Sir William Symonds
CB FRS (24 September 1782 – 30 March 1856, aboard the French steamship ''Nil'',
Strait of Bonifacio
The Strait of Bonifacio (french: Bouches de Bonifacio; it, Bocche di Bonifacio; co, Bucchi di Bunifaziu; sdn, Bocchi di Bunifaciu; sc, Buccas de Bonifatziu; lij, Bocche de Bunifazziu; lat, Fretum Gallicum, Fretum Taphros) is the strait betwe ...
,
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
)
[Complete List of Royal Society Fellows 1660-2007]
page 345. was
Surveyor of the Navy
The Surveyor of the Navy also known as Department of the Surveyor of the Navy and originally known as Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy was a former principal commissioner and member of both the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 15 ...
in 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 ...
from 9 June 1832 to October 1847, and took part in the naval reforms instituted by the Whig First Lord of the Admiralty Sir
James Robert George Graham
Sir James Robert George Graham, 2nd Baronet (1 June 1792 – 25 October 1861) was a British statesman, who notably served as Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty. He was the eldest son of Sir James Graham, 1st Baronet, by Lady Ca ...
in 1832.
Life
Early life
Symonds was the second son of naval captain
Thomas Symonds (1731–1792) and his second wife, and first went to sea on, , in September 1794. Serving in
Lord Bridport
Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, KB (2 December 17262 May 1814), of Cricket St Thomas, Somerset, was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
Origins
He was a younger son of ...
's fleet at the
Battle of Groix
The Battle of Groix was a large naval engagement which took place near the island of Groix off the Biscay coast of Brittany on 23 June 1795 ( 5 messidor an III) during the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle was fought between elements of the ...
on 23 June 1795 and during the 1797
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 ...
mutiny, he was promoted to lieutenant on 14 October 1801. However, despite service at sea for the whole duration of the
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 ...
(in which experiences of being outsailed by French ships left him with an obsession for speed, wide beams and sharp design in his later designs for sailing ships) and showing fine seamanship, he was promoted no further (though between 1819 and 1825 he was captain of the port at
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
).
Experiments in naval architecture
Using a minor legacy from Admiral Sir
William Cornwallis
Admiral of the Red Sir William Cornwallis, (10 February 17445 July 1819) was a Royal Navy officer. He was the brother of Charles Cornwallis, the 1st Marquess Cornwallis, British commander at the siege of Yorktown. Cornwallis took part in a n ...
(who left his estate to his best friend's widow, Symonds' sister), in 1821 Symonds built an experimental yacht, which was copied by the rich yachtsman
George Vernon
George Frederick Vernon (20 June 1856 – 10 August 1902) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club. He also played one Test match for England during the first-ever Ashes tour in 1882-83.
Biog ...
, who aided his publication of a pamphlet on naval architecture. Vernon also convinced the Admiralty to employ Symonds as a
corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
designer, with promotion to
commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
, by standing his surety with a bond of £20,000 should Symonds fail in his designs, and by then introducing him to the
Duke of Portland
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...
in December 1826. Of his two yacht designs for the Duke, one (
''Pantaloon'', 1832) was later bought by the Admiralty for adaptation as a 10 gun
brig
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...
. When Portland entered
George Canning
George Canning (11 April 17708 August 1827) was a British Tory statesman. He held various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, including two important terms as Foreign Secretary, finally becoming Prime Minister of the Unit ...
's Cabinet in April 1827, he then promoted Symonds as a designer to the Lord High Admiral, the
Duke of Clarence
Duke of Clarence is a substantive title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the British Royal Family. All three creations were in the Peerage of England.
The title was first granted to Lionel of Antwerp, the second son ...
, who appointed Symonds to the royal yacht and granted him his captaincy on 5 December the same year. Sailing trials in 1827 and 1831 were won by Symonds' entries, and (with Clarence's accession as William IV, the Whig abolition of the
Navy Board
The Navy Board (formerly known as the Council of the Marine or Council of the Marine Causes) was the commission responsible for the day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. The board was headquartered within the ...
and
Earl Grey
Earl Grey is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for General Charles Grey, 1st Baron Grey. In 1801, he was given the title Baron Grey of Howick in the County of Northumberland, and in 1806 he was created Viscou ...
's ministry) he was taken on to design a 50 gun frigate, which he named after his patron.
