Patronage and the British Navy, 1775-1815

Patronage and the British Navy, 1775-1815 PDF Author: Catherine Beck
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1837652279
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Argues that patronage served a very useful function and should not be seen as a form of corruption. This book, based on extensive original research, examines the rich and varied nature of patronage in the British navy at the end of the long eighteenth century. Patronage underpinned naval advancement, determined where officers, seamen and dockyard workers were stationed, and fashioned their reputations. It was also a system of trust whereby an individual's connections acted as guarantors of their ability, character and suitability for a position. This book moves beyond considering patronage as being primarily about promotion to uncover its deeper social and cultural implications. Considering not just the officer class, but also warrant officers, ordinary seamen and dockyard tradesmen and workers, it reveals the fuller extent of naval patronage as it operated between both elite and non-elite men and women, within all forms of friendship, not just professional or political alliances, and beneath veneers of fashionable sensibility, duty and honour. Historians of the navy in this period are well aware of the importance of patronage, but the subject has never previously been studied in such detail. The book will be very welcome for uncovering the full nature of patronage, both for naval historians and also for cultural and social historians interested in the period more generally. Catherine Beck completed her doctorate at University College London in collaboration with the National Maritime Museum.

Patronage and the British Navy, 1775-1815

Patronage and the British Navy, 1775-1815 PDF Author: Catherine Beck
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1837652279
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 323

Get Book Here

Book Description
Argues that patronage served a very useful function and should not be seen as a form of corruption. This book, based on extensive original research, examines the rich and varied nature of patronage in the British navy at the end of the long eighteenth century. Patronage underpinned naval advancement, determined where officers, seamen and dockyard workers were stationed, and fashioned their reputations. It was also a system of trust whereby an individual's connections acted as guarantors of their ability, character and suitability for a position. This book moves beyond considering patronage as being primarily about promotion to uncover its deeper social and cultural implications. Considering not just the officer class, but also warrant officers, ordinary seamen and dockyard tradesmen and workers, it reveals the fuller extent of naval patronage as it operated between both elite and non-elite men and women, within all forms of friendship, not just professional or political alliances, and beneath veneers of fashionable sensibility, duty and honour. Historians of the navy in this period are well aware of the importance of patronage, but the subject has never previously been studied in such detail. The book will be very welcome for uncovering the full nature of patronage, both for naval historians and also for cultural and social historians interested in the period more generally. Catherine Beck completed her doctorate at University College London in collaboration with the National Maritime Museum.

A Social History of British Naval Officers, 1775-1815

A Social History of British Naval Officers, 1775-1815 PDF Author: Evan Wilson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781783271740
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Who were the men who officered the Royal Navy in Nelson's day?

The Myth of the Press Gang

The Myth of the Press Gang PDF Author: Jeremiah Ross Dancy
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 1783270039
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Overturns the generally held view that the press gang was the main means of recruiting seamen by the British navy in the late eighteenth century. SHORTLISTED for the Society for Nautical Research's prestigious Anderson Medal. The press gang is generally regarded as the means by which the British navy solved the problem of recruiting enough seamen in the late eighteenth century. This book, however, based on extensive original research conducted primarily in a large number of ships' muster books, demonstrates that this view is false. It argues that, in fact, the overwhelming majority of seamen in the navy were there of their own free will. Taking a long view across the late eighteenth century but concentrating on the period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars of 1793-1815, the book provides great detail on the sort of men that were recruited and the means by which they were recruited, and includes a number of individuals' stories. It shows how manpower was a major concern for the Admiralty; how the Admiralty put in place a range of recruitment methods including the quota system; how it worried about depleting merchant shipping of sufficient sailors; and how, although most seamen were volunteers, the press gang was resorted to, especially during the initial mobilisation at the beginning of wars and to find certain kinds of particularly skilled seamen. The book also makes comparisons with recruitment methods employed by the navies of other countries and by the British army. J. Ross Dancy is Assistant Professor of History at Sam Houston State University.

