Admiral Sir Philip Charles Henderson Calderwood Durham, GCB (baptised 29 July 1763 – 2 April 1845) 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 ...

officer whose service in the American War of Independence,

French Revolutionary War 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 France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

and

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 ...

was lengthy, distinguished and at times controversial.

Biography

Destined to be one of the luckiest men in the Georgian Navy, Philip Charles Durham was born in Largo, Fife in 1763, the fourth child and third son of James Durham His maternal grandmother was the diarist

Margaret Calderwood Margaret Calderwood (1715 – 1774) was a Scottish diarist just after the Jacobite uprising of 1745. She wrote of her journeys through England to Brussels, but this work was not published until the 19th century. Life Margaret was the daughter ...

. He came from a wealthy landed family, and entered the navy aged fourteen in 1777 aboard the ship of the line HMS ''Trident''. His first year at sea was somewhat blighted when that ship came under the command of a martinet captain, Anthony James Pye Molloy, under whom the ship's company grew mutinous. In 1778 Durham procured his discharge and afterwards obtained a position under his original captain, on HMS ''Edgar''. Aboard her he saw his first action during the Great Siege of Gibraltar, later gaining the attention of Admiral

Richard Kempenfelt Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt (1718 – 29 August 1782) was a British rear admiral who gained a reputation as a naval innovator. He is best known for his victory against the French at the Second Battle of Ushant and for his death when acciden ...

, with whom he served on HMS ''Victory'' and HMS ''Royal George''. Durham was watch officer on 29 August 1782 when, through no fault of his own, the ''Royal George'', which was heeled for repairs, suddenly and catastrophically sank at

Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...

. Being on deck, Durham was able to jump overboard and swim to safety, but the Admiral and over 800 persons lost their lives. Durham then filled a lieutenant's vacancy on HMS ''Union'' in which he saw further service at the siege of Gibraltar before making a cruise to the West Indies and then another one down the African coast in HMS ''Raisonnable'' as a junior lieutenant. Durham spent the next two years living in France, becoming fluent in French. Afterwards he served in HMS Salisbury and HMS ''Barfleur''. The emergency in 1790 brought him promotion to Commander on 2 November 1790 and command of HMS ''Daphne''. From there he moved in 1791 to HMS ''Cygnet''. On 12 February 1793 Durham took command of the small sloop HMS ''Spitfire''. ''Spitfire'' was pierced for 14 guns but only carried ten.O'Byrne (1849), Vol. 1, p.319. The next day he captured the French privateer ''Afrique''. The capture of ''Afrique'' was the first capture of the war of a vessel flying ''La tricolore''. For this feat

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...

gave him a piece of plate worth 100

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...

, or £300, their first such award of the war. Durham received promotion to

post captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain ...

on 24 June 1793 and command of the frigate HMS ''Narcissus''. From her, on 22 October, he moved to HMS ''Hind''. In ''Hind'' he brought in a convoy of 157 merchant ships from the Mediterranean in the face of enemy opposition. This feat provoked accolades and rewards, and he took over the frigate HMS ''Anson'' in 1796. ''Anson'' was the biggest frigate in the Navy, cut down (

razee A razee or razée is a sailing ship that has been cut down (''razeed'') to reduce the number of decks. The word is derived from the French ''vaisseau rasé'', meaning a razed (in the sense of shaved down) ship. Seventeenth century During the ...

d) from a ship of the line to oppose large French frigates, and in her fought numerous actions, especially at the Battle of Donegal in October 1798. On 28 March 1799 he married Lady Charlotte Matilda Bruce, daughter of royal governess Lady Elgin and sister of the

Lord Elgin Earl of Elgin is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1633 for Thomas Bruce, 3rd Lord Kinloss. He was later created Baron Bruce, of Whorlton in the County of York, in the Peerage of England on 30 July 1641. The Earl of Elgin is the ...

Elgin Marbles The Elgin Marbles (), also known as the Parthenon Marbles ( el, Γλυπτά του Παρθενώνα, lit. "sculptures of the Parthenon"), are a collection of Classical Greece, Classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of th ...

fame, and continued his service in home waters until the Peace of Amiens. Following the resumption of hostilities, Durham was given HMS ''Defiance'', which he took to join Admiral Sir

Robert Calder Admiral Sir Robert Calder, 1st Baronet, (2 July 174531 August 1818) was a British naval officer who served in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. For much of his career ...

