John Albert Bentinck (29 December 1737 – 23 September 1775) 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 ...

, an inventor and a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Family background

He was a member of the younger line of the

house of Bentinck The House of Bentinck is a prominent family belonging to Dutch, German and British nobility. Its members have served in the armed forces and as ambassadors and politicians, including Governor General of India and Prime Minister of the United K ...

. His father, William, Count Bentinck, was a younger son of the 1st Earl of Portland, and married Charlotte Sophie, daughter of Anton II, the last Count of Aldenburg. John Albert Bentinck was the second son of this marriage.

Naval career

He entered the

at an early age. In August 1752, he was serving as a volunteer on board , in which vessel he visited

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, but returned in the same year to

Leyden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration with ...

, where he remained for some time. In 1753, he was appointed

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

to , a

fifth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal N ...

of 44 guns, commanded by Captain

Hugh Bonfoy Hugh Bonfoy (c. 1720 – 12 March 1762) was a naval officer and colonial governor of Newfoundland. Naval career Bonfoy entered the Royal Navy in 1739 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1744 and to captain in 1745. He was captain of the fo ...

, and joined his ship at

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 ...

in June of that year to make a voyage in the following July to

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 ...

. In 1758, Bentinck was present at an engagement in which the British captured the . In the same month, he was appointed to the command of the sloop , and in that vessel took part later in the expedition under

Lord Anson Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson, (23 April 1697 – 6 June 1762) was a Royal Navy officer. Anson served as a junior officer during the War of the Spanish Succession and then saw active service against Spain at the Batt ...

to cover the landing of the

Duke of Marlborough General (United Kingdom), General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an Engl ...

St Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

during the

Raid on St Malo The Raid on St Malo took place in June 1758 when an amphibious British naval expedition landed close to the French port of St Malo in Brittany. While the town itself was not attacked, as had been initially planned, the British destroyed large a ...

. He was then for some time stationed with his sloop off Emden, at the time of the capture of Emden, and while there he became involved in an unfortunate misunderstanding, in the course of which he took the extreme step of placing a Captain Angell, his superior officer, under arrest. The affair, however, was cleared up, the accusations against Captain Angell which had prompted his arrest were fully withdrawn, and on 17 October 1758, Bentinck was promoted to be captain of the frigate . In January 1759, being then still on board the ''Fly'', he had to aid in the transport of troops to England, and in March of that year, took up his new command. He did not remain long on the ''Dover'', but was soon removed into the frigate . In this vessel he was employed in 1760 as a cruiser, and distinguished himself highly in an engagement with a French ship of war of very superior weight and armament—the 74-gun ''Diadème''. About a week after this action, in returning from Plymouth, where he had gone to repair damages, he fell in with and captured the ''Jason'', a French privateer carrying 8 guns and 52 men. In the following November, he captured off

Morlaix Morlaix (; br, Montroulez) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Leisure and tourism The old quarter of the town has winding streets of cobbled stones and overhan ...

the French corvette ''Epreuve'', carrying 14 guns and 136 men. He remained in the ''Niger'' until the end of the war in 1762. Quitting the ''Niger'' on the conclusion of peace, he remained without a commission till 1766. In that year, he was commissioned to the 74-gun , at Portsmouth, and retained that command for three years. In 1770, he was appointed successor to Captain Robert Hughes in command of the 74-gun , a

guardship 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 ...

at Portsmouth, and held this, his last command, for three years. He died two years later on 23 September 1775.

Inventor

Bentinck had great ingenuity in mechanical pursuits, and effected many useful nautical improvements, especially with regard to ships' pumps. He introduced such important additions and improvements into the

chain pump The chain pump is type of a water pump in which several circular discs are positioned on an endless chain. One part of the chain dips into the water, and the chain runs through a tube, slightly bigger than the diameter of the discs. As the chain is ...

used on board ship as to have gained the credit of its invention. He gave his name to "Bentinck shrouds", which supported the rigging of masts. Next, he invented the "Bentinck boom" which, among other things, made going about much easier. Finally, Bentinck developed a triangular mainsail often used as a storm sail which became known as simply "the Bentinck sail". On 20 June 1765, he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

Member of Parliament

At the general election of 1761 he was elected to parliament for the town of

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

, one of the

Cinque Ports The Confederation of Cinque Ports () is a historic group of coastal towns in south-east England – predominantly in Kent and Sussex, with one outlier (Brightlingsea) in Essex. The name is Old French, meaning "five harbours", and alludes to th ...

, and retained his seat till the dissolution for the 1768 election.

Personal life

Bentinck was a

count of the Holy Roman Empire Imperial Count (german: Reichsgraf) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. In the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from ...

. In 1763 he married Renira van Tuyll van Serooskerken, daughter of Baron de Serooskerken, and by her became the founder of a second English line of Bentincks. They had five children; two boys and three girls, their eldest son, William Bentinck (1764–1813), also entered the Navy, and rose to the rank of vice-admiral.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentinck, John 1737 births 1775 deaths

John Bentinck John Albert Bentinck (29 December 1737 – 23 September 1775) was an officer of the Royal Navy, an inventor and a Member of Parliament. Family background He was a member of the younger line of the house of Bentinck. His father, William, Count ...