General Sir John Mordaunt (1697 – 23 October 1780) was a British soldier and
Whig politician, the son of Lieutenant-General
Harry Mordaunt
Lieutenant-General Harry Mordaunt (29 March 1663 – 4 January 1720) was an English Army officer and Whig politician who sat in the English House of Commons, English and House of Commons of Great Britain, British House of Commons between 1692 and ...
and Margaret Spencer. He was best known for his command of the
Raid on Rochefort which ended in failure and his subsequent court-martial. Cleared on a technicality, he was nonetheless barred from holding further military command.
Early career
Mordaunt entered the army in 1721 and was promoted
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 ...
in
George Wade's Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1726. He became a
lieutenant-colonel in the
3rd Foot Guards
The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the ...
in 1731.
He entered Parliament for
Pontefract in 1730, for which he sat until 1734, and was then member for
Whitchurch 1735–1741 and
Cockermouth 1741–1768. In Parliament he was a steadfast Whig and supporter of
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...
. In 1739 he became a founding governor of the
Foundling Hospital
The Foundling Hospital in London, England, was founded in 1739 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" w ...
.
On 18 December 1742 Mordaunt was promoted to the rank of full
colonel of the
Royal Regiment of Ireland
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
, which was sent in 1744 to protect the Netherlands against French invasion. The regiment was recalled in November 1745 to put down the
Jacobite rising of 1745, and Mordaunt was promoted
brigadier-general
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
. He was present for several engagements of that campaign, rallying and re-forming the beaten troops after the
Battle of Falkirk
The Battle of Falkirk (''Blà r na h-Eaglaise Brice'' in Gaelic), on 22 July 1298, was one of the major battles in the First War of Scottish Independence. Led by King Edward I of England, the English army defeated the Scots, led by William Wal ...
. He commanded one of the two divisions of the army when it left
Edinburgh under the command of the
Duke of Cumberland. He commanded the third line (reserve) at the
Battle of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden (; gd, Blà r Chùil Lodair) was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force under Prince Wi ...
, and was detached after the battle to pursue the Highlanders. Cumberland presented him with the coach of
Bonnie Prince Charlie
Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...
as a mark of favour.
In 1747, he was promoted
major-general and made colonel of a
dragoon regiment (later the 12th Dragoons). He led a brigade of infantry at the
Battle of Lauffeld, and was made a
Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath at the end of the
War of the Austrian Succession. He was appointed
Governor of Sheerness
The Governor of Sheerness Fort and the Isle of Sheppey was a military officer who commanded the fortifications at Sheerness, on the Isle of Sheppey, part of the defences of the Medway estuary. The area had been fortified since the time of Henry VI ...
in 1752.
James Wolfe, who was his houseguest while courting his niece in 1754, remarked on his civility and pleasant manner.
Rochefort
On the outbreak of the
Seven Years' War in 1756, Mordaunt was placed in charge of training troops at Blandford. The next year, he was appointed to command an amphibious assault on the French port of
Rochefort
Rochefort () may refer to:
Places France
* Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department
** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard
* Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department
* Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...
. The immediate objective was to destroy France's Royal Dockyard at the port. A secondary objective was to highlight Britain's capacity to strike at the French mainland, and force France to withdraw troops from other conflicts to defend its western coastline. The plan was championed at the highest levels, including by British Prime Minister
William Pitt.
[Robson 2016, pp. 52-53]
Mordaunt was placed in overall Army command for the assault, supported by Major-General
Henry Seymour Conway and Colonel
Edward Cornwallis. Royal navy command was vested in Admirals The naval commanders,
Sir Edward Hawke
Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, KB, PC (21 February 1705 – 17 October 1781), of Scarthingwell Hall in the parish of Towton, near Tadcaster, Yorkshire, was a Royal Navy officer. As captain of the third-rate , he took part in the Battle of T ...
and
Sir Charles Knowles.
The force of 31 warships and 49 transports carrying 10 battalions of soldiers set sail on 6 September 1757, and captured the
ÃŽle d'Aix on 21 September. However, they now discovered that shallow water would prevent the ships from approaching closer than a mile and a half from shore, requiring a long and hazardous landing by boats. An attack was planned on the basis of a report by Colonel
James Wolfe, who had gone ashore at Rochefort with a scouting party and concluded that the French garrison as too weak to prevent the landing.
[Robson 2016, pp. 55-56] Wolfe urged Mordaunt into action, offering to capture the town himself if given just 500 men.
[Johnston p. 138] Despite the report, Mordaunt remained uncertain of victory. On 25 September he called a council of war aboard , where debate included the prospect of French reinforcements and the possibility that the French might better fortify the town before the British troops could arrive. After two days' discussion, Mordaunt and Conway concluded that assaulting Rochefort was "neither advisable nor practical".
[
A second council, called on 28 September aboard , reversed this decision and decided on a night attack upon the forts at the mouth of the river ]Charente
Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; oc, Charanta ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, south western France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, an ...
, with the first embarkation to be led by Mordaunt in person. However, Mordaunt remained equivocal, and the attack did not proceed. Frustrated at the Army's refusal to act, Admiral Hawke declared that as the Army had no willingness to make an assault, the fleet would return to England. The expedition set sail on 29 September and reached Portsmouth on 6 October.[
Pitt was furious at the failure of the expedition, and at the expenditure of more than £1,000,000 without result. A board of inquiry was convened under the auspices of Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville and John Waldegrave, 3rd Earl Waldegrave. In keeping with Wolfe's report to Mordaunt, the board found that "it does not appear to us that there were then, or at any time afterwards either a Body of Troops or Batteries on the Shore sufficient to have prevented the attempting a Descent" and that it did not believe the defences of Rochefort could have been sufficiently improved so as to repel an assault. In the wake of the inquiry, Mordaunt was tried by ]court-martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
in December.
Mordaunt's defence centred on the technicality that his instructions for the expedition did not include an absolute requirement to make a landing. He was acquitted of disobedience, but George II removed Mordaunt, Conway and Cornwallis from the staff in July 1758.[
]
Later career
Mordaunt retained his commission, but having earned the King's displeasure after Rochefort, he never again held a senior field command. He was promoted general in 1770, and was Governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed
Below is a list of those who have held the office of Governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed, including the garrison at Holy Island (during English occupation of the Royal Burgh):
Governors of Berwick-upon-Tweed
For Scotland
* 1295 -1296 Sir William D ...
from 1778 until 1780. He died in his home near Southampton in 1780. He never married and left no children.
References
*
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mordaunt, John
1697 births
1780 deaths
British Army generals
British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession
British Army personnel of the Jacobite rising of 1745
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
3rd Dragoon Guards officers
Scots Guards officers
British Army personnel of the Seven Years' War
47th Regiment of Foot officers
British MPs 1727–1734
British MPs 1734–1741
British MPs 1741–1747
British MPs 1747–1754
British MPs 1754–1761
British MPs 1761–1768
Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies
10th Royal Hussars officers
Royal Irish Regiment (1684–1922) officers
7th Dragoon Guards officers
12th Royal Lancers officers