Naval surveyor
Symonds was appointed the Surveyor of the Navy on 9 June 1832 by Sir
James Graham, the Whig First Lord of the Admiralty. He was intended to control the Navy's dockyards and shipbuilding programme, but (thanks to his title of
Surveyor of the Navy
The Surveyor of the Navy also known as Department of the Surveyor of the Navy and originally known as Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy was a former principal commissioner and member of both the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 15 ...
and the vague wording of the instructions given him) he also began to meddle in ship design, forcing the Navy to adopt his designs despite much opposition to this, to his appointment being a political one rather than one based on aptitude, and to his position as a favourite of the king (who, for example, omitted to inform the Admiralty of his intention to make him a
Knight Bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...
but still went ahead with it, on 15 June 1836 at
St James's Palace
St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Altho ...
). He also became a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in June 1835.
[
Ship-design was no longer the important part of Surveyor's role that it had been, and so Symonds was its first holder to have been an amateur ship-designer rather than a professional shipwright. Nevertheless, the observations and experience gained in such design allowed him to introduce radical changes to ship design, such as widening Navy ships' beams and making their bottoms more wedge-shaped (to decrease the amount of ballast needed and to increase stability, speed, ]stowage In nautical terminology, stowage is the amount of room available for stowing materials aboard a ship, tank or an airplane.
In container shipping, stowage planning refers to the arrangement of containers on board a container vessel. The stowage of ...
and the weight of guns that could be carried). (However, with the decline in the sailing navy, most of Symonds' huge wooden sailing designs - larger, heavier-rigged, wider-beamed, more spacious for working their guns and heavier armament than ever before - became obsolete with the decline of sail and were later converted to steam-screw.)
During his time in office, he also took on George Rennie's suggestion of creating watertight compartment
A compartment is a portion of the space within a ship defined vertically between decks and horizontally between bulkheads. It is analogous to a room within a building, and may provide watertight subdivision of the ship's hull important in retain ...
s in ships (something first suggested for the Royal Navy by Samuel Bentham
Sir Samuel Bentham (11 January 1757 – 31 May 1831) was a noted English mechanical engineer and naval architect credited with numerous innovations, particularly related to naval architecture, including weapons. He was the only surviving siblin ...
). In 1840 he privately published a book of sketches of men-of-war and yachts, under the title "Naval Costume". He also travelled much overseas, accurately observing the timber resources and navies of foreign powers such as the Russian Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
* Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...
and Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
Fleets (whose inefficiency at a time of increased Anglo-Russian tension proved a useful observation). This informed his reporting of British oak supplies from the forest of Dean
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to the n ...
and the New Forest
The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...
, improved timber supplies and (along with a new means of construction invented by the talented Chief Clerk in the Surveyor's Office, John Edye
John Edye FRS (7 August 1789 – 1 March 1873)[School of Naval Architecture
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compul ...]
(closed in 1832), and the "traditional" school led by Master Shipwrights from the Royal Dockyards. Autocratic in office, demanding obedience and support from subordinates and superiors alike and taking any criticism or suggested alteration to his designs as a personal slight, he turned on his opponents in the pamphlet ''Facts versus Fiction'' (1844). Determined to prove Symonds' designs to be failures, the new Tory Board of Admiralty
The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...
sent out successive " Experimental Squadrons" in 1844, 1845 and 1846. Outside factors such as individual captains' political bias or stowage's influence on how well a ship sailed were underappreciated in these trials - the success of Symonds' designs depended on the skill of their captains (they handled badly under clumsy ones, or ones opposed to him, but very well under skilled commanders) - whilst his larger ships were fast but unsuited to use as gun platforms due to rolling too rapidly. They did, however, handle well in all but the worst weather. Nevertheless, in the face of the Tory First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS) is the military head of the Royal Navy and Naval Service of the United Kingdom. The First Sea Lord is usually the highest ranking and most senior admiral to serve in the British Armed ...
Lord Ellenborough
Baron Ellenborough, of Ellenborough in the County of Cumberland, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 April 1802 for the lawyer, judge and politician Sir Edward Law, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench from ...
's institution of a "Committee of Reference" in 1846 to oversee Symonds and modify his designs according to the Board's wishes, a command to make a radical alteration to his design for a new 90 gun ship, and loss of most of his Whig support even on their return to power in July 1846, Symonds resigned his role in October 1847 (despite retaining the Duke of Portland's continued support), and was succeeded by Sir Baldwin Walker
Admiral Sir Baldwin Wake Walker, 1st Baronet, (6 January 1802 – 12 February 1876) was Surveyor of the Navy from 1848 to 1861. and was responsible for the Royal Navy's warship construction programme during the 1850s naval arms race and at th ...
