| dbpprop:abstract
|
- Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer (c. 1650 - 1720) Irish peopleIrish 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 George Villiers, 2nd Duke of BuckinghamDuke of Buckingham, as a Lieutenant, in 1678. Early in the following year he was advanced to the rank of Captain (Royal Navy)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 in the River ThamesThames, but at once gave in his allegiance to the cause of the Glorious RevolutionRevolution. In 1690 he commanded the HMS Royal KatherineRoyal Katherine, and, in the battle off Battle of Beachy Head (1690)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 Battles of Barfleur and La HougueBarfleur. In February 1693 he was advanced to the rank of Rear Admiral, and to that of Vice Admiral in 1694, when he accompanied Edward Russell, 1st Earl of OrfordAdmiral 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 George Churchill (Royal Navy officer)Admiral Churchill to the Admiralty, he retired from active service, though he continued to act as one of the Lords Commissioners of AdmiraltyCommissioners of the Navy till July 1702. He took no part whatever in naval affairs beyond sitting in Parliament of EnglandParliament as Baron or Member of ParliamentMember for Dover (UK Parliament constituency)Dover, till after the death of Prince George of DenmarkPrince 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 FranceFrench 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#Other meaningsAccession of George I of Great BritainGeorge I, when he was again appointed Commander-in-Chief, Ranger of Greenwich Park, and the second Governor of Greenwich Hospital (London)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 British Whig PartyWhig M.P. for Portsmouth (UK Parliament constituency)Portsmouth in 1695, and for Dover in 1697, 1713, and 1715. He died on 18 August 1720. A portrait, half-length, presented by his descendant, the fifth Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron AylmerLord Aylmer, is in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.
|
| rdfs:comment
|
- Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer (c. 1650 - 1720) Irish peopleIrish 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 George Villiers, 2nd Duke of BuckinghamDuke of Buckingham, as a Lieutenant, in 1678.
|
![[RDF Data]](/statics/sw-cube.png)
