Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Charles Jones, 5th Viscount Ranelagh (29 October 1761–20 December 1800) was a British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer and Irish peer of the late-eighteenth century who served on the Ireland station in but died aged 39 from an illness during his military service.

Naval career

The son of

Charles Wilkinson Jones, 4th Viscount Ranelagh Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

and his wife Sarah Montgomery (daughter of Irish politician Thomas Montgomery), Jones was raised in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and attended

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

before joining the

. Jones was appointed in 1795 to HMS ''Doris'' and attached to the Irish station during the French Revolutionary Wars. In January 1797, ''Doris'' was part of a squadron that chased the deep into the Atlantic Ocean. ''Fraternité'' was the flagship of the French attempt to invade

Bantry Bay Bantry Bay ( ga, Cuan Baoi / Inbhear na mBárc / Bádh Bheanntraighe) is a bay located in County Cork, Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km (1.8-to-2.5 mi ...

and by driving her off, the invasion force was left leaderless and was dispersed and defeated piecemeal.James, Vol. 2, p. 10 Later in the year, on 20 April 1797, Jones inherited the viscountcy from his deceased father and became Lord Ranelagh. In 1798, ''Doris'' was again involved in foiling a French attempt to invade Ireland, forming part of a squadron under Sir

John Borlase Warren Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, 1st Baronet (2 September 1753 – 27 February 1822) was a British Royal Navy officer, diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1774 and 1807. Naval career Born in Stapleford, Nottinghamsh ...

. ''Doris'' was detached in early October to search the

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

coast for French ships however and so missed the

Battle of Tory Island The Battle of Tory Island (sometimes called the Battle of Donegal, Battle of Lough Swilly or Warren's Action) was a naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on 12 October 1798 between French and British squadrons off the northwes ...

in which the French invasion force was defeated and dispersed.James, Vol. 2, p. 126 Two years later, ''Doris'' was in

Plymouth Sound Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a deep inlet or sound in the English Channel near Plymouth in England. Description Its southwest and southeast corners are Penlee Point in Cornwall and Wembury Point in Devon, a distance of abo ...

when Lord Ranelagh died from a sudden illness. His titles were passed to his younger brother Thomas Jones.Captain Charles Jones, 5th Viscount Ranelagh
''peerage.com'', Daryl Lundy, retrieved 23 July 2008

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranelagh, Charles Jones, 5th Viscount Royal Navy officers Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars 1761 births 1800 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland Military personnel from Dublin (city)