William Allen Proby, Lord Proby (19 June 1779 – 6 August 1804) 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 ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

and Whig

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

Background and education

Proby was the eldest son of John Proby, 2nd Baron Carysfort (later 1st

Earl of Carysfort Earl of Carysfort was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1789 for John Proby, 2nd Baron Carysfort. The Proby family descended from Sir Peter Proby, Lord Mayor of London in 1622. His great-great-grandson John Proby represente ...

, and his first wife Elizabeth (née Osbourne). He was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from 1788.

Royal Naval service

Proby was commissioned into the

and was promoted quickly, probably due to the influence of his family; while serving on the Lisbon station, in December 1797, he was placed in temporary command of HMS ''Emerald'' and by 1798, at the age of 19, he had been promoted to

post-captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain ...

having also commanded the

fireship A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...

and the sloop ''Peterel''. He became the captain of ''Danae'' and in her suffered a mutiny on 14 March 1800; forty of the crew seized the ship off

Le Conquet Le Conquet (; br, Konk-Leon) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. This is the westernmost town of mainland France. Only three insular towns—Ouessant, Île-Molène and Ile de Sein—are further west Th ...

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

. The mutiny seems to have been caused by ''Danae'' being overburdened with French and American sailors conscripted unwillingly, and possibly a rather lax approach to discipline. Having secured the loyal crew below decks, the mutineers gave up the ship to the French 16-gun brig- corvette ''Colombe'', which sent over a boarding party. Lord Proby surrendered the ship with the words ''"To the French nation, but not to mutineers."'' He and the loyal members of his crew were exchanged on

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

, having received favourable treatment from the French authorities. He took command of ''Amelia'' in April 1802, and in May sailed to

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

and

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

to land 150 discharged seaman. The summer was spent combatting smugglers between

Berry Head Berry Head is a coastal headland that forms the southern boundary of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Lying to the east of the town of Brixham, it is a national nature reserve and a local nature reserve. Berry Head To Sharkham Point is a Site of Sp ...

and

Mount's Bay Mount's Bay ( kw, Baya an Garrek) is a large, sweeping bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom, stretching from the Lizard Point to Gwennap Head. In the north of the bay, near Marazion, is St Michael's Mount; the origin ...

, and by the end of August, ''Amelia'' had sailed for Den Helder with Dutch troops discharged from the British service. ''Amelia'' was based in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

for most of 1803, sailing to

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 Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

and the Downs, and blockading Dutch ports. Proby captured as

prizes A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

a French

chasse-marée In English, a chasse-marée is a specific, archaic type of decked commercial sailing vessel. In French, ''un chasse-marée'' was 'a wholesale fishmonger', originally on the Channel coast of France and later, on the Atlantic coast as well. The ...

ballast Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship ...

on 23 May, and on 11 August the French

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 ...

lugger A lugger is a sailing vessel defined by its rig, using the lug sail on all of its one or several masts. They were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of France, England, Ireland and Scotland. Luggers varied extensively ...

''Alert''. ''Amelia'' deployed to the Leeward Islands station, notorious at the time for disease; Lord Proby died from

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

in Surinam in August 1804, aged 25, while in command of the frigate. He was buried in a vault in St Michael's Cathedral,

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael. Bridgetown is sometimes locally referred to as "The Ci ...

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

, where a tablet records his death.

Member of Parliament

He represented Buckingham as a Whig in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1802 until his death in 1804. His younger brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

succeeded him 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 o ...

for Buckingham.''The Gentleman's magazine'', 1855, p. 313.

Title

From 1789, when his father was created

in the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

, William Proby was styled as ''Lord Proby''. He died unmarried and his younger brother

succeeded to the earldom when his father died in April 1828.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Proby, William Proby, Lord 1779 births 1804 deaths People educated at Rugby School Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Royal Navy officers English politicians Heirs apparent who never acceded Deaths from yellow fever British courtesy barons and lords of Parliament UK MPs 1802–1806 Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies