Admiral of the Fleet An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral. It is also a generic ter ...

James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier, (13 October 1756 – 19 April 1833) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer and colonial administrator. After seeing action at the capture of Charleston during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, he saw action again, as captain of the third-rate , at the battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794, during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

, gaining the distinction of commanding the first ship to break through the enemy line. Gambier went on to be a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and First Naval Lord and then served as Governor of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

. Together with General Lord Cathcart, he oversaw the bombardment of Copenhagen during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. He later survived an accusation of cowardice for his inaction at the Battle of the Basque Roads.

Early career

Born the second son of John Gambier, the Lieutenant Governor of the Bahamas and Bermudian Deborah Stiles, Gambier was brought up in England by his aunt, Margaret Gambier, and her husband, Admiral

Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, PC (14 October 172617 June 1813) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. As a junior officer he saw action during the Seven Years' War. Middleton was given command of a guardship at the Nore, a Roy ...

. He was a nephew of Vice-Admiral James Gambier and of Admiral Lord BarhamTracy, 2006, p. 148 and became an uncle of the novelist and travel writer Georgiana Chatterton. Pocock Glorious First of June1

Gambier entered the Navy in 1767 as a midshipman on board the third-rate , commanded by his uncle, which was serving as a guardship in the

Medway Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

, and followed him to serve on board the 60-gun

fourth-rate In 1603 all English warships with a complement of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers, a six-tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided ...

in 1769 where he served on the North American Station. He transferred to the 50-gun fourth-rate under Rear Admiral Parry, in 1772, in the

Leeward Islands The Leeward Islands () are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In Engl ...

. Gambier was placed on the sloop and was then posted to England to serve on the

74-gun The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently de ...

third-rate , a guardship at

Spithead Spithead is an eastern area of the Solent and a roadstead for vessels off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast, with the Isle of Wight lying to the south-west. Spithead and the ch ...

. He was commissioned as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 12 February 1777, in which rank he served successively in the sloop , the 24-gun

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

, the third-rate under Vice-Admiral Lord Shuldham, and then in under his uncle's flag. Lord Howe promoted Gambier to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

on 9 March 1778 and gave him command of the bomb ship , which was promptly dismasted and surrendered to the French.Heathcote, p. 94 He was taken prisoner for a short period and, after having been exchanged, he was made a

post captain Post-captain or post captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term "post-captain" was descriptive only; it was never used as a title in the form "Post-Captain John Smith". The term served to di ...

on 9 October 1778 and appointed to the 32-gun fifth-rate HMS ''Raleigh'' and saw action at the capture of Charleston in May 1780 during the

. He was appointed commander of fifth-rate , cruising in British waters, later in the year.Tracy, N, 2006, p. 149 In 1783, at the end of the War, he was placed on half-pay. In February 1793 following the start of the

, Gambier was appointed to command the 74-gun third-rate under Lord Howe. By faith an evangelical, he was regarded as an intensely religious man, nicknamed ''Dismal Jimmy'', by the men under his command. As captain of the ''Defence'' Gambier saw action at the battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794, gaining the distinction of commanding the first ship to break through the enemy line and subsequently receiving the Naval Gold Medal.Heathcote, p. 95

Senior command

Gambier was appointed to the

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 ...

led by Earl Spencer in March 1795.Rodger, p. 69 Promoted to

rear-admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

on 1 June 1795, he became First Naval Lord in November 1795. Promoted to

vice-admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

on 14 February 1799, Gambier left the Admiralty after the fall of the

first Pitt ministry William Pitt the Younger led the government of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1783 to 1801. In 1800, the Acts of Union between Great Britain and Ireland were accepted by their respective parliaments, creating the new United Kingdom of Grea ...

in February 1801 and became third-in-command of the

Channel Fleet The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915. History Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history th ...

under Admiral William Cornwallis, with his flag in the 98-gun

second-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

. He went on to be governor and commander-in-chief of Newfoundland Station in March 1802. In that capacity he gave property rights over arable land to local people allowing them to graze sheep and cattle there and also ensured that vacant properties along the shore could be leased to local people. It was around that time that he also bought Iver Grove in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

. Gambier then returned to the Admiralty as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and First Naval Lord on the Admiralty Board led by Viscount Melville when the second Pitt ministry was formed in May 1804. Promoted to full

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many 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. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

on 9 November 1805, Gambier left the Admiralty in February 1806. He returned briefly for a third tour as First Naval Lord on the Admiralty Board led by Lord Mulgrave when the Second Portland Ministry was formed in April 1807.Rodger, p. 69 In May 1807 Gambier volunteered to command the naval forces, with his flag in the second-rate HMS ''Prince of Wales'', sent as part of the campaign against Copenhagen during the

