Richard Hancorn (c. 1754 – 1792) was a British

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, serving during the late eighteenth century.

Naval career

On 15 February 1783, Hancorn was commissioned to the rank of lieutenant aboard the Bonetta-class sloop under the command of William Henry Ricketts. Soon after, he joined HMS ''Melampus'', under the command of

Sir Charles Pole, 1st Baronet Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Morice Pole, 1st Baronet GCB (18 January 1757 – 6 September 1830) was a Royal Navy officer, colonial governor and banker. As a junior officer he saw action at the siege of Pondicherry in India during the Ame ...

, who was appointed to the frigate in May 1790 as a result of the Nootka Crisis.

Hancorn v. Butterfield

Upon joining HMS ''Melampus'', Hancorn provoked the anger of the midshipmen by handing out "harsh and unfair" punishments for minor transgressions. Of particular grievance was his response to the misdemeanour of Midshipman William Butterfield, who was lashed to a grating and pulled to the top of the mizzen in a public display, because he had engaged in his ordinary duties without express permission from a senior officer. As Hancorn expressed, he was "getting under way before he had received his sailing orders." An explosive incident occurred soon after when Hancorn entered the Star & Garter Inn in

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and was followed by Butterfield and four other midshipmen: Hannam, Hamlin, Parkinson and Trollop, the latter three being from HMS ''Melampus''. Hannam, who was informed of the incident and believed Hancorn a tyrant, immediately initiated in verbally abusing him. The others followed and Hancorn soon found himself challenged to five separate fights. He responded by reminding them of their Naval traditions and that, as a superior officer, such behaviour was "totally reprehensible". Labelled a "rascal", "scoundrel" and "coward", he vacated the situation, prompting a further torrent of insults and hisses. Hancorn reported the incident to Pole, who reported it to Vice-Admiral Robert Roddam, from whom it was then referred to the Attorney-General. In June 1791, the offending midshipmen were brought to the Winchester Assizes to stand trial. The judge ruled in favour of Hancorn and referred their punishment 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 ...

, stipulating that the five men deliver a sincere apology to Hancorn, as much to his liking. Although the Navy took no further action, Butterfield quit the Navy in the interim and returned only in 1794, once his superior was dead.

Bulama Association

In 1792, a group of officers of the

led an attempt to resettle Black former slaves from the Americas on the island of Bulama off the coast of

Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Guinea ( pt, Guiné), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a West African colony of Portugal from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as Gu ...

. The Bulama Association, a philanthropic and financial organisation of which Hancorn was a member, hoped to create a colony that would remove the need for

slave plantations A slave plantation was an agricultural farm that used enslaved people for labour. The practice was abolished in most places during the 19th century. Slavery Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive. ...

in the Caribbean. The expedition, which consisted of two ships and two hundred and seventy-five colonists, set sail from England on 14 April 1792. Lieutenant Philip Beaver, president of the council of the colonization society, was commander of HMS ''Hankey''; Hancorn, vice-president, was commander of HMS ''Calypso''. Most of the settlers died and the survivors abandoned the colony in November 1793. Hancorn died on the island weeks after the other leaders had decided to return home, on 21 July 1792.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hancorn, Richard, (Royal Navy officer) 1750s births 1792 deaths Hancorne family People from Glamorgan Royal Navy officers