Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Aylmer,_1st_Baron_Aylmer

Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer (ca. 1650 – 18 August 1720) was an Irish Admiral of the Royal Navy.

Lord Aylmer, Admiral and Commander-in-Chief, was the second son of Sir Christopher Aylmer of Balrath, County Meath, and entered the Royal Navy under the protection of the Duke of Buckingham, as a Lieutenant, in 1678. Early in the following year he was advanced to the rank of Captain, and he appears to have served almost constantly during the next ten years on the coast of Algiers and in the Mediterranean.

In October 1688 he was appointed captain of HMS Swallow in the Thames, but at once gave in his allegiance to the cause of the Revolution. In 1690 he commanded the Royal Katherine, and, in the battle off Beachy Head, was one of the seconds to Sir Ralph Delaval who commanded the blue squadron. In 1692, still in the Royal Katherine, he was one of the seconds of the Commander-in-Chief at Barfleur. In February 1693 he was advanced to the rank of Rear Admiral, and to that of Vice Admiral in 1694, when he accompanied Admiral Russell to the Mediterranean, and was also appointed a Lord of the Admiralty. After the Treaty of Ryswick he was sent, in 1698, as Commander-in-Chief, again into the Mediterranean, principally to confirm the treaties with the regencies of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers. He returned home towards the end of the following year.

In November 1699, being, it is said, dissatisfied at the appointment of Admiral Churchill to the Admiralty, he retired from active service, though he continued to act as one of the Commissioners of the Navy till July 1702. He took no part whatever in naval affairs beyond sitting in Parliament as Baron or Member for Dover, till after the death of Prince George, and the retirement of Churchill in November 1709, when he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the fleet. In the following July, whilst cruising in the Soundings, he fell in with a French squadron and convoy, of which only one merchantman and the Superbe, of 56 guns, were captured. The rest escaped, owing, it was alleged, to the haziness of the weather. The want of success served the new ministry as an excuse to supersede him, which they did in January 1711.

He held no further command till the Accession of George I, when he was again appointed Commander-in-Chief, Ranger of Greenwich Park, and the second Governor of Greenwich Hospital. This office he held till his death, and during that time succeeded in establishing the hospital school for the sons of seamen, which gradually developed into a magnificent institution. In April 1717 he became one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, but he resigned the appointment early the next year, when he was promoted to Rear Admiral of the United Kingdom, and at the same time raised to the peerage of Ireland as Lord Aylmer of Balrath. He had been elected Whig M.P. for Portsmouth in 1695, and for Dover in 1697, 1713, and 1715.

A portrait, half-length, presented by his descendant, the fifth Lord Aylmer, is in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

Admiral of the Fleet Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer (ca. 1650 – 18 August 1720), of Covent Garden, Westminster, and Westcliffe, near Dover, was an Anglo-Irish Royal Navy officer and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1695 and 1720.

Aylmer was one of the captains who sent a letter to Prince William of Orange, who had just landed at Torbay, assuring the Prince of the captains' support; the Prince's response ultimately led to the Royal Navy switching allegiance to the Prince and the Glorious Revolution of November 1688.

Aylmer saw action at the Battle of Bantry Bay in May 1689, at the Battle of Beachy Head in July 1690 and again at the Battle of Barfleur in May 1692 during the Nine Years' War.

Aylmer became Commander-in-Chief of the Navy on 12 November 1709. However, when Aylmer met a French squadron and convoy, he was only able to capture one merchantman and the 56-gun Superbe: the new Harley Ministry used this failure as an excuse to remove him as Commander-in-Chief and did so a few months later. Following the accession of George I and the appointment of the Townshend Ministry, Aylmer was reappointed Commander-in-Chief on 5 November 1714. He was also appointed Governor of Greenwich Hospital: in this post he founded the Royal Hospital School for the sons of seamen.

Early career

Aylmer was the second son of Sir Christopher Aylmer of Balrath, county Meath, and Margaret Aylmer (née Plunkett), daughter of Matthew Plunkett, 5th Baron Louth. He served briefly in the Army as Ensign of foot in the Duke of Buckingham’s regiment from 1672 and then joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman in the galley HMS Charles in October 1677 before being promoted to lieutenant in April 1678. Promoted to commander on 19 January 1679, he became commanding officer of the sloop HMS Chatham and then transferred to the command of the prize ship HMS Date Tree in Summer 1679. He transferred again to the command of the fire ship HMS Castle in the Mediterranean Fleet later in the year, to the command of the fifth-rate HMS Swann on the Coast of Ireland in July 1680 and to the command of the fourth-rate HMS Tiger in the Mediterranean Fleet in January 1682, before becoming commanding officer of the galley HMS Charles in September 1685. Aylmer was a young officer of the “courtier type” who benefited from the patronage of the Duke of Buckingham.

