Christopher (John Williams) Nesham (1771 –4 November 1853), admiral, born in 1771, was son of Christopher Nesham, a captain in the 63rd regiment, by his wife Mary Williams, sister of

William Peere Williams-Freeman Admiral of the Fleet William Peere Williams-Freeman (6 January 1742 – 11 February 1832) (born William Peere Williams) was an officer in the Royal Navy. He saw action aboard as a junior officer at the Battle of Quiberon Bay during the Seven Ye ...

, admiral of the fleet. Nesham entered the navy in January 1782 on board HMS ''Juno'', with Captain James Montagu, and in her was present at the action off Cuddalore on 20 June 1783. On his return to England in 1785, he was for some time aboard HMS ''Edgar'', guardship at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, commanded by Captain Adam Duncan, afterwards Lord Duncan, and aboard the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

HMS ''Druid'' until March 1788. He was then sent to a college in France, and was still there at the outbreak of the

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

. He was at Vernon, in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, in October 1789, when a furious mob fell upon a corn merchant, Planter by name, who had been charitable to the poor, but who, having sent flour to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, was accused of wishing to starve the town. The town-hall, where he had taken refuge, was stormed, and Planter was dragged down the stairs towards the lamp-post at the corner of the building. Attempts were made to fasten a rope round his neck. Nesham, however, with two others, remained by Planter and warded off the blows aimed at him as well as themselves. Knocked down, Nesham sprang up again and vigorously resisted the mob. Planter was at length got away from the lamp-post into an adjoining street, and, a door being thrown open, was finally pushed in and saved. One of the first acts of the municipality on the restoration of order was to confer citizenship on Nesham (17 November). He was shortly afterwards summoned to Paris, January 1790, when he was presented by the

assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

with a uniform sword of the

national guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

, and a civic crown was placed on his head. In June 1790 he was appointed to HMS ''Salisbury'', bearing the flag of Vice-admiral Milbanke, who had, as his flag-captain,

Edward Pellew Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. His younger brother ...

, afterwards Viscount Exmouth. On 17 November 1790 he was promoted to be lieutenant, and during the next two years served in the

Channel Fleet The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915. History Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history the ...

under the immediate command of

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

and

Robert Moorsom Admiral Sir Robert Moorsom KCB (8 June 1760 – 14 April 1835) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. His very active service career was especial ...

. In 1793 he was appointed to the 50-gun HMS ''Adamant'', in which he served on the West Indian,

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, and home stations. In 1797 he was her first lieutenant in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, when, during the mutiny and through the summer, she carried the flag of Vice-admiral Richard Onslow. She afterwards took part in the

battle of Camperdown The Battle of Camperdown (known in Dutch as the ''Zeeslag bij Kamperduin'') was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797, between the British North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Batavian Navy (Dutch) fleet under Vice-Admiral ...

. He was next, 13 April 1801, invested with the command (which he retained until posted 29 April 1802 of the

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

HMS ''Suffisante''. On 29 April 1802 he was advanced to post rank, and from October 1804 to February 1805 was captain of HMS ''Foudroyant'', in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

, with the flag of his kinsman and connection, Rear-admiral Sir Thomas Graves. In March 1807 he was appointed to HMS ''Ulysses'' of 44 guns, which he took out to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, and commanded at the reduction of ''Marie Galante'', in March 1808. In July 1808 he was moved into HMS ''Intrepid'' of 64 guns, and in her, in the following February, took part in the capture of

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

, where he served on shore under the immediate command of Commodore Sir

George Cockburn Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet, (22 April 1772 – 19 August 1853) was a British Royal Navy officer. As a captain he was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in February 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars an ...

, and superintended the transport of the heavy guns and mortars. On 15 April 1809 the ''Intrepid'' suffered severely in an unsuccessful attack on two French frigates under the guns of Fort Mathilde of

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

; and in December she returned to England and was paid off. In 1830–1 Nesham commanded HMS ''Melville'' of 74 guns, in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. He retired as a rear-admiral on 10 January 1837, but was replaced on the active list on 17 August 1840. He became vice-admiral on 9 November 1846, and admiral on 30 July 1852. He died at

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of town ...

on 4 November 1853, aged 82.

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

Nesham was twice married: first, in 1802, to his cousin, Margaret Anne, youngest daughter of Thomas, first lord Graves; she died in 1808; secondly, in 1833, to Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Colonel Nicholas Bayly, brother of the first Earl of Uxbridge, of the present creation. He left children by both marriages.

References

Further reading