1st Edition
Letters and Papers of Charles, Lord Barham, 1758-1813
Charles Middleton was one of the most interesting, influential and unlikeable characters in the British naval history. As Controller of the Navy 1778-1790, a member of the Admiralty Board 1794-95, and First Lord 1805-06, as well as the confidential naval adviser of several prime ministers, he played a decisive part in reform and centralization of naval administration over thirty years, and was finally (at the age of eighty) responsible for guiding the Trafalgar campaign.
Middleton’s career continues at the Admiralty and out of office, with much correspondence to and from politicians and sea officers. This volume covers Barham’s brief period as First Sea Lord (a term he appears to have invented) during the Trafalgar Campaign.
Letters to Walter Pringle
Letter to Joseph Pickering
Letter to Barbados Committee
Letter to Sir James DouglaS
Captain's Orders, H.M. Ship Ardent
Letter from Rev. James Ramsay
Letters from Captain Walter Young
Letter from Anonymous
Letters from the Hon. Frederick Maitland
Letters from Sir Samuel, afterwards Lord Hood, with Enclosures
from or to Bellecombe, Campbell, Carleton,
Digby, Galvez, Gauvel, Graves, Merrick, Parry, Pigot,
Prescott, Rodney, Rowley, W. S. Smith, Spry, Stephens,
Prince William Henry (see INDEX)
Letters from Joseph Hunt
Letters from Sir G. B. Rodney
Letters from Sir Charles Douglas
Letters from Captain, afterwards Rear-Admiral Kempenfelt
Letter from Admiral Barrington
Letter from Captain Thomas Cornewall
APPENDIX A. Battle of 17th April, 1780
APPENDIX B. Case of M. de la Touche
APPENDIX C. An Unrecorded Service of Nelson's
INDEX
Biography
John Laughton was born in Liverpool on 23 April 1830, son of a Master Mariner. He was educated at the Royal Institution School, Liverpool and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read mathematics and graduated as a wrangler in 1852. He entered the Royal Navy as an instructor, joining his first ship, Royal George, in 1853, serving in the Baltic during the Crimean War. In 1866 he went ashore to teach at the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, moving with the College to Greenwich in 1873, becoming Head of the Department of Meteorology and Marine Surveying.
