William Proby, Lord Proby
Encyclopedia
William Allen Proby, Lord Proby (19 June 1779 – 6 August 1804) was a British
Royal Navy
officer
and Whig politician
.
(later 1st Earl of Carysfort
, and his first wife Elizabeth (née Osbourne). He was educated at Rugby School
, Warwickshire
, England
from 1788.
and was promoted quickly, probably due to the influence of his family; by 1798, at the age of 19, he had been promoted to post-captain
and had commanded the fireship Tarleton and the sloop Peterel
. He became the captain of Danae
and in her suffered a mutiny
on 14 March 1800; forty of the crew seized the ship off Le Conquet
, Brest
. The mutiny seems to have been caused by Danae being overburdened with French and American sailors conscripted unwillingly, and possibly a rather lax approach to discipline. Having secured the loyal crew below decks, the mutineers gave up the ship to the French
16-gun brig
-corvette
Colombe, which sent over a boarding
party. Lord Proby surrendered the ship with the words "To the French nation, but not to mutineers." He and the loyal members of his crew were exchanged on parole
, having received favourable treatment from the French authorities.
He took command of Amelia
in April 1802, and in May sailed to Cork
, Waterford
and Dublin to land 150 discharged seaman. The summer was spent combatting smugglers between Berry Head
and Mount's Bay
, and by the end of August, Amelia had sailed for Den Helder
with Dutch troops discharged from the British service. Amelia was based in Portsmouth
for most of 1803, sailing to Jersey
and the Downs
, and blockading
Dutch ports. Proby captured as prizes
a French chasse-marée
in ballast
on 23 May, and on 11 August the French privateer
lugger
Alert.
Amelia deployed to the Leeward Islands
station, notorious at the time for disease; Lord Proby died from yellow fever
in Surinam in August 1804, aged 25, while in command of the frigate. He was buried in a vault in St Michael's Cathedral, Bridgetown
, Barbados
, where a tablet records his death.
as a Whig in the House of Commons
from 1802 until his death in 1804. His younger brother John
succeeded him as Member of Parliament
for Buckingham.
in the Peerage of Ireland
, William Proby was styled as Lord Proby. He died unmarried and his younger brother John
succeeded to the earldom when his father died in April 1828.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
officer
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
and Whig politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
.
Background and education
Proby was the eldest son of John Proby, 2nd Baron CarysfortJohn Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort
John Joshua Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort, KP, PC, PC , FRS was a British judge, diplomat Whig politician and poet.-Background and education:...
(later 1st Earl of Carysfort
Earl of Carysfort
Earl of Carysfort was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1789 for the John Proby, 2nd Baron Carysfort. The Proby family descended from Sir Peter Proby, Lord Mayor of London in 1622. His great-great-grandson John Proby represented Huntingdonshire and Stamford in the House of Commons...
, and his first wife Elizabeth (née Osbourne). He was educated at Rugby School
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
from 1788.
Royal Naval service
Proby was commissioned into the Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and was promoted quickly, probably due to the influence of his family; by 1798, at the age of 19, he had been promoted to post-captain
Post-Captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:...
and had commanded the fireship Tarleton and the sloop Peterel
HMS Peterel (1794)
HMS Peterel was a 16-gun Pylades-class ship-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 4 April 1794 and was in active service until 1811...
. He became the captain of Danae
HMS Danae (1798)
Vaillante was a 20-gun French ship-corvette, built at Bayonne and launched in 1796. Captain Edward Pellew in captured her off the Île de Ré on 7 August 1798. The Admiralty took her into the Royal Navy as HMS Danae. Some of her crew mutinied in 1800 and succeeded in turning her over to the French...
and in her suffered a mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
on 14 March 1800; forty of the crew seized the ship off Le Conquet
Le Conquet
Le Conquet is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.-Geography:Le Conquet is a fishing port in the northwest of Brittany...
, Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
. The mutiny seems to have been caused by Danae being overburdened with French and American sailors conscripted unwillingly, and possibly a rather lax approach to discipline. Having secured the loyal crew below decks, the mutineers gave up the ship to the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
16-gun brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
-corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
Colombe, which sent over a boarding
Boarding (attack)
Boarding, in its simplest sense, refers to the insertion on to a ship's deck of individuals. However, when it is classified as an attack, in most contexts, it refers to the forcible insertion of personnel that are not members of the crew by another party without the consent of the captain or crew...
party. Lord Proby surrendered the ship with the words "To the French nation, but not to mutineers." He and the loyal members of his crew were exchanged on parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
, having received favourable treatment from the French authorities.
