1st Edition

Letters of Admiral of the Fleet The Earl of St. Vincent 1801-1804, Vol. II

By David Bonner Smith Copyright 1927
    612 Pages
    by Routledge

    612 Pages
    by Routledge

    These volumes present letters and other documents of St Vincent’s period as First Lord of the Admiralty, the most controversial and politically-heated of any during the time of the sailing navy. They are taken from his out-letter books, and do not include the replies. Unusually for Society volumes, the editor selected only a part of each letter for publication, but such severe editing does not entirely muffle the Earl’s spiky and forceful turn of phrase.
    The subjects covered include the General Election of 1801, the Royal Marines, the dockyards and other parts of the civil administration of the navy. The volume ends with the strongly-worded and partisan printed pamphlet, entitled: Memoirs of the Administration of the Board of Admiralty under the presidency of Earl of St Vincent. All copies save one were destroyed, presumably because of its inflammatory nature, but one survived in the Grenville collection in the British Library. It is here reproduced in 130 pages.

    INTRODUCTION . LETTERS, General Election . Miscellaneous Letters, Royal Marines, Civil Administration, Fleet Administration, APPENDIX

    Biography

    David Bonner-Smith was Admiralty Librarian, joining the library staff in March 1911. He was made deputy librarian on the death of W.G. Perrin in 1931, and appointed to the chief post in March 1932. He retired in May 1949 at the age of 60. It was said of him that he knew every one of the 100,000 books in the library, but was also familiar with all their contents. It is certain that he could direct students and enquirers to whatever reference they needed. He was editor of The Mariner’s Mirror from 1932 to 1939.