by Roger Knight
17. Schroeder, European Politics, p. 502.
18. Muir, Defeat of Napoleon, p. 337.
19. Schroeder, European Politics, p. 535.
20. Ibid., p. 550.
21. Ibid., p. 551.
22. Kraehe, ‘Reconstruction of the Allied Armies’, pp. 88–90, 96–7.
23. Muir, Defeat of Napoleon, p. 353.
24. Davies, Wellington’s Wars, p. 241.
25. Collins, War and Empire, p. 358.
26. Muir, Defeat of Napoleon, pp. 363, 365.
27. 4 Dec. 1815, HRC, Londonderry MSS.
28. Voelcker, Saumarez, pp. 198–220.
29. Mackesy, ‘Amphibious Power’, p. 122.
30. Esdaile, Peninsular War, p. 505.
31. See Appendix 2.
32. Sherwig, Guineas and Gunpowder, pp. 345–69.
33. Bell, First Total War, Introduction.
34. Esdaile, Napoleon’s Wars, p. 6.
35. Duffy, Sugar and Seapower, pp. 1–16.
36. Knight and Wilcox, Sustaining the Fleet, pp. 8–16, 37–47.
37. Galpin, Grain Supply, pp. 168–71.
38. Gray, Perceval, p. 470.
39. See Appendix 1.
40. Schroeder, European Politics, p. 551.
41. Muir, Defeat of Napoleon, p. 381.
Aftermath
1. Lieven, Russia Against Napoleon, p. 259, quoting Sir Robert Wilson, The French Invasion of Russia (Bridgnorth, 1996), p. 234; see also Glover, Very Slippery Fellow, p. 130; Rodger, Command of the Ocean, p. 574.
2. Tombs, France, p. 337.
3. Hilton, Dangerous People, pp. 237, 251.
4. Harling and Mandler, ‘ ‘‘Fiscal-Military State” ’, pp. 66–7.
5. Rodger, Command of the Ocean, p. 639.
6. Lewis, Navy in Transition, pp. 69, 84.
7. Glete, Navy and Nations, Vol. II, p. 422; Duffy, ‘World-wide War’, p. 204; Hilton, Dangerous People, p. 238.
8. Collins, War and Empire, p. 407.
9. Burnham and McGuigan, British Army Against Napoleon, pp. 217, 232.
10. Cookson, Armed Nation, p. 246.
11. ‘Public Offices Employment … 1805, 1810, 1815, 1819 and 1827’, Parliamentary Papers, 1830–31 (92), pp. 2–3.
12. Ibid., p. 253.
13. Hilton, Dangerous People, pp. 251–2.
14. ODNB, quoting J. Greig, The Farington Diaries, Vol. VIII, 1928, p. 243.
15. Durey, Wickham, p. 194.
16. Brenton, St Vincent, Vol. II, p. 375.
17. Marsden, Brief Memoir, p. 133.
18. Lloyd, Barrow of the Admiralty, p. 86.
19. Ibid., pp. 124–65.
20. Beamish, Brunel, pp. 131–8, 168–75.
21. Bew, Castlereagh, p. 557, quoting Robert and Samuel Wilberforce, The Life of William Wilberforce (London, 1848), Vol. V, p. 135.
22. Collins, War and Empire, pp. 402–3; Day, ‘Naval Power in the Indian Ocean’, pp. 323, 325.
23. Duffy, ‘World-wide war’, p. 206.
24. Hilton, Dangerous People, p. 244.A manuscript sketch of the hut erected on the roof of the Admiralty, with the code for each letter around the edge. A fixed telescope can be seen trained on the next station. So much concentration was needed to make out distant signals that the ‘glassmen’ took turns of only five minutes.
