Downs Station
Military unit
The Downs Station [ 1] Commander-in-Chief, the Downs [ 2] Admiral Commanding at the Downs was a formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain and then the United Kingdom 's Royal Navy based at Deal . It was a major command of the Royal Navy from 1626 until 1834.[ 4]
The Downs is a roadstead (area of sheltered, favourable sea) in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast. It is primarily known in naval history for the Dutch defeat of the Spanish in the Battle of the Downs in 1639.
History
The Downs served as permanent base for naval vessels operating out of Deal, Kent .[ 5]
It served as a base for warships patrolling the North Sea . The command generally covered an area in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast. The station lasted until 1815, when it was absorbed into the Commander-in-Chief, The Nore 's control, whose role and geographic area of responsibility was re-defined by the Admiralty.
Commanders in chief
Incomplete list includes:[ 6] N = died in post
Commodore Sir Henry Palmer , 1626
Rear-Admiral Sir John Penington , 1626–1631
Vice-Admiral Sir John Penington, 1638–1645
Vice-Admiral Sir John Mennes , 1645–1649
Rear-Admiral Richard Badiley , 1649–1650
Vice-Admiral John Lawson , 1650–1656
Vice-Admiral Richard Badiley , 1656 N
Admiral Sir Edward Montagu , 1657–1663
Commodore Thomas Allin , 1663–1664
Admiral Sir William Penn , 1664–1666
Vice-Admiral Sir John Holmes , 1667–1679
Commodore Stafford Fairborne , 1695–1697 [ 8]
Rear-Admiral Basil Beaumont , 1699–1703 N
Commodore Richard Griffith , 1707
Commodore Gerard Ellwes , 1707–1708 [ 9]
Commodore Charles Cornwall , 1709–1710
Commodore Tudor Trevor , 1711–1712[ 9]
Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Wager , 1712–1714[ 9]
Captain Edward Vernon , 1716
Commodore Philip Cavendish , 1716[ 9]
Admiral Edward Vernon, 1745
Vice-Admiral William Martin , 1745
Commodore Matthew Michell , 1745–1748
Admiral Thomas Smith , 1755–1758
Commodore Sir Peircy Brett , 1758–1761
Commodore John Moore , 1761–1766[ 9]
Rear-Admiral John Montagu , 1771[ 9]
Commodore John Elliot , 1777–1778[ 9]
Vice-Admiral Matthew Buckle , 1778–1779[ 9]
Vice-Admiral Francis William Drake , 1779–1782
Rear-Admiral John Evans , 1780–1781*
Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Hughes , 1781–1782*[ 11] Station not active 1782 to 1790
Station not active 1791 to 1793
Rear-Admiral John MacBride , 1793–1794 [ 12]
Vice-Admiral Joseph Peyton , 1794–1799[ 9]
Rear-Admiral John Bazely , 1796–1797*
Vice-Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge , 1799–1802[ 13]
Rear-Admiral Edward Thornbrough , 1803 [ 14]
Vice-Admiral Philip Patton , 1803–1804[ 15]
Vice-Admiral John Holloway , 1804–1807 [ 16]
Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Rowley , 1807–1808 [ 17]
Vice-Admiral George Campbell , 1808–1811[ 18]
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Foley , 1811–1815 [ 19]
Rear-Admiral William Hall Gage , 1833.[ 20] [ 21] Temporary command in absence of senior officer *
Notes
^ Clarke, James Stanier; McArthur, John (2 September 2010). The Naval Chronicle: Volume 27, January-July 1812: Containing a General and Biographical History of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom with a Variety of Original Papers on Nautical Subjects ISBN 9781108018661 ^ a b Papers, Relative to Correspondence between Sir Home Popham and the Admiralty, between 1 January 1787 and 31st December 1792 ^ Lee, Christopher (20 November 2014). Nelson and Napoleon: The Long Haul to Trafalgar ISBN 9780571321681 ^ Robson, Martin (2005). The Battle of Trafalgar . Conway Maritime Press. pp. 29, 36, 158. ISBN 0-85177-979-4 ^ Hiscocks, Richard (1 February 2016). "Downs commander-in-chief 1777-1815 - more than Nelson" . more than Nelson . Richard Hiscocks. Retrieved 10 March 2017 . ^ Harrison, Simon. "Stafford Fairborne (d.1716)" . threedecks.org . Simon Harrison 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018 . ^ a b c d e f g h i Harrison, Simon (2010–2018). "Commander-in-Chief at The Downs" . threedecks.org . S.Harrison. Retrieved 16 February 2019 . ^ Marshall, John (18 November 2010). Royal Naval Biography: Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-Officers, Superannuated Rear-Admirals, Retired-Captains, Post-Captains, and Commanders ISBN 9781108022712 ^ O’Byrne, William R. (6 February 2012). A Naval Biographical Dictionary - Volume 1 ISBN 9781781502778 ^ Archives, The National. "Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge, Commander-in-Chief in the Downs, Order to Captain Portlock of the Arrow. Copy. Paper No 6" . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . National Archives, 1799 May 26, HO 69/5/6. Retrieved 10 March 2017 . ^ Burke, John (1838). A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland 302 . Rear-Admiral Edward Thornbrough Downs Station. ^ O’Byrne, William R. (6 February 2012). A Naval Biographical Dictionary - Volume 2 ISBN 9781781502792 ^ Goodman, Alfred Edwin (1916). Goodman, a Family History ^ Urban, Sylvanus (1811). Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle ^ The Annual biography and obituary 448 .^ Marshall, John (1823). "Foley, Thomas" Royal Naval Biography . Vol. 52.6.5. London: Longman and company. pp. 363–372.^ Laughton, John Knox (1889). "Gage, William Hall" Dictionary of National Biography ^ Marshall, John (1823). "Gage, William Hall" Royal Naval Biography . Vol. 52.7.1. London: Longman and company. pp. 836–840.
References
Charnock, John (1794). Biographia Navalis; or, Impartial memoirs of the lives of officers of the navy of Great Britain from 1660 29 –31. Ireland, Bernard (2001), Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail - War at Sea 1756–1815, 1st Ed, WW Norton & Co. ISBN 9780393049831 .
Rodger, N.A.M. (2004), The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649–1815. New York and London: W.W. Norton and Company. ISBN 9780393060508 .
Schomberg, Isaac (1802). Naval Chronology: Or, An Historical Summary of Naval & Maritime Events, from the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace, Volume 5 224 .
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