The Transformation of British Naval Strategy

The Transformation of British Naval Strategy PDF Author: James Davey
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 184383748X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Shows how the system of supply was perfected during the later part of the Napoleonic Wars, enabling fleets to stay at sea on a permanent basis. After the Battle of Trafalgar, the navy continued to be the major arm of British strategy. Decades of practice and refinement had rendered it adept at executing operations - fighting battles, blockading and convoying - across theglobe. And yet, as late as 1807, fleets were forced from their stations due to an ineffective provisioning system. The Transformation of British Naval Strategy shows how sweeping administrative reforms enacted between 1808and 1812 established a highly-effective logistical system, changing an ineffective supply system into one which successfully enabled a fleet to remain on station for as long as was required. James Davey examines the logistical support provided for fleets sent to Northern Europe during the Napoleonic War and shows how this new supply system successfully transformed naval operations, enabling the navy to pursue crucial objectives of national importance, protect essential exports and imports and attack the economies of the Napoleonic Empire. The Transformation of British Naval Strategy is a detailed study of national policy, administrative and political reform and strategic viability. It delves into the nature of the British state, its relationship with the private sector and its ability to reform itself in a time of war. Bureaucratic restructuring represented the last stage in a century-long process of logistical improvement. As a result of the reforms, the navy was able to conduct operations beyond the realms of possibility even twenty years earlier and saw the reach of its power transformed. Military and Napoleonic historians will find this book invaluable. JAMES DAVEY is Research Curator at the National Maritime Museum and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Greenwich, where he teaches British naval history.

The Royal Navy in European Waters During the American Revolutionary War

The Royal Navy in European Waters During the American Revolutionary War PDF Author: David Syrett
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 9781570032387
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
During the American Revolutionary War, Great Britain's Royal Navy faced foes that included, in addition to American forces, the navies of France, Spain and the Netherlands. In this operational history of a period that proved to be a turning point for one of the world's great naval powers, David Syrett presents a saga of battles, blockades, great fleet cruises and, above all, failures and lost opportunities. He explains that the British government severely underestimated the Americans' maritime strength and how that error led to devastating consequences. The seemingly invincible navy failed to muster even one decisive victory during the extensive naval conflict.

Eighteenth-Century Naval Officers

Eighteenth-Century Naval Officers PDF Author: Evan Wilson
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030257002
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
This book surveys the lives and careers of naval officers across Europe at the height of the age of sail. It traces the professionalization of naval officers by exploring their preparation for life at sea and the challenges they faced while in command. It also demonstrates the uniqueness of the maritime experience, as long voyages and isolation at sea cemented their bond with naval officers across Europe while separating them from landlubbers. It depicts, in a way no previous study has, the parameters of their shared experiences—both the similarities that crossed national boundaries and connected officers, and the differences that can only be seen from an international perspective.

Britain's Naval Route to Greatness 1688-1815

Britain's Naval Route to Greatness 1688-1815 PDF Author: Jeremy Black
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1398114367
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Jeremy Black charts the story of Britain's rise to naval supremacy across the long eighteenth century.

A new naval history

A new naval history PDF Author: Quintin Colville
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 152611383X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
This volume brings together a diverse selection of the latest academic research in the field of naval history. No longer confined to analyses of ships and battles, it is the first publication to capture a new form naval history that engages with race, sexuality, gender, material culture, popular culture and fine art. Edited by two leading historians of the Royal Navy, it will become a defining book in the field.

How Britain Won the War of 1812

How Britain Won the War of 1812 PDF Author: Brian Arthur
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 1843836653
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
The book demonstrates the effectiveness of British maritime blockades, both naval blockade, which handicapped the American Navy, and commercial blockade, which restricted US overseas trade. The commercial blockade severely reduced US government income, which was heavily dependent on customs duties, forcing it to borrow, eventually without success. Actually insolvent, the US government abandoned its war aims.

Evangelicals in the Royal Navy, 1775-1815

Evangelicals in the Royal Navy, 1775-1815 PDF Author: Richard Blake
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 9781843833598
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
Religious activity flourished in the eighteenth-century navy; this book examines the reasons why and its manifestations. The Evangelical Admiral Gambier, notorious for distributing tracts to his fleet in a theatre of war, is commonly seen as a misfit in a fighting service that had scant time for fervent piety. In fact, the navy of the Revolutionaryand Napoleonic Wars showed a level of religious observance not seen since the days of Queen Anne. Evangelical laymen provided one dynamic for this change: concentrating first on public worship, they moved to active proselytism insearch of converts amongst sailors, and in a third phase developed a loose network of prayer groups in scores of ships, uniting officers and seamen in voluntary gatherings that transcended rank. This book explores the effect this new piety had on discipline and human governance, on literacy, on the development of chaplains' ministry and on the mindset of the officer corps. It also looks at the larger question of how its values were absorbed into the ethos of the navy as a whole. It draws on sources both familiar and unusual - logs, letters, minutes, memoirs, tracts and sermons, Regulations - to explain how evangelical influence affected officer corps, lower deck andAdmiralty, showing how a movement that began by promoting public worship at sea became an agency for mass evangelism through literature, preaching and off-duty gatherings, where officers and men met for shared Bible reading and prayer a mere decade after the great Mutinies.