Captain Edward Pelham Brenton (20 July 1774 – 13 April 1839) was an officer of the 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 ...

during the

French Revolutionary The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

and

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

who military career was relatively quiet, apart from involvement 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 ...

in 1809. Brenton became famous in the aftermath of the war, when he published the ''Naval History of Great Britain from the Year 1783 to 1822'' in 1823. The book was popular, but Brenton was criticised at the time and since for his failure to distinguish between fact and rumour as well as his partisan political leanings. In Brenton's later life, he was heavily involved in charitable enterprises in the poorer areas of London with mixed success.

Naval career

Brenton was born in 1774 in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

to Admiral Jahleel Brenton and his wife Henrietta. His elder brother, also named Jahleel, later became a celebrated naval commander and admiral. The Brenton's were

American loyalists Loyalists were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War, often referred to as Tories, Royalists or King's Men at the time. They were opposed by the Patriots, who support ...

and emigrated to Britain during the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, where Edward joined the

in 1788 aged 14. In the Navy, Brenton spent time serving in the East Indies and 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 ...

, being promoted to lieutenant in 1795 and serving 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 ...

and off

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 ...

until 1802, when he was promoted to commander. In 1802 he was captain of the 18-gun

ship-sloop In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

''Lark'', taking her from Jamaica to the Channel. In 1803 he married Margaret Cox (daughter of General Thomas Cox) and had many children. Shannon wreck Brenton

At the outbreak of the

in 1803, Brenton was given command of the small

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

HMS ''Merlin'', in which he operated in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, burning the wreck of HMS ''Shannon'' near

Barfleur Barfleur () is a commune and fishing village in Manche, Normandy, northwestern France. History During the Middle Ages, Barfleur was one of the chief ports of embarkation for England. * 1066: A large medallion fixed to a rock in the harbour ...

to prevent its seizure by the French in the same year. In January 1805, Brenton took command of the brig HMS ''Amaranthe'' in the North Sea and in 1808 moved to the West Indies, where he distinguished himself in an attack on a small French convoy off

on 13 December, notably against ''Cygne''. Promoted to

post captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) ...

for this operation, Brenton briefly took temporary command of the

post ship Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the second half of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars to describe a ship of the sixth rate (see rating system of the Royal Navy) that was smaller than a frigate (in practice, carry ...

(May to September 1810), HMS ''Pompee'', and then HMS ''Belleisle'', before being confirmed in his brother's previous ship HMS ''Spartan'' in 1810. ''Spartan'' served in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, although without participating in any actions, and Brenton was placed in reserve in 1813, returning briefly to service in 1815 before retiring permanently.

Historical career

Following his time in the Navy, Brenton became a keen if controversial historian, publishing his five volume ''Naval History of Great Britain from the Year 1783 to 1822'' in 1823 and the ''Life and Correspondence of John, Earl of St. Vincent'' in 1838. Brenton's works were controversial, because he rarely attempted to sift fact from rumour, provoking an outcry from those affected by these, often inaccurate, revelations. Particularly scathing of Brenton was

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

, whose alternative history of the naval campaigns of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars was published in 1827. James was a political rival of Brenton and a civilian who had never served in the Navy, and the men exchanged very public disagreements over points of fact. Brenton's other passion was for charitable works, publishing many pamphlets and setting up schemes to aid the poor, particularly the "Society for the Relief of Shipwrecked Mariners" and the "Children's Friend Society", neither of which achieved their aims and provoked criticism of Brenton's methods. This experience left him bitter in the years approaching his death in April 1839 at his home in York Street, London. He was buried at

St Marylebone Parish Church St Marylebone Parish Church is an Anglican church on the Marylebone Road in London. It was built to the designs of Thomas Hardwick in 1813–17. The present site is the third used by the parish for its church. The first was further south, near Ox ...

, with his wife and 100 boys of the Children's Friend Society among the mourners.Brenton, Edward Pelham
''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'',

J. K. Laughton Sir John Knox Laughton (23 April 1830 – 14 September 1915) was a British naval historian and arguably the first to delineate the importance of the subject of Naval history as an independent field of study. Beginning his working life as a mathe ...

, (subscription required), Retrieved 18 December 2008 The year before his death, he was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(CB) in the

1838 Coronation Honours The 1838 Coronation Honours were appointments by Queen Victoria to various orders and honours on the occasion of her coronation on 28 June 1838. The honours were published in ''The London Gazette'' on 20 July and 24 July 1838. The recipients o ...

Works

*''Naval History of Great Britain from the Year 1783 to 1836'' *''Life and Correspondence of John, Earl of St. Vincent''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brenton, Edward Pelham 1774 births 1839 deaths Royal Navy officers Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars British naval historians Companions of the Order of the Bath