. Together with General Lord Cathcart, he oversaw the bombardment of Copenhagen from 2 September until the Danes capitulated after three days (an incident that brought Gambier some notoriety in that the assault included a bombardment of the civilian quarter). Prizes included eighteen ships of the line, twenty-one frigates and brigs and twenty-five gunboats together with a large quantity of naval storesTracy, N, 2006, pp. 149–50. for which he received official thanks from

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, and on 3 November 1807 a peerage, becoming Baron Gambier, of Iver in the County of Buckingham.

Battle of the Basque Roads

In 1808 Gambier was appointed to command the

. In April 1809 he chased a squadron of French ships that had escaped from Brest into the Basque Roads. He called a council of war in which Lord Cochrane was given command of the inshore squadron, and who subsequently led the attack. Gambier refused to commit the Channel Fleet after Cochrane's attack, using explosion vessels that encouraged the French squadron to warp further into the shallows of the estuary. This action resulted in the majority of the French fleet running aground at Rochefort. Gambier was content with the blockading role played by the offshore squadron. Rear-Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey, who had commanded " Fighting Temeraire" at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...

, believed they had missed an opportunity to inflict further damage upon the French fleet. He told Gambier "I never saw a man so unfit for the command of a fleet as Your Lordship." Cochrane threatened to use his parliamentary vote against Gambier in retaliation for not committing the fleet to action. Gambier called for a court martial to examine his conduct. The court martial, on 26 July 1809 on ''Gladiator'' in Portsmouth, exonerated Gambier. Consequently, neither Harvey nor Cochrane were appointed by the Admiralty to command for the remainder of the war.Tracy, N, 2006, p. 150 The episode had political and personal overtones. Gambier was connected by family and politics to the Tory prime minister William Pitt. In Parliament, Cochrane represented the constituency of Westminster, which tended to vote Radical. In the aftermath of Basque Roads, Cochrane and Gambier quarreled and Gambier excluded Cochrane from the battle dispatches. Cochrane took the unusual move of standing in opposition to parliament's pro forma vote of thanks to Gambier.

Later career

In 1814 Gambier was part of the team negotiating the

Treaty of Ghent The Treaty of Ghent () was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. It took effect in February 1815. Both sides signed it on December 24, 1814, in the city of Ghent, United Netherlands (now in ...

, ending the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

between

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.Heathcote, p. 96 He was appointed a

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior military officers or senior civil servants, and the monarch awards it on the advice of His ...

on 7 June 1815. Promoted to

on 22 July 1830, he died at his home, Iver Grove in Buckinghamshire, on 19 April 1833 and was buried at St. Peter's churchyard in Iver.

Legacy

Gambier was a founding benefactor of

Kenyon College Kenyon College ( ) is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1824 by Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase. It is the oldest private instituti ...

in the

, and the town that was founded with it,

Gambier, Ohio Gambier ( ) is a village in Knox County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,213 at the 2020 census. Gambier is the home of Kenyon College. History Gambier was laid out in 1824. The village was named after one of Kenyon College's early ...

, is named after him, as is

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with a population of 25,591 as of the 2021 census. The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier (volcano), Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about ...

, the city and dormant

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, and Gambier Island in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, as well as the

Gambier Islands The Gambier Islands ( or ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of , and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera alo ...

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

. Gambier appears as a minor character near the end of '' Flying Colours'', a 1938

Horatio Hornblower Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He later became the subject of films and radio and television programmes, and ...

novel by

C. S. Forester Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (27 August 1899 – 2 April 1966), known by his pen name Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester, was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare, such as the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series depicting a Royal ...

.Forester, pp. 214–22.

Personal life

In July 1788 Gambier married Louisa Mathew, daughter of Daniel Mathew, 1718–1777, of Felix Hall, Kelvedon, Essex and St Kitts, West Indies, and Mary Elizabeth Byam, 1729–1814; they had no children.

Arms

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

* * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gambier, James Gambier, 1st Baron 1756 births 1833 deaths People from Nassau, Bahamas Royal Navy admirals of the fleet Lords of the Admiralty Governors of Newfoundland Colony Royal Navy officers who were court-martialled Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars British naval commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Peers of the United Kingdom created by George III Kenyon College people Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Bahamian sailors Bahamian emigrants to the United Kingdom Bahamian people of British descent Bahamian people of Bermudian descent