Richard Edwards (died 16 June 1773) 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 served for a brief time as Commodore Governor of Newfoundland.

Career

Edwards entered the navy and rose through the rank. He received a promotion to the rank of

post captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), 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) ...

on 4 November 1740 and given command of the 24-gun . He commanded her until 1742, during which time he captured a 10-gun Spanish

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

named ''Justa Resina''. He next commanded , and by early 1746 was in command of HMS ''Princess Mary''. He was appointed governor of Newfoundland that year, but was ordered to go to North America and place himself under the command of Commodore Peter Warren at

Louisbourg Louisbourg is an unincorporated community and former town in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. History The French military founded the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1713 and its fortified seaport on the southwest part of the harbour, ...

, where he was besieging the fort. Edwards arrived on 11 July, bringing with him two other ships, and . Louisbourg surrendered four days later, and Edwards sailed to Newfoundland to take up his original post. On its conclusion, he returned to England, and had little further active service, though he may have commanded a yacht. He was refused a promotion to

flag rank A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countries ...

, unless he resumed his active service at the rank of captain. He secured the command of HMS ''Princess Amelia'', but only for a short period. He was given the rank and pay of a rear-admiral from 3 June 1757 and was placed on the superannuated list. He died in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 16 June 1773.

Notes

a. The position of governor of the colony temporarily lapsed after Edwards's departure, and therefore the next commodore, James Douglas, was not a governor of the island. Also, no commodore or governor was sent in 1747, the next governor was Charles Watson in 1748.

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Richard 1773 deaths Governors of Newfoundland Colony Royal Navy personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession Royal Navy rear admirals Year of birth unknown