Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Thomas Griffin (c. 1692 – 23 December 1771) 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 in the

War of Jenkins' Ear The War of Jenkins' Ear, or , was a conflict lasting from 1739 to 1748 between Britain and the Spanish Empire. The majority of the fighting took place in New Granada and the Caribbean Sea, with major operations largely ended by 1742. It is con ...

. He later became Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station.

Early life

Griffin was said to have belonged to a younger branch of the family of Lord Griffin of Braybrooke, which merged in that of Lord Howard of Walden. He is described as being of the parish of Dixton Hadnock in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

Naval career

He joined the Royal Navy in 1718 as third lieutenant of HMS ''Orford''.Thomas Griffin at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> He was given command of HMS ''Shoreham'' in 1731, HMS ''Blenheim'' in 1735, HMS ''Oxford'' in 1738 and HMS ''Princess Caroline'' in 1739. In 1741 he commanded HMS ''Burford'' at the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in Spring of that year. In September 1742 he was involved in an incident whereby he evicted some of his officers from their cabins to accommodate some passengers: considerable acrimony followed. He went on to command HMS ''St George'' from later in 1741 and HMS ''Captain'' from 1743. While in command of the latter ship he was involved in an incident whereby he was accused of engaging a small French vessel and ignoring two much larger enemy ships; his explanations were accepted at the time but revisited later. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station in 1746. After reinforcing

Fort St. David Fort St David, now in ruins, was a British fort near the town of Cuddalore, a hundred miles south of Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost In ...

near

Cuddalore Cuddalore, also spelt as Kadalur (), is the city and headquarters of the Cuddalore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated south of Chennai, Cuddalore was an important port during the British Raj. While the early history of Cudda ...

in March 1747, he was promoted to rear-admiral of the red in July 1747, promoted to

vice-admiral of the blue The Vice-Admiral of the Blue was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Vice-Admiral of the White (see order of precedence below). Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, re ...

in May 1748 and then sailed back to England in January 1749. On his return his judgement was again questioned, he was court-martialled and found guilty of negligence. After his court martial

George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) * ...

reinstated him and he was promoted to admiral of the white.

Later life

He acquired Goodrich Castle in

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

in 1740Goodrich Castle
/ref> and also bought land at

Dixton Dixton ( cy, Llandydiwg) is a small village located north east of Monmouth, on the banks of the River Wye, in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. The parish originally comprised the two manors of Dixton Newton and Dixton Hadnock, on either side of ...

where he built

Newton Court Newton Court is a neoclassical house, completed in 1802, situated on the hillside above Dixton, north-east of the town on Monmouth, in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is a Grade II* listed building. The stable block is listed as a Site of Special S ...

. He served as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...

from 1754 to 1761. He died in 1771 and was buried at St Peter's Church in Dixton.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Thomas 1692 births 1771 deaths People from Monmouthshire Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy officers who were court-martialled Royal Navy personnel of the Seven Years' War Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1754–1761