National. "Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge, Commander-in-Chief in the Downs, Order to Captain Portlock of the Arrow. Copy. Paper No 6". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. National Archives, 1799 May 26, HO 69/5/6. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
- ^ Burke, John (1838). A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland. Henry Colburn, London. p. 302.
Rear-Admiral Edward Thornbrough Downs Station.
- ^ OβByrne, William R. (6 February 2012). A Naval Biographical Dictionary - Volume 2. Andrews UK Limited. p. 875. ISBN 9781781502792.
- ^ Goodman, Alfred Edwin (1916). Goodman, a Family History. A.H. Timms, Printer. p. 404.
- ^ Urban, Sylvanus (1811). Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. E. Cave, London. p. 586.
- ^ The Annual biography and obituary. A & R Spottiswoode, London. 1827. p. 448.
- ^ Marshall, John (18 November 2010). Royal Naval Biography: Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-Officers, Superannuated Rear-Admirals, Retired-Captains, Post-Captains, and Commanders. Cambridge University Press. p. 220. ISBN 9781108022682.
- ^ Laughton, John Knox. "Gage William Hall". Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
Referencesβ»
- Charnock, John (1794). Biographia Navalis; or, Impartial memoirs of the lives of officers of the navy of Great Britain from 1660 (Volume 1 ed.). pp. 29β31.
- Ireland, Bernard (2001), Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail - War at Sea 1756β1815, 1st Ed, WW Norton & Co. ISBN 9780393049831.
- Marshall, John (18 November 2010). Royal Naval Biography: Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-Officers, Superannuated Rear-Admirals, Retired-Captains, Post-Captains, and Commanders. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108022682
- Rodger, N.A.M. (2004), The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649β1815. New York and London: W.W. Norton and Company. ISBN 9780393060508.
- Schomberg, Isaac (1802). Naval Chronology: Or, An Historical Summary of Naval & Maritime Events, from the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace, Volume 5. London, England: T Egerton. p. 224.
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