Robert Cavendish Spencer
Robert Cavendish Spencer | |
|---|---|
 Sir Robert Cavendish Spencer | |
| Born | 24 October 1791 England |
| Died | 4 November 1830 (aged 39) Off Alexandria, Egypt |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | John Spencer (brother) Frederick Spencer (brother) George Spencer (brother) Sarah Lyttelton (sister) |
| Military career | |
| Service | Royal Navy |
| Unit | HMS Tigre HMS Malta HMS Espoir HMS Carron |
| Commands | HMS Pelorus HMS Kite HMS Cydnus HMS Ganymede HMS Owen Glendower HMS Naiad HMS Madagascar |
Sir Robert Cavendish Spencer KCH (24 October 1791 – 4 November 1830) was an English officer of the Royal Navy. Well connected by birth, he made a naval career, which attracted the sons of the nobility and also of those from naval backgrounds, to serve under him and, despite liberal politics, worked as a reforming administrator with the future William IV of the United Kingdom.[1]
Life
[edit]Born on 24 October 1791, he was the third son of George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, and brother of John Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer, Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer, George Spencer, and Sarah Lyttelton. In August 1804 he entered the navy on board HMS Tigre with Captain Benjamin Hallowell, and served under him, in Tigre and afterwards in HMS Malta—being promoted to be lieutenant on 13 December 1810—till appointed to command the brig HMS Pelorus, in October 1812.[1][2]
On 22 January 1813 Spencer was promoted to be commander of HMS Kite, from which he was moved into HMS Espoir, one of the squadron off Marseille, under the command of Captain Thomas Ussher. He was later appointed to HMS Carron, stationed on the coast of North America; and was promoted to post rank by the Commander-in-Chief, North American Station, on 4 June 1814.[2] He was engaged in operations against Fort Bowyer[3] and New Orleans.[4] He headed to Fort Bowyer for a second time in February 1815.[5]
As per Vice Admiral Cochrane's letter dated 15 March 1815, Spencer had been detailed to conduct a strict enquiry, regarding the property losses of Spanish inhabitants of Florida. Rear Admiral Malcolm believed that in cases where formerly enslaved persons could not be persuaded to return to their owners, the British government would undertake to remunerate the owners. His counterpart Vicente Sebastián Pintado travelled to Prospect Bluff, arriving there on 7 April, Spencer having arrived earlier.[6][7][a]
In April 1815, with the war having recently ended, Spencer then spent that month at Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola River, its garrison comprising Britain's Red Stick Indian allies in part, but primarily the fugitive slaves, with whom he was charged with settling their claims and dismissing them from British service in the Corps of Colonial Marines.[b] Spencer would not allow the runaway Spanish slaves to be returned by force.[10] Lieutenant Colonel Edward Nicolls received orders to withdraw his troops from the fort at Prospect Bluff.[11][c]
In accordance with Cochrane's orders, Cydnus was moored off Prospect Bluff.[13][14] Sir Alexander Cochrane appointed Spencer to command Cydnus[15] on 19 April 1815,[16] for his efforts in Louisiana and Florida,[5] as Captain Frederick Langford died early in 1815 at Jamaica.[17] Cydnus embarked the Royal Marine detachment on 22 April, arriving at Bermuda on 13 June 1815.[18] Cydnus next sailed to Halifax, arriving on 24 June 1815.[19]
In 1815 Spencer commanded HMS Cydnus on the home station, and in 1817–1819 the 26-gun frigate HMS Ganymede in the Mediterranean, where he conducted a negotiation with the Bey of Tunis. From 1819 to 1822 he commanded HMS Owen Glendower on the South American station, and from 1823 to 1826 the 46-gun frigate HMS Naiad in the Mediterranean, where he took part in the operations against Algiers in the summer of 1824. He was then employed on the coast of Greece, during the Greek War of Independence.[2]
From August 1827 to September 1828 Spencer was private secretary and Groom of the Bedchamber to the Duke of Clarence, then Lord High Admiral. They worked on naval reform, in the areas of gunnery and steam power. In October 1828 he was nominated Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order, and was knighted on 24 November. In September 1828 he was appointed to command HMS Madagascar, again serving in the Mediterranean.[2]
Death
[edit]
Spencer died, off Alexandria, on 4 November 1830; he had just been recalled to the United Kingdom as surveyor-general of the ordnance. He was unmarried.[2]
He was buried in Malta. A memorial to his memory was erected in Great Brington sculpted by Francis Chantrey.[20]
References
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Enclosure 8 to Erving. Memorandum of a gentleman of respectability at Bermuda, dated 21 May 1815 "Admiral Cochrane, however, appears to have disapproved of Nicholls's conduct in affording protection to the Spanish slaves, and had sent the Hon. Captain Spencer to Pensacola for the purpose of making arrangements for their restoration; who accordingly proceeded to Appalachicola, with Captain Pintado, named commissioner on the part of the Spaniards."[8]
- ^ Whilst contemporary biographies refer to 'our Indian allies'[5][9], he was there to defuse diplomatic tensions regarding Spanish slaveowner claims.
