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on the life and achievements of eighteenth-century inventor Henry Cort. Please email site controller Eric
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Sandwich and
Middleton
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He now held this office for eleven years, during
which time his conduct was as great a scandal to public as it had all along
been to private morality. Throughout his
long administration he rendered the business of the admiralty subservient to
the interests of his party and employed the vast patronage of the office as
an engine for bribery and political jobbery.
From assessment of the period as First Lord of the Admiralty of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of
Sandwich in original DNB. |
His
austere impartiality in promoting only on merit and refusing the requests of
the influential earned him many enemies. From Oxford DNB entry for John Montagu, Fourth Earl of
Sandwich. |
The fortunes of Henry Cort, and indeed of anyone connected with the Navy
at the time of the American War of Independence, are bound to have some connection
with the career of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich.
He is said to have originated the snack that bears his name, but
his influence is far more pervasive - malign, some would say.
Like his ancestor, the First
Earl (cousin of Samuel Pepys whose career in naval administration he promoted),
Sandwich has a great interest in naval affairs, and serves as First Lord of the
Admiralty for most of the American war.
His recent biographer Nicholas Rodger reminds us that he is a
patron of James Cook, a champion of Handel, and a friend of actor David
Garrick.
He is also Master of Trinity House and serves on the Board of
Greenwich Hospital.
His poor reputation probably
dates from 1763, when he is instrumental in getting John
Wilkes expelled from the Commons.
To both supporters and detractors, Wilkes's sin is to publish details of
parliamentary proceedings, but Sandwich builds a case against him on other
grounds.
Then in 1779 comes the action against
Admiral Keppel, followed rapidly by the murder of
Sandwich's mistress. After that it
is easy enough to blame him for all the Navy's shortcomings. Some of the stories are quite bizarre.
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It was a long story of administrative
jobbery and corruption. Large sums of
money were appropriated for the repair of ships that were rotting in harbour
and never had a penny spent on them.
Estimates were falsified, ships were counted twice in the Weekly
Progress Lists, and ships were put into commission to please political
supporters when there was no intention of fitting them for active service. From James, The British Navy in
Adversity: A Study of the War of American Independence (London 1926). |
One act by Sandwich with undeniably benign consequences is his
selection of Charles Middleton as Comptroller of the Navy.
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An obscure Scot with an undistinguished service career, Middleton was a surprising choice, but none ever better vindicated Sandwich’s judgement, for Middleton became the outstanding naval administrator of the century – though he was always a difficult colleague, cantankerous, ego-centric, and disloyal, and only Sandwich was able to manage him successfully. From Oxford DNB entry for John Montagu, Fourth Earl of
Sandwich. |
To sum up Sir Charles
Middleton’s true character, he is a person of very great abilities is
indefatigable in business, but cannot bear any person to know anything of it
but himself, and to acquire this character with the King and Ministers has
basely privately and treacherously depreciated that of his brother
Commissioners. By his manner he
appeared to be a religious man, but by his actions he proved himself the
contrary in various particulars thereof, and tho’ the son of exciseman in
Scotland, he frequently tho’ privately observed to people how low bred and
what poor parents most of his colleagues in office were. In short he was in general a deceitful
proud despicable character, From George
Marsh’s diary. |
Middleton’s reputation as Comptroller rests on his promotion of two
key innovations, copper bottoms and carronades, which
together bring great advantage to the Navy over its
adversaries in France and Spain.
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To reduce the time committed to refitting Middleton proposed that ships of the line should be sheathed with copper which, unlike the fir currently used, resisted the adherence of weed and mollusc. From Oxford DNB entry for
Sir Charles Middleton |
The carronade had an immediate demoralizing effect on opponents and certainly added to the potential firepower of the British before the peace was signed in 1783. From Oxford DNB entry for
Sir Charles Middleton |
On one occasion in his earlier career he uses Henry Cort as his agent. Later his
role as Comptroller gives him responsibility for overseeing the Navy's tests on Cort's products. His signature is the first on letters
approving them.
He plays a part in the Evangelical movement
and the campaign to abolish slavery. He becomes a baronet in 1781 and a rear
admiral in 1787. In 1806. as he nears
80, the resignation of Lord Melville (a distant
cousin) precipitates him into the post of First Lord of the Admiralty, with a
seat in the Lords as Baron Barham. In
this role he is credited with the manoeuvres that culminate in the Battle of
Trafalgar.
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RELATED TOPICS John Becher and
the American War Thomas Morgan
and the American War Shelburne, Parry
and associates |
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