Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe
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Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe (8 March 1726 – 5 August 1799) was a British admiral.
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[edit] Early career
Howe was born in London, the second son of Emanuel Scrope Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe, who died governor of Barbados in March 1735, and of Mary Sophia Charlotte, a daughter of Baroness Kilmansegge, afterwards Countess of Darlington, the half-sister of King George I--a relationship which does much to explain his early rise in the navy. Richard Howe entered the navy in the Severn, one of the squadron sent into the south seas with George Anson in 1740. The Severn failed to round the Horn and returned home. Howe next served in the West Indies aboard Burford and was present when she was severely damaged in the unsuccessful attack on La Guayra on February 18, 1742. He was made acting-lieutenant in the West Indies in the same year, and the rank was confirmed in 1744.
During the Jacobite Rising of 1745, he commanded the sloop Baltimore in the North Sea, and was dangerously wounded in the head while cooperating with a frigate in an engagement with two strong French privateers. In 1746, he became post-captain, and commanded Triton in the West Indies. As captain of Cornwall, the flagship of Sir Charles Knowles, he was in the battle with the Spaniards off Havana on October 2, 1748. While the peace between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War lasted, Howe held commands at home and on the west coast of Africa. In 1755, he went with Edward Boscawen to North America as captain of Dunkirk, and his seizure of the French Alcide was the first shot fired in the war. From this date until the peace of 1763, he served in the Channel in various more or less futile expeditions against the coast of France, with a steady increase of reputation as a firm and skilful officer. On November 20, 1759, he led Hawke's fleet as captain of Magnanime in the victory at Quiberon.
As a result of the death of his elder brother, killed near Ticonderoga on July 6, 1758, he became Viscount Howe - an Irish peerage. In 1762, he was elected M.P. for Dartmouth, and held the seat until he received a title from Great Britain. During 1763 and 1765, he was a member of the Admiralty board, and, from 1765 to 1770, was treasurer of the navy. At the end of his tenure, Howe was promoted to Rear-admiral, and then again, in 1775, to Vice-admiral. The following year, he was appointed to the command of the North American station.
[edit] American Revolution
The rebellion in North America was making rapid progress, and Howe was known to be sympathetic to the colonists - he had in prior years sought the acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin, who was a friend of Howe's sister, a popular lady in London society. Howe had indeed already contacted Franklin in a peacemaking effort. It was doubtless because of his known sentiments that he was selected to command in America. He was joined in a commission with his brother, General Sir William Howe, head of the land forces, to make a conciliatory arrangement. A committee appointed by the Continental Congress conferred with the Howes in September 1776, but nothing was accomplished. The appointment of a new peace commission in 1778 offended the admiral deeply, and he sent in a resignation of his command. It was reluctantly accepted by Lord Sandwich, then First Lord, but before it could take effect France declared war, and a powerful French squadron was sent to America under the Comte d'Estaing. Greatly outnumbered and forced into a defensive stance, Howe nevertheless baffled the French admiral at Sandy Hook, and defeated his attempt to take Newport in Rhode Island by a fine combination of caution and calculated daring. Upon the arrival of Admiral John Byron from England with reinforcements, Howe left his station in September 1778. Thereafter declining to serve, he cited distrust of Lord North and a lack of support during his command in America. He was further embittered by the supersession of himself and his brother as peace commissioners, as well as by attacks in the press against him by ministerial writers.
[edit] French Revolution
Not until the fall of Lord North's ministry in March 1782 did Howe once again accept a command. That autumn, he carried out the final relief of Gibraltar - a difficult operation, opposing 46 French and Spanish ships-of-the-line with only 33 of his own. The exhausted state of the English homeland made it impossible for Howe to fit his ships properly or supply them with good crews, and Howe's progress to Gibraltar was hampered by the passage of a great convoy carrying stores. Still, Howe handled his makeshift fleet brilliantly and took advantage of an awkward and unenterprising enemy. From 1783 until 1788, he served as First Lord of the Admiralty during Pitt's first ministry. The task was no pleasant one, for he had to agree to extreme budgetary constraints and disappoint the hopes of the many officers who were left unemployed by the peace. Upon the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1793, he was again given command of the Channel fleet. The following year would be the greatest of his career, including the epic victory of the "Glorious 1st of June". Although now nearly seventy years old, Howe displayed a tactical originality uncommon to such a veteran. His performance was unexcelled even by Nelson, who, like Howe's other successors, was served by more highly trained squadrons and benefitted from Howe's example. Howe's active service ended after the campaign, but he continued to hold the nominal command by decree of the king. In 1797, he was called on to pacify the mutineers at Spithead, and his powerful influence upon the sailors who revered him was conspicuously shown.
[edit] Later career and legacy
In 1782, he was created Viscount Howe of Langar, and, in 1788, Baron and Earl Howe. In June 1797, he was made a Knight of the Garter. Though he did not hunt for the affection of his sailors, he was always popular with them, for they knew him to be just. His nickname "Black Dick" was given on account of his swarthy complexion, and the well-known portrait by Gainsborough shows that it was apt. Howe was buried in his family vault at Langar. His monument by John Flaxman is in St Paul's Cathedral.
