Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Sir John Ashby (1646 – 12 June 1693) 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 rose to the rank of

. Ashby was the fourth son of Robert Ashby and his wife Alice, who was a sister of

Sir Thomas Allin ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

. He grew up in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

where his father was involved in business.

Early career

After Ashby entered the navy he was promoted quickly to lieutenant of from November 1665 to June 1666. He was subsequently a lieutenant aboard in 1668 before being promoted to first comment on the

ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...

in October that year.

Later career

In June 1669 he was given command of , followed by HMS ''Rainbow'' between 1670 and 1672. Ashby then was given command of in January 1672 and remained there for only a year. Once aboard ''Pearl'' he fought his first battle at

Schooneveld The Schooneveld is a shallow basin at the mouth of the Scheldt river, near the island of Walcheren, off the coast of the Netherlands. It runs parallel to the continental coast, narrowing from the southwest to the northeast, bounded by the irregula ...

. His second battle was also at Schooneveld, but this time in HMS ''Lion'', serving in

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...

's division of the Red Squadron. His third battle was the

Battle of Texel The naval Battle of Texel or Battle of Kijkduin took place off the southern coast of island of Texel on 21 August 1673 (11 August Old Style, O.S.) between the Dutch Republic, Dutch and the combined Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Fra ...

on 11 August 1673, where he fought again in HMS ''Lion''. From 1674 to 1679 he commanded four more ships in American waters, and played a part in numerous battles concerning the Virginian Revolution. From 1681 to 1684 he commanded escorting the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

trade. In May 1685 Ashby became the governor of

Sandgate Castle Sandgate Castle is an artillery fort originally constructed by Henry VIII in Sandgate in Kent, between 1539 and 1540. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect England against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, and ...

. Sir John also commanded as she was mobilized to counter the rebellion of the

Duke of Monmouth Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...

followed by the

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 ...

, and then , the latter in response to the threatened invasion by William of Orange. Ashby was eventually convinced to command for William of Orange, as he was persuaded of the need to fight the 'popish oppression' of the current king, James II. After William III was crowned, he knighted Ashby on-board his

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

on 16 May 1689 and made him rear admiral of the Red Squadron soon after. He also presented Ashby with a diamond watch.

Admiralty

In the battle of Beachy Head Ashby served as

vice-admiral of the red Vice-admiral of the Red was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank admiral of the Blue (see order of precedence below). Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral ...

, flying his flag on . His conduct was praised by Queen Mary. After the battle he was named joint admiral of the fleet with Sir Richard Haddock and Henry Killigrew. At the battles of

Battle of Barfleur The action at Barfleur was part of the battle of Barfleur-La Hougue during the War of the Grand Alliance. A French fleet under Anne Hilarion de Tourville was seeking to cover an invasion of England by a French army to restore James II to the ...

and

La Hogue Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. Toponymy Saint-Vaast is the Norman name of Saint Vedast and Hougue is a Norman language word meaning a "mound" or "loaf" and comes from the Old Nors ...

he commanded HMS ''Victory'' as Admiral of the Blue. He was called before the

House of Commons of England The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...

after Barfleur to give an account of why he had not done more to annihilate the French fleet. He was pardoned after he gained the support of Admiral Edward Russell. From 1690 until his death three years later Ashby served on the

Navy Board The Navy Board (formerly known as the Council of the Marine or Council of the Marine Causes) was the commission responsible for the day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. The board was headquartered within the ...

Controller of Storekeepers Accounts The Controller of Storekeepers Accounts also known as the Comptroller of Storekeepers Accounts was a principal member of the Navy Board who was responsible for managing and processing all naval store-keeping accounts and deliveries to naval yards ...

. Ashby died on 12 June 1693 in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and was buried at

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

. In his will he left most of his possessions to his brother, and the rest to cousins and naval colleagues.

References

External links

Maritime Memorials: Sir John Ashby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashby, John 1646 births 1693 deaths 17th-century Royal Navy personnel People from Lowestoft Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the Third Anglo-Dutch War British military personnel of the Nine Years' War