Chronology
1789
14 July: Fall of the Bastille
1791
6 July: Austria issues ‘The Circular’ calling on the crowned heads of Europe to restore liberty to the French royal family
3 September: The French constitution voted
1 October: The Legislative Assembly sits in Paris
1792
January: Founding of the London Corresponding Society
20 April: War between France and the First Coalition
21 May: British Royal Proclamation against seditious meetings and writings
10 August: March on the Tuileries; Louis XVI deposed and taken prisoner
31 August: September massacres start in Paris
September: French armies occupy Savoy and Nice, part of the Kingdom of Piedmont
20 September: Battle of Valmy: French artillery defeats Prussian troops under the duke of Brunswick and the threat to Paris lifted
21 September–26 October 1795: National Convention
6 November: Battle of Jemappes near Mons: French Army marches into Brussels
16 November: French decree opening the navigation of the Scheldt, exclusively awarded to the Dutch by the Treaty of Münster (1648) and guaranteed by Britain as recently as 1788
19 November: French edict that appears to promise support to the disaffected in other countries
21 November: British government introduces Aliens Bill, enabling it to regulate the movement of people in and out of the country
1 December: Ministers decide to issue a royal proclamation calling out the militia and assembling parliament
1793
January: Russo-Prussian partition of Poland
7 January: Aliens Act passed
21 January: Execution of Louis XVI
1 February: France declares war on Britain
13 February: Formation of the First Coalition of Britain, Austria, Prussia, the Netherlands, Spain and Sardinia, against France
14 February: British capture Tobago
18–21 March: Battle of Neerwinden: Austrians under General Prince Josias of Coburg and British under the duke of York defeat General Dumouriez; French driven from the Austrian Netherlands
25 March: Anglo-Russian treaty – twelve ships of the line, six frigates, to help Royal Navy
5 April: Dumouriez deserts to the Austrians; Committee of Public Safety formed in Paris; first French Army conscription, which causes insurrection in the Vendée
April: British expeditionary force to Flanders commanded by the duke of York
April: British attack Martinique, part of San Domingo, Pondicherry (India) and Miquelon (off Newfoundland)
16 April: Dundas orders an expedition to Dunkirk
25 April: Anglo-Sardinian treaty
25 May: Anglo-Spanish treaty
31 May: French National Guards surround the Tuileries; expulsion of the Girondins
12 July: Anglo-Neapolitan treaty
28 July: Allied victory at Valenciennes: Allied Army on French soil
15 August: Duke of York begins march on Dunkirk
27 August: British naval force under Lord Hood occupies Toulon
30 August: Anglo-Austrian treaty
6 September: French attack on the duke of York’s army at Dunkirk
8 September: Battle of Hondscoten: French defeat British and Hanoverian army, and raise the siege of Dunkirk
15–16 October: Jourdan defeats the Austrians at Wattignies
16 October: Marie-Antoinette executed
26 November: Expedition commanded by General Grey and Admiral Sir John Jervis sails for the West Indies
19 December: Allied evacuation and partial destruction of Toulon: thirty-two French ships of the line and three frigates captured by British; Hood sails to Corsica with 7,500 Toulon citizens
December: Force under Lord Moira sent to Brittany to help the Chouans
1794
7 February: British landing in Corsica
22 March: British capture of Martinique
4 April: Capture of St Lucia – lost June 1795, recaptured May 1796
19 April: Treaty of subsidy: Britain and the Netherlands to pay a subsidy to Prussia (which received £1,226,495)
20 April: French surrender Guadeloupe
May: Habeas Corpus Acts, trials of members of the London Corresponding Society
17–18 May: French victory at Tourcoing over Allies in Low Countries. Austrians decide to abandon their possessions in the Netherlands
22 May: Surrender of Bastia in Corsica to British troops
1 June: Battle of the First of June
17 June: Henry Dundas orders 10,000 men under the earl of Moira to de
fend Ostend
26 June: French Army defeats British, Dutch and Austrians at Fleurus, reoccupies Brussels; British and Dutch retire to Holland; Austrians fall back behind the Meuse
June/July: Height of the Terror in Paris
July: Portland Whigs join Pitt’s administration in coalition