Lord Howe was married on March 10, 1758 to Mary Hariop, the daughter of Colonel Chiverton Hartop of Welby in Leicestershire, and had issue of two daughters. His Irish title descended to his brother, Gen. William Howe (who had likewise jointly served as a British General in the American Revolution), who died childless in 1814. The earldom and the viscountcy of the United Kingdom, being limited to heirs male, became extinct. The barony passed to his daughter, Sophia Charlotte (1762-1835), who married the Hon. Penn Assheton Curzon. Their son, Richard William Curzon (1796-1870), succeeded his paternal grandfather as Viscount Curzon in 1820 and was created Earl Howe in 1821; he was succeeded by his son, George Augustus (1821-1876), and then by another son, Richard William (1822-1900), whose son Richard George Penn Curzon-Howe (b. 1861) became 4th Earl Howe in 1900.
Four British warships have borne the name HMS Howe in his honour.
[edit] Genealogy
According to The Family of Hoge by James Hoge Tyler (Greensboro, North Carolina: Jos. J. Stone & Co. printers, 1927), Richard Howe had a brother, Major Joseph Howe, who came to America in 1758 to join their brother George, "and finding his brother dead, he drifted southward and finally settled at what came to be known as "Sunnyside," in Pulaski County, Virginia."
Richard Howe was also brother to General George Augustus Howe, 3rd Viscount and Sir William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe. The Family of Hoge quotes The Encyclopedia Britannica as having this to say about the Howes:
"The friendliness of the brothers, Admiral Richard Howe and General William Howe, to the colonies led to their selection for the command of the British forces in the Revolutionary War. It was thought that they could negotiate a settlement with the American forces."
In addition to Major Joseph Howe, The Family of Hoge tells us there was a sister friendly to Benjamin Franklin who may have inherited the considerable Howe fortune.
"Joseph Howe is reputed to have been of robust physique. His English home was one of refinement and wealth from which he was separated by reason of his sympathy for the Colonists - a thing the more intolerable because of the prominence of his relations on the British side. It is not known that any of the English estate reverted to him although it was considerable and although two of his three brothers (or his cousins) died without issue. All of the property may have gone to an only sister, whom the Encyclopedia Britannica mentions as a friend of Benjamin Franklin."
[edit] Bibliography
- Gruber, Ira. Howe Brothers and the American Revolution (1975), the standard biography
[edit] Literature
- British Magazine and Review, June, 1783, (London, 1783)
- Sir John Barrow, Life of Richard, Earl Howe, (London, 1838)
- Memoir of the Life of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, edited by Lady Bourchier, (London, 1873)
- J. K. Laughton, From Howard to Nelson, (London, 1899)
- E. Chevalier, Histoire de la marine francaise, (Paris, 1900)
[edit] See also
Places named after Howe:
- Cape Howe, on the New South Wales / Victoria border, Australia
- Lord Howe Island, off the east coast of Australia
- Howe Sound, British Columbia, Canada
- Chapter IV, Howe: The General Officer, as Tactician in Types of Naval Officers, available at Project Gutenberg., by A. T. Mahan
[edit] Reference
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
| Military Offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Viscount Barrington |
Treasurer of the Navy 1765–1770 |
Succeeded by Sir Gilbert Elliot, Bt |
| Preceded by The Viscount Keppel |
First Lord of the Admiralty 1783 |
Succeeded by The Viscount Keppel |
| Preceded by The Viscount Keppel |
First Lord of the Admiralty 1783–1788 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Chatham |
| Preceded by The Lord Rodney |
Vice-Admiral of Great Britain 1792–1796 |
Succeeded by The Lord Bridport |
| Titles of Nobility | ||
| Preceded by New Creation |
Earl Howe 1788–1799 |
Succeeded by Extinct |
| Preceded by George Howe |
Viscount Howe 1782–1799 |
Succeeded by William Howe |
| Preceded by New Creation |
Baron Howe 1788–1799 |
Succeeded by Sophia Howe |
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe • Sir Peter Parker • Prince William, Duke of Clarence • Sir George Cockburn • Sir Thomas Hardy • The Hon. George Heneage Dundas • Charles Adam • Sir Charles Adam • Sir William Parker • Sir Charles Adam • James Whitley Deans Dundas • Hyde Parker • The Hon. Maurice Fitzhardinge Berkeley • William Fanshawe Martin • The Hon. Sir Richard Saunders Dundas • The Hon. Sir Frederick Grey • Sir Sydney Dacres • Sir Alexander Milne • Sir Hastings Yelverton • George Wellesley • Sir Astley Cooper Key • Sir Arthur Acland Hood • Lord John Hay • Sir R. Vesey Hamilton • Sir Anthony Hoskins • Sir Frederick Richards • Lord Walter Kerr • Sir Jackie Fisher • Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson • Sir Francis Bridgeman • Prince Louis of Battenberg • Sir Henry Jackson • Sir John Jellicoe • Sir Rosslyn Wemyss • The Earl Beatty • Sir Charles Madden, Bt • Sir Frederick Field • The Lord Chatfield • Sir Roger Backhouse • Sir Dudley Pound • The Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope • Sir John Cunningham • The Lord Fraser of North Cape • Sir Rhoderick McGrigor • The Earl Mountbatten of Burma • Sir Charles Lambe • Sir Caspar John • Sir David Luce • Sir Varyl Begg • Sir Michael Le Fanu • Sir Peter Hill-Norton • Sir Michael Pollock • Sir Edward Ashmore • Sir Terence Lewin • Sir Henry Leach • Sir John Fieldhouse • Sir William Staveley • Sir Julian Oswald • Sir Benjamin Bathurst • Sir Jock Slater • Sir Michael Boyce • Sir Nigel Essenhigh • Sir Alan West • Sir Jonathon Band •