's fleet in 1804 and participated in the battle of Cape Finisterre after which he was informally reprimanded by Calder for being "over zealous" in pursuit of the enemy. Following the battle Admiral Calder requested a court martial to acquit his own conduct and called Captain Durham to appear in his defence along with two other captains. Unlike his two comrades, Durham flatly refused to leave his ship which had been repaired at Portsmouth and specially requested by

Lord Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought a ...

and so was still in command at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

a few months later. The other two captains, William Brown and

William Lechmere William Lechmere (1752 – 12 December 1815) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Lechmere joined the navy and saw service during the Ameri ...

commanding HMS ''Ajax'' and HMS ''Thunderer'' missed the battle whilst in England. At the

, ''Defiance'' headed straight for the Spanish flagship ''Principe de Asturias'' but was blocked by the , a captured British ship in French service. Deliberately ramming her opponent, ''Defiance'' tore off most of the French ship's bow and devastatingly raked her before fighting a long gun duel with the battered ''Aigle'' as the ''Berwick'' wallowed in her wake (she sank after the battle). The ''Defiance'' was unable to gain the upper hand against the ''Aigle'', and so a young master's mate named Jack Spratt swam between the ships and leaped on board, fighting alone against the entire French crew until support could be given from his ship. The British crew then swarmed across the Frenchman and captured her. Durham was wounded in the battle. He took his battered ship (which had suffered 17 men killed 53 wounded)back to England, in time to give evidence at Calder's court-martial, became a banner bearer at Nelson's funeral. Following his recovery and receipt of the usual awards for a Trafalgar captain, Durham was transferred to HMS ''Renown'' which he commanded in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

until 1810 when he was made a Rear-Admiral. In 1814 he was given command of the

Leeward Islands Station The Leeward Islands Station originally known as the Commander-in-Chief at Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands was a formation or command of the Kingdom of Great Britain and then the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed at English Harbour, Antigua, L ...

and captured two enemy frigates on his way there in HMS ''Venerable''. He remained at this post until the end of the war in 1815 when the French West Indies surrendered to him. He was Knighted and created ''Knight Commander (KCB)''. Following his first wife's death in 1816 he married, in 1817, wealthy heiress Anne Isabella Henderson but this marriage was also childless. In 1819, was promoted to vice admiral He was on friendly terms with

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, who was especially fond of Durham's tall tales, often remarking "That's a Durham!" when he heard such a tale regardless of the

raconteur A humorist (American) or humourist ( British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business ...

. In 1830 Durham became a full admiral and conferment as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 1 December. He was elected 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 o ...

for

Queenborough Queenborough is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England. Queenborough is south of Sheerness. It grew as a port near the Thames Estuary at the westward entrance to the Swale where it joins the R ...

in 1830, though this was overturned on petition and he did not take his seat. He was elected for

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between ...

in 1834. He became the naval

Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. The commanders-in-chief were based at premises in High Street, Portsmouth from the 1790s until the end of Sir Thomas Williams's tenure, his succes ...

(1836–1839) and was the second president (first naval president) of the

Army and Navy Club The Army and Navy Club in London is a private members club founded in 1837, also known informally as The Rag.London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He added the names Henderson and Calderwood 1840 to his own on his second marriage and on inheriting his mother's family estate, respectively. Following his second wife's death in 1844, Durham journeyed to Rome on private business. Contracting bronchitis, he went to Naples intent on taking a ship back to Britain, but died there on 2 April 1845, his remains being returned to Largo for burial in the family vault. As his biographer

Hilary L. Rubinstein Hilary L. Rubinstein (born 1946) is an Australian historian and author. She researches and writes on British naval history and modern Jewish history. Biography She graduated with a BA(Hons) in economics, history and politics at Keele Universi ...

(who has also edited his naval papers, available to subscribers to the Navy Records Society) discovered, he had an illegitimate daughter, Ann Bower (1789/90 - 1858), but left no further descendants.

Memorial at Largo church, East Fife

"In memory of Sir Philip Charles Henderson Calderwood Durham of Fordell, Polton and Largo, Admiral of the Red, Knight Grand Cross of Bath and of military merit in France. He was born (sic; in fact baptised) on 29 July 1763 entered the R.N at 14 and was made Post Captain in 1793, his activity, gallantry, judgement and zeal were excelled by none in his profession and his numerous captures and successes were acknowledged by many public testimonials. He became Rear Admiral in 1810 with Commander in Chief for he West Indies from 1813 till peace in 1815 and held the command at Portsmouth from 1837-1839, he represented Queensborough and Devizes in several Parliaments, but passed his later years chiefly at Fordel. Courted in society and generously spending an ample fortune, in 1799 he married Lady Charlotte Matilda Bruce, daughter of Charles, 5th Earl of Elgin who died in 1816 and secondly in 1817 Anne Elizabeth (sic; in fact Anne Isabella), daughter and heiress of Sir John Henderson of Fordell, Baronet, whom he survived only 3 months, he died at Naples on the 2.4.1845 and was interred beneath the West Aisle of this Church. Erected by his Great Nephew James Wolfe Murray of Cringletie 1849."

Footnotes

References

* * Long, William H. (1895) ''Medals of the British navy and how they were won: with a list of those officers, who for their gallant conduct were granted honorary swords and plate by the Committee of the Patriotic Fund''. (London: Norie & Wilson).

External links

Admiral Durham bio
*
Army & Navy Club

Animation of the Battle of Trafalgar
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Durham, Philip Charles 1763 births 1845 deaths Royal Navy admirals Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath British naval commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies People from Upper Largo Royal Navy captains at the Battle of Trafalgar Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 Deaths from bronchitis

Biography

Memorial at Largo church, East Fife

Further reading

Footnotes

References

External links