He took command of Amelia
HMS Amelia (1796)
Proserpine was a 38-gun Hébé-class frigate of the French Navy captured by on 13 June 1796. The Admiralty commissioned Prosperine into the Royal Navy as the fifth rate, HMS Amelia...
in April 1802, and in May sailed to Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
, Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
and Dublin to land 150 discharged seaman. The summer was spent combatting smugglers between Berry Head
Berry Head
Berry Head is a coastal headland at the southern end of Torbay, to the southeast of Brixham, Devon, England.-National Nature Reserve:Berry Head to Sharkham Point is a haven for several nationally rare and threatened species which are dependent upon the thin limestone soils, mild climate and exposed...
and Mount's Bay
Mount's Bay
Mount's Bay is a large, sweeping bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall in the United Kingdom, stretching from the Lizard Point to Gwennap Head on the eastern side of the Land's End peninsula. Towards the middle of the bay is St Michael's Mount...
, and by the end of August, Amelia had sailed for Den Helder
Den Helder
Den Helder is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula...
with Dutch troops discharged from the British service. Amelia was based in Portsmouth
HMNB Portsmouth
Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the British Royal Navy...
for most of 1803, sailing to Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
and the Downs
The Downs
The Downs are a roadstead or area of sea in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast, between the North and the South Foreland in southern England. In 1639 the Battle of the Downs took place here, when the Dutch navy destroyed a Spanish fleet which had sought refuge...
, and blockading
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
Dutch ports. Proby captured as prizes
Prize (law)
Prize is a term used in admiralty law to refer to equipment, vehicles, vessels, and cargo captured during armed conflict. The most common use of prize in this sense is the capture of an enemy ship and its cargo as a prize of war. In the past, it was common that the capturing force would be allotted...
a French chasse-marée
Chasse-marée
In English, a chasse-marée is a specific, archaic type of decked commercial sailing vessel.In French, un chasse-marée was 'a wholesale fishmonger', originally on the Channel coast of France and later, on the Atlantic coast as well. He bought in the coastal ports and sold in inland markets. However,...
in ballast
Sailing ballast
Ballast is used in sailboats to provide moment to resist the lateral forces on the sail. Insufficiently ballasted boats will tend to tip, or heel, excessively in high winds. Too much heel may result in the boat capsizing. If a sailing vessel should need to voyage without cargo then ballast of...
on 23 May, and on 11 August the French privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
lugger
Lugger
A lugger is a class of boats, widely used as traditional fishing boats, particularly off the coasts of France, Scotland and England. It is a small sailing vessel with lugsails set on two or more masts and perhaps lug topsails.-Defining the rig:...
Alert.
Amelia deployed to the Leeward Islands
Leeward Islands
The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...
station, notorious at the time for disease; Lord Proby died from yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
in Surinam in August 1804, aged 25, while in command of the frigate. He was buried in a vault in St Michael's Cathedral, Bridgetown
Bridgetown
The city of Bridgetown , metropolitan pop 96,578 , is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael...
, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, where a tablet records his death.
Member of Parliament
He represented BuckinghamBuckingham (UK Parliament constituency)
Buckingham is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
as a Whig in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
from 1802 until his death in 1804. His younger brother John
John Proby, 2nd Earl of Carysfort
John Proby, 2nd Earl of Carysfort , known as Lord Proby from 1804 to 1828, was a British military commander and Whig politician....
succeeded him as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Buckingham.
Title
From 1789, when his father was created Earl of CarysfortEarl of Carysfort
Earl of Carysfort was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1789 for the John Proby, 2nd Baron Carysfort. The Proby family descended from Sir Peter Proby, Lord Mayor of London in 1622. His great-great-grandson John Proby represented Huntingdonshire and Stamford in the House of Commons...
in the Peerage of Ireland
Peerage of Ireland
The Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those titles of nobility created by the English and later British monarchs of Ireland in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl,...
, William Proby was styled as Lord Proby. He died unmarried and his younger brother John
John Proby, 2nd Earl of Carysfort
John Proby, 2nd Earl of Carysfort , known as Lord Proby from 1804 to 1828, was a British military commander and Whig politician....
succeeded to the earldom when his father died in April 1828.