Robinson Elsdale (1744–1783), was an English

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 ...

and autobiographer. He was the son of Samuel Elsdale (1704–1788) and Mary Elsdale, of

Surfleet Surfleet is a small village and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the B1356 road, north of Spalding, in the Lincolnshire fens. The River Glen runs through the village. The village has ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

. He was baptised on 25 December 1744 at Surfleet. His sister Mary (1739–1772) was the mother of

John Molson John Molson (December 28, 1763 – January 11, 1836) was an English-born brewer and entrepreneur in colonial Quebec, which during his lifetime became Lower Canada. In addition to founding Molson Brewery, he built the first steamship and the fir ...

who founded the

Molson Brewery The Molson Brewery is a Canadian based brewery company based in Montreal which was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Ca ...

. Elsdale entered 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 ...

as a midshipman, but left early by reason of the slowness of promotion, and served in various

s cruising against the French, chiefly off the coast of Hispaniola and the west coast of Africa, between 1762 and 1779, when he retired. For the benefit of his wife he wrote an account of some of the most exciting adventures and experiences which he had met with during his sea life. Those episodes in a life of adventure are told in a fresh, simple, and lively style, and abound in hair-breadth escapes and romantic incidents. The manuscript fell into the hands of Captain Marryat, and was freely used by him in the earlier chapters of ''The Privateersman'' (1846), also known as ''Extracts from the Log of a Privateersman One Hundred Years Ago''. After his retirement from active service Elsdale lived quietly on an estate at Surfleet which had been in his family for many generations. He died on 15 October 1783.

Family

Elsdale married on 31 March 1779 Miss Ann Gibbons, a lady of great beauty and intelligence, by whom he had two sons, Samuel and Robinson. Samuel Elsdale was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1803, M.A. 1809, took holy orders and a fellowship, and became the master of Moulton Grammar School, Lincolnshire, was a frequent contributor to magazines, and the author of a volume of sacred poetry entitled ''Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell; a Poem, with Hymns and other Poems'', 1812, 8vo; 3rd ed. 1813. He died on 13 July 1827. Robinson Elsdale junior (1783–1850) was educated at

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oakham School. The headma ...

and

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...

; he took holy orders and a fellowship and became the master of

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...

References

1744 births 1783 deaths English autobiographers English privateers People from South Holland (district) {{England-writer-stub