16 July: French telegraph line between Paris and Lille opened
28 July: Robespierre executed
10 August: Surrender of Calvi in Corsica to the British
30 August: Valenciennes and Condé recaptured by the French
9 October: General Charles Pichegru commanding the Army of the North pursues British, Dutch and Hanoverian armies, takes Nimeguen and occupies Amsterdam
19 November: Treaty of amity, commerce and navigation signed between Britain and the USA (Jay Treaty) in London
24 November: Duke of York relieved of his command of British forces in Flanders
31 December: Brest Fleet sails for an Atlantic Cruise – four French ships of the line founder
1795
5 January: Austro-Prussian treaty
End of January: French conquest of the Netherlands complete, British troops withdraw; Stadtholder flees to England
9 February: French treaty with Tuscany
February: Britain finally concludes a formal alliance with Austria after two years of fighting as allies
13 February: Channel Fleet under Lord Howe almost wrecked in Torbay
13–14 March: Admiral Hotham’s inconclusive ‘First Action’ against the French Fleet off Genoa
5 April: Franco-Prussian peace under Treaty of Basle: Prussia now a second-rate power
14 April: British Army evacuated from Holland
4 May: Convention on loan with the emperor signed in Vienna (£4.6 million)
16 May: Holland makes terms with the French
17 June: British expedition sails to aid the French royalists (Chouans) in the Vendée in south-west France
13 July: Hotham’s ‘Second Action’ off the French coast near Toulon
22 July: Treaty between French and Spanish, also at Basle
17 August: Capture of Malacca from Dutch
12 August: Order-in-council establishes the Hydrographic Office
22 August: New constitution, in which the Directory replaces the Jacobin regime
29 August: Treaty between French and the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel; France breaks First Coalition
30 August: Capture of Trincomalee from Dutch
16 September: Capture of the Cape of Good Hope by Admiral Elphinstone (Lord Keith) and General Sir James Craig
1 October: Annexation of the Austrian Netherlands, incorporated into the French Republic
5 October: Insurrection of 13th Vendémiaire in Paris, Napoleon’s ‘whiff of grapeshot’
October: ‘The admirals’ mutiny’ at Portsmouth over the issue of whether soldiers afloat should be under naval discipline
7 October: Loss of the British Levant convoy to the French squadron under de Richery off Cape St Vincent
October: Rebellion in the Vendée crushed, the end of hopes for an early restoration of the Bourbon monarchy
3 November to 1799: The Directory rules in France
16 November: Rear-Admiral Hugh Christian’s convoy sails for the West Indies, but is soon blown back by gales
1 December: Sir John Jervis takes command of the Mediterranean Fleet
December: ‘Pitt’s terror’ launched with the ‘Two Acts’ (Seditious Meetings and Treasonable Practices Act; Seditious Meetings and Assemblies Act) rushed through parliament: also Irish Insurrection Act
1796
27 January: Shutter telegraph between the roof of the Admiralty in London and Deal completed
29 January: Rear-Admiral Christian’s convoy to the West Indies again driven back by winter storms and returns to Spithead
February: Colombo taken by Captain Hyde Gardner; Admiral Peter Rainier takes Amboina from Dutch in the East Indies
12–16 April: Bonaparte’s victories at Montenotte and Dego in Piedmont
10 May: Bonaparte takes the bridge at Lodi against the Austrians
15 May: Bonaparte enters Milan and occupies Piedmont and Lombardy
17 August: Capture of Lucas’s Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay, South Africa
19 August: Secret treaty of San Ildefonso between France and Spain
31 August: Admiralty orders the evacuation of Corsica
8 October: Spain declares war on England
22 October: Malmesbury peace mission to France arrives in Paris and leaves 21 December; returns to Lille, 4 July 1797; returns to Britain, 18 September 1797
17 November: Empress Catherine dies: Russian policies reversed and Russian squadron serving with British recalled
1 December: Pitt’s voluntary Loyalty Loan raises £18 million in four days
16 December: General Lazare Hoche’s expedition sails from Brest for Ireland
22–9 December: French Fleet arrives in Bantry Bay, but fails to land troops and leaves Irish waters
1797
15 January: French defeat Austria at Rivoli
28 January: Rear-Admiral Pierre Sercey’s squadron declines to attack an East India convoy in the Bali Straits