.
Retirement
Despite his fall from grace, he was granted an Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...
(civil) on 1 May 1848, and in June 1853 James Graham, having again become First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS) is the military head of the Royal Navy and Naval Service of the United Kingdom. The First Sea Lord is usually the highest ranking and most senior admiral to serve in the British Armed ...
, was convinced by the Duke of Portland to take Symonds back on, as the Queen's naval Aide-de-Camp. Becoming a retired 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 ...
the following year, he and his third wife from then on lived abroad, principally in Malta and Italy, for reasons of his health. He died at sea in 1856, en route from Malta to Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, and was buried at the Protestant Cemetery at the latter. His will required the publication of a biography in his favour – this repeated the arguments over his sailing-ship designs despite the Navy's having long abandoned sail by this date.
Family
On 21 April 1808, William married Elizabeth Saunders Luscombe, daughter of Matthew Luscombe of Plymouth. They had one daughter and four sons:
* Theresa Aubrina Symonds (1808 – 19 January 1872), married Daniel Smith Bockett, and had 18 children
* William Cornwallis Symonds
Captain William Cornwallis Symonds (1 August 1810 – 23 November 1841) was a British Army officer who was prominent in the early colonisation of New Zealand.
Symonds was born at Lymington, Hampshire in 1810, the eldest son of William Symo ...
(1810–1841), eldest son, who became an army captain, a member of the Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
and Deputy Surveyor-General of New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, but was drowned in November 1841 when a boat carrying him across the Manukau Harbour
The Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and opens out into the Tasman Sea.
Geography
The harbour mouth is between the northern head ("Burne ...
capsized. Symonds Street in Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
is named after him.
* Sir Thomas Matthew Charles Symonds (1811–1894), Royal Navy officer
* Julian Frederick Anthony Symonds (1813–1852), Army surveyor
* John Jermyn Symonds
Captain John Jermyn Symonds (4 January 1816 – 3 January 1883) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Auckland, New Zealand. He purchased land for the New Zealand Company and was later a judge of the Native Land Court.
Biography
Symonds was ...
(1816–1883), who stayed in New Zealand after his brother William's death; Symonds Street in Onehunga
Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland in New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is south of the Auckland CBD, city centre, close to the volcano, volcanic cone of Maungakiekie / One Tree ...
is named after him.
After Elizabeth's death from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
on 10 November 1817, William remarried on 10 March 1818, Elizabeth Mary, daughter of Rear-Admiral Philip Carteret
Rear-Admiral Philip Carteret, Seigneur of Trinity (22 January 1733, Trinity Manor, Jersey – 21 July 1796, Southampton) was a British naval officer and explorer who participated in two of the Royal Navy's circumnavigation expeditions in 1764 ...
, of Trinity Manor, Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
. After her death, he married a third and final time, in 1851, to Susan Mary, daughter of the Rev. John Briggs.
Bibliography
*A. D. Lambert,'' The last sailing battlefleet: maintaining naval mastery, 1815–1850'' (1991)
*J. A. Sharp, ''Memoirs of the life and services of Admiral Sir William Symonds'' (1858)
*A. S. Turberville, ''A history of Welbeck Abbey and its owners'', 2 vols. (1938–9), vol. 2
*Cape Town University Library, Walker manuscripts (MSS)
*NMM, Minto MSS · TNA: PRO, Admiralty MSS
*University of Nottingham Library, Portland MSS
*British Library, Martin MSS and Peel MSS
*D. K. Brown, ''Before the ironclad'' (1990)
*National Archives, Ellenborough MSS
*C. J. Bartlett, ''Great Britain and sea power'', 1815–1853 (1963)
*F. Boase, ''Modern English Biography: containing many thousand concise memoirs of persons who have died since the year 1850'', 6 vols. (privately printed, Truro, 1892–1921); repr.(1965)
*Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Massey Library, bound plans relating to system of classifying ships
See also
*
Footnotes
Sources
*
*http://www.pdavis.nl/Experimental.htm
Falmouth Packet archive
* ttp://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp61528 Portrait of him
{{DEFAULTSORT:Symonds, William
1782 births
1856 deaths
Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars
Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
Companions of the Order of the Bath
Fellows of the Royal Society
Military personnel from Bury St Edmunds
Surveyors of the Navy
People who died at sea
Royal Navy admirals
Knights Bachelor
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...