- ^ A letter from Spencer to Cochrane dated 17 February 1816 does mention that the Indian Chiefs were 'obeying Brevet Major Nicolls' orders until 22 April [1815]'.[12]
Citations
[edit]- ^ a b Lambert, Andrew. "Spencer, Robert Cavendish". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26136. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ a b c d e Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 53. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 377–378.
- ^ Marshall (1829) p.258
- ^ Marshall (1829) p.258-9
- ^ a b c Marshall (1829) p.260
- ^ Millett 2013, p. 108.
- ^ Boyd 1937, p. 72.
- ^ American State Papers: Foreign Relations 1815–1822 1834, p. 552.
- ^ The Annual Biography and Obituary of 1831. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown), p. 4.
- ^ Landers, p125
- ^ Covington (1993), p.36
- ^ UK National Archives reference WO 1/144 folio 133
- ^ Letter from Vice Admiral Cochrane to Rear Admiral Malcolm dated 17 February 1815. This is within WO 1/143 folio 37, which can be downloaded for a fee from the UK National Archives website.
- ^ Hughes & Brodine 2023, p. 1058-1062.
- ^ Winfield (2008), p. 186.
- ^ "HMS Cydnus, 1815 - 1816". United Kingdom Hydrographic Office. MP/47/29. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
Assigned: Honourable 'R [Robert] C [Cavendish] Spencer', Captain 19 April 1815 to 8 June 1816
- ^ "NMM, vessel ID 383106" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol v. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
- ^ "Royal Marines on the Gulf Coast". Retrieved 19 January 2014.
Extracted information from the log of HMS Cydnus
- ^ P. Benyon. "HMS Cydnus". Index of 19th Century Naval Vessels and a few of their movements. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
- ^ Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-18521 by Rupert Gunnis
Bibliography
[edit]- Boyd, Mark F. (1937). "Events at Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola River, 1808-1818". Florida Historical Quarterly. 16 (2): 55–96. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
- Covington, James W., ed. (1993). The Seminoles of Florida. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-306-80429-8.
- Hughes, Christine F.; Brodine, Charles E., eds. (2023). The Naal War of 1812: A Documentary History, Vol. 4. Washington: Naval Historical Center (GPO). ISBN 978-1-943604-36-4.
- Landers, Jane G (2010). Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolutions. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-05416-4.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Spencer, Robert Cavendish". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 53. London: Smith, Elder & Co.- Marshall, John (1829). . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. sup, part 3. London: Longman and company. p. 256-265.
- Millett, Nathaniel (2013). The Maroons of Prospect Bluff and Their Quest for Freedom in the Atlantic World. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-81-304454-5 – via Florida Scholarship online within Oxford University Press.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
- American State Papers: Foreign Relations 1815–1822. Vol. 4. Washington: Gales & Seaton. 1834.
