Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Joseph Bingham (ca. 1769 - 10 December 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 who was appointed Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station but never took up the post.

Naval career

Bingham joined the Royal Navy in 1781 as a

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 HMS ''Dublin'' and took part in the

relief of Gibraltar The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the War of the American Revolution. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants. The American war had end ...

.Biographical Index of Deaths for 1826
/ref> In January 1793 while serving as third lieutenant on HMS ''Ganges'' he assisted in the capture of Le Général Dumourier and other ships, and received his portion of a large amount of prize money. In May 1794 while serving as first lieutenant on HMS ''Audacious'' he was involved in engaging with La Révolutionaire and his good conduct was reported to the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

. He was promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

and appointed to 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 ''Cormorant'' and sailed for Jamaica in February 1795. He subsequently commanded HMS ''Hannibal'', HMS ''Sampson'' and HMS ''Jamaica'' before being given the 74 gun HMS ''Leviathan''. In 1798 he was appointed to HMS ''Prince George'', the flagship of

Sir William Parker Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Parker, 1st Baronet, GCB (1 December 1781 – 13 November 1866), was a Royal Navy officer. As a captain's servant he took part in the Battle of The Glorious First of June in June 1794 during the French Revoluti ...

. He subsequently transferred, with Admiral Parker, to HMS ''America'' and was court martialled when that ship was stranded on the Formigas in 1800. He was acquitted by the Court and appointed to HMS ''St Fiorenzo'' in 1802. Bingham sailed to the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

, and spent the next couple of years operating in the Indian Ocean. On 14 January 1804, ''St Fiorenzo'' gave chase to the French naval chasse-marée and aviso ''Passe-Partout'' off Mount Dilly on the

Malabar Coast The Malabar Coast is the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing m ...

. When the wind began to fail, Bingham sent three of his boats after the quarry. Once alongside, in two minutes the British had captured the French vessel, despite fire from two brass six-pounder guns, six brass

swivel gun The term swivel gun (or simply swivel) usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun wi ...

s and small arms. Out of her 25-man crew, ''Passe-Portout'' had two dead and five seriously wounded, including the captain, who was mortally wounded; the British suffered only one man slightly wounded. Bingham discovered that the French had outfitted ''Passe Partout'' to land three officers on the coast to incite the Mahratta states to attack the British. Bingham passed on the intelligence with the result that the British at

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

were able to capture the Frenchmen. In 1804 he was appointed to HMS ''Sceptre''. He accompanied the expedition sent to the

Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...

under Admiral Strachan and caught the

Walcheren Fever Walcheren () is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two ...

. After partially recovering in 1811 he was appointed to HMS ''Egmont''. Promoted to rear-admiral in 1819, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station but died on 10 December 1825 before he could take up the post.

Family

He married Sarah Parker, daughter of Admiral Sir William Parker, 1st Baronet.The Peerage.com
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bingham, Josph 1769 births 1825 deaths Royal Navy rear admirals