Penn was born in St Thomas Parish, Bristol to Captain Giles Penn, English militar and consul of Salé and his wife Joan Gilbert.[1] He served his apprenticeship at sea with his father.
Career
Naval career
Coat of Arms of William PennMacroom Castle gatehouse
In the First English Civil War of 1642–1646, he fought on the side of the Parliament, and commanded a ship in the squadron maintained against the king in the Irish seas. The service was arduous and called for both energy and good seamanship. In 1648, he was arrested and sent to London, but was soon released, and sent back as rear-admiral in the Assurance. The exact cause of the arrest remains unknown, but it may be presumed that he came under suspicion of corresponding with the king's supporters. It is highly probable that he did so, for, until the Restoration of 1660, he was regularly in communication with the Royalists, while serving the parliament, or Cromwell, so long as their service was profitable, and making no scruple of applying for grants of the confiscated lands of the king's Irish friends.[2][not specific enough to verify]
After 1650, Penn served as commander-in-chief of the southern fleet in the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean in pursuit of the Royalists under Prince Rupert. After an action at Macroom in County Cork, Ireland he was awarded Macroom Castle. He was so active on this service that when he returned home on 18 March 1651 he could boast that he had not put foot on shore for more than a year.[2]
In 1654, he offered to carry the fleet over to the king, but in October of the same year he had no scruple in accepting the naval command in the expedition to the West Indies sent out by Cromwell.[2] In 1655, he commanded the fleet that launched a bungled attack on La Hispaniola. He was not responsible for the shameful repulse at San Domingo, which was due to a panic among the troops.[2]Jamaica was ruled by the heirs of Christopher Columbus, until gradually the Catholic Church grew to dominate the island. The crypto-Jewish population following the strengthening of the church aided the English who seized the less desirable island for the Commonwealth régime, and Penn established the Jamaica Station there.[3][4][5] On their return, he and his military colleague, Robert Venables, were sent to the Tower. He made a humble submission, and when released retired to the estates of confiscated land he had received in Ireland.[2] On 20 December 1658, Penn was knighted by Henry Cromwell at Dublin Castle, but the Protectorate honour passed into oblivion at the Restoration in May 1660.[6][7]
Although Penn was not a high-minded man, he is a figure of considerable importance in English naval history. As admiral and General at Sea for Parliament, he helped in 1653 to draw up the first code of tactics provided for the English navy, Duties of a Commander at Sea, 1664, Instructions by Sir W. Penn.[10] It became the basis of the "Duke of York's Sailing and Fighting Instructions", which continued for long to supply the orthodox tactical creed of the navy.[2] Penn was an early proponent of fighting in line ahead, so as to bring as much firepower as possible to bear.[11]
A key source for the adult life of Penn is the diary of his colleague at the Navy Board, and next door neighbour in Seething Lane, Samuel Pepys.[12] However, Pepys's assessments have to be tempered by the jealousy that he evidently held for Penn.[13]
In 1660, Penn was appointed a Commissioner of the Navy Board, where he worked with Pepys, Clerk of the Acts. The character of "mean fellow", or "false knave",[14] given him by Pepys is borne out by much that is otherwise known of him. He also was an excellent seaman and a good fighter.[2] Like Pepys and the Earl of Sandwich, Penn was a "moderate" Roundhead who succeeded in maintaining his position at the Restoration. Penn appears several times in Pepys diary. A typical entry from 5 April 1666 reads, "To the office, where the falsenesse and impertinencies of Sir W. Pen would make a man mad to think of."
He is also referenced in an entry from 1665, which states, "At night home and up to the leads [roof], were contrary to expectation driven down again with a stinke by Sir W. Pen's shying of a shitten pot in their house of office".
The diary entry for 4 July 1666 includes a long account of Penn's analysis of what was to be learned from the Four Days' Battle, which ended with the statement, "He did talk very rationally to me, insomuch that I took more pleasure this night in hearing him discourse then I ever did in my life in anything that he said."
As a native of the West Country, Sir William Penn is buried in the church of St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol. His helm and half-armour are hung on the wall, together with the tattered banners of Dutch ships that he captured in battle. His portrait by Lely, part of the Flagmen of Lowestoft series, is in the Painted Hall at Greenwich. After his death, his son, William, accepted the grant of land in the American colonies in lieu of money owed by the Crown to his father. William Penn had wanted to call the land "New Wales", which was objected to by the Secretary of State, Privy Council member and Welshman Leoline Jenkins. Penn instead put forward the name "Sylvania". The Council then chose to tweak this new name a bit by adding the prefix "Penn" to honour the late Admiral, William Penn's father. After some protestation from William Penn, he reluctantly accepted it.[15]
^"Penn, Sir William", in Latham, R (ed), The Diary of Samuel Pepys, volume X Companion (Bell & Hyman, 1983)
^Tomalin, Claire (2003). Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self (1st ed.). London: Penguin Books. p. 125. ISBN0-140-28234-3.
^Street, Lucie (1986). An Uncommon Sailor: A Portrait of Admiral Sir William Penn (1st ed.). Bourne End, Buckinghamshire: The Kensal Press. p. 112. ISBN0-946041-47-4.
Street, Lucie (1986). An Uncommon Sailor: A Portrait of Admiral Sir William Penn (1st ed.). Bourne End, Buckinghamshire: The Kensal Press. p. 112. ISBN0-946041-47-4.
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