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 regarded ...

Sir Richard Spry (1715– 25 November 1775) 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 served as

Commander-in-Chief, North American Station No (and variant writings) may refer to one of these articles: English language * ''Yes'' and ''no'' (responses) * A determiner in noun phrases Alphanumeric symbols * No (kana), a letter/syllable in Japanese script * No symbol, displayed � ...

Naval career

After an education at

Truro Grammar School Truro Cathedral School was a Church of England school for boys in Truro, Cornwall. An ancient school refounded in 1549 as the Truro Grammar School, after the establishment of Truro Cathedral in the last quarter of the 19th century it was responsi ...

Spry joined the

as a volunteer in 1733.Richard Spry at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> Following the sinking of his ship by the Spanish Navy he was taken prisoner in 1745 but released two months later. He took part in the siege of

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

in India in 1750. From 17 October 1753 to 5 June 1754 he was captain of the frigate . In 1755 he became senior officer at

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

, and in 1758 took part in the successful Siege of Louisbourg. He was given command of in 1760. In 1762 he was appointed

. In 1766 he was promoted to the rank of

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore, a ...

and appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Station.Hardy 1783, p. 56 Spry returned to England in 1769. In 1770 he was promoted to

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 ...

and went on to be Port Admiral at Plymouth in 1771. Spry was knighted at Portsmouth on 24 June 1773 and retired to Place House in

St Anthony in Roseland St Anthony in Roseland is a village and a former parish in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is a small settlement on the Roseland Peninsula. At Trewince is a house of five bays and two storeys built in 1750. There is a lighthouse a ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. He died there in 1775. His memorial in St Anthony's Church there is by

Humphrey Hopper Humphrey Hopper (1767–1844) was an English sculptor and stonemason. He was given the government commission for the memorial in St Paul's Cathedral to General Andrew Hay. Life He was born in Wolsingham in County Durham in 1765 the son o ...

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spry, Richard 1715 births 1775 deaths Royal Navy rear admirals People educated at Truro Cathedral School