James Hawkins Whitshed

Sir James Hawkins Whitshed (1762–1849) was born James Hawkins in 1762. He was the third son of James Hawkins, the Anglo-Irish Protestant Bishop of Raphoe, County Donegal, and hiswife Catherine Keene Hawkins.

James Hawkins was first entered onto the books of HM sloop Ranger in 1773, at the age of 11, when that vessel was serving on the Irish Station. Later, his name was carried on the books of the guard ship at Plymouth, HMS Kent.He served in a variety of vessels as a midshipman, first going to sea in HMS Aldborough in North American waters. Promoted to Lieutenant in 1778, he served in HMS Amazon in home waters and later that year joined Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney’s flagship, HMS Sandwich. While in Sandwich, Whitshed was at the “Moonlight Battle” off Cape St. Vincent on 16 January 1780 in which Rodney defeated eleven Spanish ships-of-the-line and eased the pressure for British forces defending Gibraltar. Promoted, he took command of the sloop San Vincente, while at Gibraltar, and sailed with Rodney to the West Indies, seeing action on 17 April 1780, when Rodney encountered the fleet of twenty-three ships-of-the-line under the comte de Guichen. The day after the battle, Rodney appointed Hawkins to command of HMS Deal Castle, a 20-gun frigate, in which he remained until the autumn of 1780. During a hurricane, she was driven from her anchorage at St. Lucia and wrecked on the coast of Puerto Rico, 11 October 1780. The crew got ashore, with only three men killed, but were then taken prisoner by the Spanish for two months. Following exposure during the storm, Hawkins became seriously ill from fever. After his release, a court martial acquitted him of any negligence in the loss of the vessel. Following this episode, Hawkins returned to England, in July 1781, he took command of HMS Ceres. While in command of Ceres, Hawkins was charged with delivering General Sir Guy Carleton to New York to succeed General Sir Henry Clinton as commander-in-chief of the British Army in North America, which he did on 6 May 1782. A year and a half later following the recognition of American independence and the evacuation of British forces from New York, Hawkins returned Carleton to London in December 1783. For the following three years, Hawkins commanded the frigate HMS Rose, based at Leith, on the east coast of Scotland.

With the end of the war, Hawkins studied at Oxford, where he attended many lectures on astronomy, but does not appear to have matriculated as a member of the University. During his time in Oxford, he also traveled widely the continent, spending considerable time in Russia, Denmark, and the Baltic. In 1791, in accordance with the will of a cousin, he assumed the name of his maternal grandmother, Whitshed, allowing him to inherit the properties that had once belonged to Lord Chief Justice William Whitshed (1679–1727). James Hawkins Whitshed married Countess Sophia Henrietta Bentinck (1765–1852) on 11 December 1791. She was the daughter of Captain John Albert Bentinck, RN, (died 1775), and a great granddaughter of the Dutch and English nobleman Hans Willem Bentinck, first Earl of Portland (1649–1709), the favorite of King William III.

Together, James Hawkins Whitshed and his wife, Sophia, had two sons and four daughters. The couple’s eldest son, James Hawkins Whitshed (ca. 1795–1813) followed his father into the Royal Navy, and was killed while serving as a midshipman in HMS Berwick. Their second son, St. Vincent Keene Hawkins-Whitshed (1801–1870), succeeded his father as baronet in 1849. St. Vincent Keene Hawkins-Whitshed’s oldest son, James Hawkins Whitshed (b. 1834), served as a naval cadet in 1846–47, but died young. St. Vincent Keene Hawkins-Whitshed’s second son and namesake (1837–1871), the third baronet, died leaving a daughter, and no male heirs to continue the baronetcy. The third baronet’s daughter and the admiral’s great granddaughter, Elizabeth Alice Frances Hawkins-Whitshed (1860–1934), was a pioneer of British mountaineering, a photographer, and author who published works under her various married names: Mrs. Fred Burnaby, Mrs. Main, and Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond.

In 1793 at the outbreak of the War of the French Revolution, Whitshed l eft Oxford and was appointed to command the 74-gun HMS Arrogant. In her, he served under Rear-Admiral George Montagu in May and June 1795. In 1795, he transferred to command HMS Namur, one of the ships under Rear-Admiral William Parker that were detached from the Channel Squadron in 1797 to reinforce Admiral Sir John Jervis off Lisbon. While on this duty, Whitshed participated in the battle of Cape St. Vincent on 14 February 1797, when Jervis defeated a larger Spanish Fleet under Admiral José de Córdoba. For their participation in this battle, the captains each received a gold medal and the thanks of Parliament.

Whitshed returned to the Channel Fleet, and took command of the 74-gun HMS Ajax and then 98-gun HMS Formidable. Promoted to Rear-Admiral in February 1799, he flew his flag in the 100-gun HMS Queen Charlotte, while commanding a squadron of four ships-of-the-line sent to reinforce the British Mediterranean Fleet, when the French squadron at Brest eluded the British blockade and got to sea. Later, Whitshed’s squadron returned to the waters off Brest to serve under Admiral Lord Keith, then returned to the Channel, where he shifted his flag to the 90-gun HMS Temeraire until 1801.

With the renewal of the war in 1803, Whitshed was appointed naval advisor to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and took charge of the defense of the Irish coast and the organization of the Irish Sea Fencibles, an organization of naval officers and volunteer seamen who guarded against French invasion. While on this duty, he was promoted to vice-admiral in 1804 and, in 1807, appointed commander-in-chief (C-in-C) at Cork, where he remained until 1810. On leaving that post, he was promoted to full Admiral and left active service.