George Frederick Ryves (8 September 1758 - 20 May 1826) was an officer of the

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 ...

who saw service 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 ...

, and 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 ...

, rising to the rank of rear-admiral.

Life

George was born on 8 September 1758, the son of Thomas Ryves, of a long-established Dorset family, by his second wife, Anna Maria, daughter of Daniel Graham. He received his early education at

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England ** Harrow, London, a town in London ** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) ...

, and in February 1774 was entered on board the

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

guard ship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usual ...

. In April 1775 he joined , going 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 ...

as flagship of Vice-Admiral James Young, and shortly after arriving on the station was appointed to command the tender ''Tartar'', carrying eight guns and a crew of thirty-three men. In her he had the fortune to capture upwards of fifty prizes, some of them

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

s of superior force. In May 1778 the ''Portland'' returned to England, and in May 1779 Ryves joined , the flagship of Vice-Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot, who in September appointed him acting-lieutenant of the armed ship . His lieutenant's commission was confirmed on 18 November 1780, and in December he was appointed to on the Jamaica station. In her he returned to England in 1782, and early in 1783 he was appointed to , which sailed for the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...

; but, having been dismasted in a gale 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), ...

, was obliged to put back and, consequent

on the peace "On the Peace" ( grc, Περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης) is one of the most famous political orations of the prominent Athenian statesman and orator Demosthenes. It was delivered in 346 BC and constitutes a political intervention of Demosthenes in ...

, was

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...

and Ryves placed on

half-pay Half-pay (h.p.) was a term used in the British Army and Royal Navy of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries to refer to the pay or allowance an officer received when in retirement or not in actual service. Past usage United Kingdom In the Eng ...

. In the armament of 1787 he was appointed first lieutenant of the frigate , and in January 1795 to on the coast of France. On 4 July 1795 he was promoted to the command of , then in the West Indies, and went out to her as a passenger in . On arriving at

St. Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerin ...

, in the absence of the ''Bulldog'', Ryves volunteered for service with the seamen landed under the command of Sir Hugh Cloberry Christian for the reduction of the island, and rendered important assistance in the making of roads and the transporting of heavy guns. He afterwards joined the ''Bulldog'', in which he returned to England in September 1797. On 29 May 1798 he was advanced to post rank, and in April 1800 was appointed to the 64-gun , which during the summer carried the flag of Sir

Charles Morice Pole Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Morice Pole, 1st Baronet GCB (18 January 1757 – 6 September 1830) was a Royal Navy officer, colonial governor and banker. As a junior officer he saw action at the siege of Pondicherry in India during the Ame ...

on the Newfoundland Station. In the following year the ''Agincourt'' was one of the fleet with

Lord Keith Baron Keith was a title that was created three times in British history, with all three creations in favour of the same person, Admiral the Honourable Sir George Keith Elphinstone. He was the fifth son of Charles Elphinstone, 10th Lord Elphinsto ...

on the coast of Egypt, and in March 1802 Ryves was sent with a small squadron to receive the cession of

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

. Afterwards, on intelligence that the French were preparing to seize on the island of

La Maddalena La Maddalena (Gallurese: ''Madalena'' or ''La Madalena'', sc, Sa Madalena) is a town and ''comune'' located on the islands of the Maddalena archipelago in the province of Sassari, northern Sardinia, Italy. The main town of the same name is locat ...

, he was sent there to prevent the encroachment. The intelligence proved to be incorrect; but while waiting there Ryves carried out a survey of the

roadstead A roadstead (or ''roads'' – the earlier form) is a body of water sheltered from rip currents, spring tides, or ocean swell where ships can lie reasonably safely at anchor without dragging or snatching.United States Army technical manual, TM 5- ...

, then absolutely unknown, and by his chart Nelson, in the following year, was led to make it his base, calling it, in compliment to Ryves, Agincourt Sound. In May 1803 Ryves was moved to , in which he remained in the Mediterranean, under Nelson's command, till the summer of 1804, when the ''Gibraltar'', being almost worn out, was sent home and paid off. In 1810 Ryves commanded the 64-gun in the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

, from which he brought home a large convoy, notwithstanding the severity of the weather and the violence of the gales. He had no further service, but became rear-admiral on 27 May 1825, and died at his seat, Shrowton House, Dorset, on 20 May 1826. Ryves was twice married: first, in 1792, to Catherine Elizabeth, third daughter of the Hon. James Everard Arundell (third son of the sixth Baron Arundell, and father of the ninth) ; and, secondly, in 1806, to Emma, daughter of Richard Robert Graham of

Chelsea Hospital The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for some 300 veterans of the British Army. Founded as an almshouse, the ancient sense of the word "hospital", it is a site located on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea. It is an i ...

. By both wives he had children; five of his sons served in the navy. The eldest, George Frederick Ryves, nominated a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1826 for distinguished service in the First Anglo-Burmese War, died, a rear-admiral, in 1858. Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biogr. iii. (volume ii.) 136O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dictionary page 1017Nicolas's Despatches of Lord Nelson (see Index)Service-book in the Public Record Office

Gentlemen'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'' ...

1826, i. 640.]

References

DNB references

These references are found in the DNB article referred to above.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryves, George Frederick 1758 births 1826 deaths Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Royal Navy admirals People educated at Harrow School