2 February: Fortress at Mantua falls to Napoleon: end of Austrian resistance in Italy
14 February: Battle of Cape St Vincent: British Fleet under Jervis defeats Spanish
18 February: Surrender of Trinidad by Spanish, destruction of three ships of the line and a frigate, one captured
22 February: Small French force lands at Fishguard in Pembrokeshire but surrenders immediately
February: Bank crisis, temporary suspension of cash payments by the Bank of England
16 April: Outbreak of the naval mutiny at Spithead
18–30 April: Failed British assault on San Juan, Puerto Rico
12 May: Outbreak of the naval mutiny at the Nore and in the Yarmouth Roads
16 May: Convention on loan with Austria signed in London (£1,620,000)
22–23 July: Nelson’s unsuccessful attack on Santa Cruz, Tenerife
4 September: Coup d’état of 18 Fructidor, the Directory’s political crisis, forestalls a royalist seizure of power in France
11 October: Battle of Camperdown: Dutch Fleet defeated by Admiral Duncan
17 October: Treaty of Campo Formio: Austria makes peace with France; Britain only survivor of the First Coalition
November: Pitt’s Finance Bill proposes income tax and new indirect taxes
1798
April: Outbreak of undeclared ‘quasi-war’ between France and the USA
April: Seizure and imprisonment of the Committee of the London Corresponding Society
6 April: Cabinet decides to send fleet to the Mediterranean
8 May: Nelson, off Cádiz, is sent by Admiral St Vincent into the Mediterranean accompanied by two other ships of the line
19 May: Bonaparte’s expedition sails from Toulon, gathering more transports from Italian ports
20 May: British raid on Ostend led by Captain Home Popham: the locks destroyed, but troops unable to evacuate and are captured
23 May: Outbreak of rebellion in Ireland in Kildare
8 June: Thomas Troubridge with ten ships of the line joins Nelson off Toulon
11 June: Bonaparte’s expedition captures Malta from the Knights of St John
21 June: Irish rebels defeated at Vinegar Hill
28 June: Lacking intelligence, Nelson reaches Alexandria for the first time, ahead of Napoleon
1 July: French Army begins landing in Egypt
21 July: Bonaparte’s troops defeat the Egyptian Army at the Battle of the Pyramids; enters Cairo 23 July
1–2 August: Battle of the Nile: Nelson’s squadron captures or destroys eleven French ships in Aboukir Bay, only two escaping
6 August: French expedition under General Humbert leaves Rochefort bound for Ireland
15 August: Tsar offers 60,000 troops for the Rhine in return for
British subsidies
22 August: General Humbert lands at Killala in Mayo with 1,000 men
8 September: Humbert surrenders at Ballinamuck
16 September: Departure of second French expedition to Ireland under Commodore Bompard, intercepted off Lough Swilly in October by a squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren
September: Final British evacuation of San Domingo
14 November: British capture of Minorca
1 December: Formal treaty between Britain and Naples signed; army of Naples marches on Rome, but soon retreats
1799
27 January: Spanish Rear-Admiral Alava declines to attack an East India convoy near Macao
3 March: French forces in Corfu capitulate to Russians and Turks
7 March: Jaffa occupied by the French Army under Bonaparte
12 March: France declares war on Austria
19 March: Bonaparte begins siege of Acre
April: Pitt introduces income tax of 10 per cent
26 April: Bruix slips past British blockade of Brest with twenty-five ships of the line intending to relieve the French armies in Egypt
27 April: French evacuate Milan; Russians under Suvorov take city 29 Apr.
3 May: Bruix passes Cádiz without attacking Keith
3 May: Tippoo Sahib, sultan of Mysore, killed at the Battle of Seringapatam
7 May: Prussian offer to Britain of an offensive in return for subsidy
20 May: Bonaparte abandons the siege of Acre
1 June: Formation of Second Coalition of Britain, Russia, Austria, Turkey, Portugal and the Two Sicilies, against France
8 August: Bruix re-enters Brest with the combined French and Spanish fleets
23 August: Bonaparte sails from Alexandria to return to France
27 August: Anglo-Russian landing in Den Helder in north Holland; surrender of the Dutch Fleet
19 September: British troops under the duke of York win the Battle of Bergen
12 October: Duke of York runs short of supplies, signs armistice 18 October and agrees to evacuate north Holland