Promoted to captain on 1 October 1688, Aylmer was given command of the fourth-rate HMS Swallow in the Thames; he was one of the captains who sent a letter to Prince William of Orange, who had just landed at Torbay, assuring the Prince of the captains' support. Indeed, he was perhaps the chief of the cabal. Aylmer followed up the letter with a visit to the Prince's headquarters and arranged that Lieutenant George Byng and Captain Anthony Hastings should accompany him during the visit. The Prince's warm response to the captains ultimately led to the Royal Navy switching allegiance to the Prince and the Glorious Revolution of November 1688.

Aylmer transferred to the command of the third-rate HMS Mary in December 1688 and was present at the French victory at the Battle of Bantry Bay in May 1689 at an early stage of the Nine Years' War. His brother George Aylmer was killed during the battle.

Aylmer transferred again, this time to the command of the second-rate HMS Royal Katherine in Spring 1690 and was present at the French victory at Battle of Beachy Head in July 1690. He transferred to the command of the third-rate HMS Monck in the North Sea in Summer 1691 and then took command of the first-rate HMS London in Spring 1692. As Second Captain to Admiral Edward Russell, he saw action again at the tactically indecisive Battle of Barfleur in May 1692. As a captain, Aylmer was quite deferential to his Spanish partners during the War. Samuel Pepys believed that Aylmer should have been hanged for his habit of dipping his colours to Spanish Admirals.

Senior command

Promoted to rear admiral on 8 February 1693 and to vice admiral in June 1693, Aylmer hoisted his flag in the first-rate HMS Royal Sovereign and served under Admiral Edward Russell as second-in-command of the Mediterranean Fleet. He also became Whig Member of Parliament for Portsmouth at a by-election in 1695 but had to stand down when the House of Commons declared the by-election void in January 1696. Nevertheless, he was elected Whig Member of Parliament for Dover in December 1697. The Treaty of Ryswick was signed in September 1697, bringing the Nine Years' War to an end and, after a delay in fitting out his squadron, Aylmer went out into the Mediterranean, with his flag in the second-rate HMS Boyne, to ensure the treaty was being observed in September 1698; he then retired from active service in October 1699. In around 1700 he acquired Wallett's Court Manor at Westcliffe in Kent as a property in which he would live in retirement. He also had a property at No. 12 Great Piazza in Covent Garden.

Following the death of Prince George (Queen Anne's consort), which brought Russell back to the Admiralty, Aylmer was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy on 12 November 1709. He lost his Dover seat at the 1710 British general election which produced a landslide victory for the Tory party in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell which Aylmer had supported. In July 1710, when Aylmer met a French squadron and convoy, he was only able to capture one merchantman and the 56-gun Superbe: the new Harley Ministry used this failure as an excuse to remove him as Commander-in-Chief and did so in January 1711.

Following the accession of George I in August 1714, which led to the appointment of the Townshend Ministry in September 1714, Russell was back at the Admiralty again and Aylmer was reappointed Commander-in-Chief on 5 November 1714. Alymer was also appointed Governor of Greenwich Hospital on the same date: in this post he started to fund education for the sons of seamen from entry charges to the Painted Hall, pensioners' fines and proceeds from the sale of stores. The same day he was also appointed Ranger of Greenwich Park.

Alymer recovered his seat in Parliament at Dover at the 1715 British general election which saw the Whigs win an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons. He went on to join the Board of Admiralty led by the Earl of Berkeley, as Senior Naval Lord, in April 1717. He resigned his appointments as a member of the Admiralty Board and as Commander-in-Chief in March 1718 and was rewarded by being appointed Rear-Admiral of Great Britain and also being created Lord Aylmer of Balrath in the Peerage of Ireland on 1 May 1718.

Aylmer died at Queen's House in Greenwich on 18 August 1720 and was buried at St Alfege's Church in Greenwich.

Family

In circa 1680 Aylmer married Sarah Ellis; they had a son and two daughters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Aylmer,_1st_Baron_Aylmer