John Sutton (Royal Navy Officer)
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Admiral Sir John Sutton, ( – 8 August 1825) was a
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 of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century who is best known for his service as captain of the
ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...
HMS ''Egmont'' during the
French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
, serving with the Mediterranean Fleet in several prominent engagements. He later served as a judge at the controversial
Gambier court-martial The Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier, was a notorious British naval legal case during the summer of 1809, in which Admiral Lord Gambier requested a court-martial to examine his behaviour during the Battle of Basque Roads in April of the same ...
in 1809.


Life

Sutton was born in c. 1758, the son of Thomas Sutton of
Moulsey Molesey is a district of two twin towns, East Molesey and West Molesey, in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England, and is situated on the south bank of the River Thames. East and West Molesey share a high street, and there is a second retai ...
and his wife Jane Hankey. He joined the Royal Navy during the
American Revolutionary War 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 ...
as
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 ...
on board the
ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...
HMS ''Superb'', flagship of Admiral Sir Edward Hughes in the
Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
. He was wounded in an attack on the navy of
Hyder Ali Hyder Ali ( حیدر علی, ''Haidarālī''; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the att ...
on 8 December 1780 at
Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...
, during the
Second Anglo-Mysore War The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company from 1780 to 1784. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the conflict between Britain against the French and Dutch in ...
and rewarded with command of the
sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
HMS ''Nymph''. At the start of the
French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
in 1793 Sutton was promoted to post captain and took command of first the frigate HMS ''Romulus'' and then the ship of the line HMS ''Egmont'', which was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1795 ''Egmont'' fought at the battles of
Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
and the
Hyères Islands Hyères (), Provençal Occitan: ''Ieras'' in classical norm, or ''Iero'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The old town lies from the sea clustered around th ...
, suffering casualties on the latter when a cannon burst. The following year he served on an operation to attack a French squadron in the harbour of
Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...
and Sutton was then particularly tasked with the orderly evacuation of the British base on
Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
following the Spanish entry into the war on the French side. In 1797, ''Egmont'' fought in line at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent and was then transferred to the Channel Fleet. The same year he married Frances Hotham, daughter of Lord Hotham. Sutton moved to HMS ''Superb'' shortly afterwards, and in 1801 was appointed Captain of the Fleet under William Cornwallis. At the outbreak of the
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 ...
in 1803, Sutton was given command of HMS ''Mars'' before being promoted in 1804 to rear-admiral. He then served as superintendent of Plymouth Dockyard, and in that capacity was called to serve on the panel of judges at the
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 ...
of Lord Gambier following the chaotic
Battle of Basque Roads The Battle of the Basque Roads, also known as the Battle of Aix Roads (French: ''Bataille de l'île d'Aix'', also ''Affaire des brûlots'', rarely ''Bataille de la rade des Basques''), was a major naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars, fought in th ...
in the summer of 1809, at which Gambier was controversially acquitted.Gurney, 1809 In October 1809 he was promoted to vice-admiral and shortly afterwards was appointed commander-in-chief of the Halifax station. In 1815 he was made a
Knight Commander 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 ...
and in 1819 was promoted to full admiral. He died at
Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...
,
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
aged 67 on 8 August 1825.Gentleman's Magazine, ''Admiral Sir J. Sutton, KCB'' He had married in 1797 Frances Hotham, daughter of
Beaumont Hotham, 2nd Baron Hotham Beaumont Hotham, 2nd Baron Hotham (1737–1814) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1768 to 1774. Life He was the fourth son of Sir Beaumont Hotham, 7th Baronet and his wife Frances Thompson of Welton, Yorks ...
, and a first cousin.


Notes


References

* Retrieved on 27 August 2017 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, John 1825 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars