George Edmund Byron Bettesworth
Encyclopedia
George Edmund Byron Bettesworth (1785 – 16 May 1808) was a British Naval Officer
. During his service he participated in a notable single ship action, and had been wounded 24 times, which is probably a record.
At an early age he went to sea as midshipman under Captain Robert Barlow
, who commanded the frigate HMS Phoebe
. While with Phoebe Bettesworth participated in two notable single ship actions. On 21 December 1797 Phoebe captured the French 36-gun frigate Nérëide. Then on 19 February 1801, she captured the 38-gun Africaine, which was crowded with the 400 soldiers she was carrying to Egypt. In the battle, Phoebe had one man killed and 14 wounded. The French had some 200 men killed, and 143 wounded, many of them critically. The high casualty count was due to the soldiers remaining on deck as a point of honor, even though they could not contribute to the battle.
. On 4 February 1804 he took part in a cutting out expedition that captured the 16-gun French privateer Curieux
at Fort Royal harbour, Martinique
. Bettesworth received a slight wound in this engagement. The Royal Navy
took Curieux into service as the sloop-of-war
HMS Curieux. After her first commander, Robert Carhew Reynolds, died of the wounds he had received during her capture, Bettesworth then became her commander.
While captain of the Curieux, Bettesworth one day took her jolly boat in shore, together with the purser, who played his violin. A local black came out of the undergrowth on shore and held up a pair of fowl, indicating that he sought to sell them. Bettesworth took the bait and had his men row to the shore. The moment the boat touched the beach, a squadron of cavalry burst from the undergrowth. Their gunfire wounded Bettesworth in the thigh, causing substantial loss of blood, and broke the coxswain's arm. At Bettesworth's urging, the crew of his boat got it off the beach and rowed back to Curieux. On the way back Bettesworth wanted to open a bottle of champagne, but the purser broke it in his nervousness.
On 8 February 1805, Curieux chased the French 16-gun privateer Dame Ernouf for twelve hours before being able to bring her to action. After forty minutes of hard fighting the Frenchman, which had a larger crew than Curieux, maneuvered to attempt a boarding. Bettesworth turned with the result that the French vessel got stuck in a position where Curieux could rake her deck. Unable to fight back, the Dame Ernouff struck. Curieux suffered five killed and four wounded, including Bettesworth, whom a musket ball had hit in the head. The Frenchman had 30 killed and 40 wounded. The French recaptured Dame Ernouf shortly thereafter, but the British then recaptured her again too.
That same year (1805) he brought home from Antigua
despatches from Admiral Nelson, apprising the government of Admiral Villeneuve
's homeward flight from the West Indies. On the way Bettesworth spotted the French fleet and alerted the Admiralty. His information led to Rear Admiral Robert Calder
's interception of the Franco-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Finisterre
. For his services, Lord Barham
promoted Bettesworth to Post-Captain
.
Post-ship HMS Crocodile, on the Guernsey station, and later Halifax, Nova Scotia
. While with Crocodile, Bettesworth was involved in an unsuccessful claim for salvage rights to the American vessel Walker. A French privateer had captured Walker, but her crew has subsequently recaptured their ship when Crocodile came on the scene and escorted her to Halifax. For this service, Crocodile claimed salvage rights. The court did not agree.
. That month his cousin, the poet Lord Byron
, wrote:
The promised voyage never took place and on 16 May 1808 Bettesworth died in the Battle of Alvøen
. Tartar was watching some vessels outside Bergen
and decided to cut some of them off from the protecting gunboats. However, Tartar became becalmed amid the rocks, which enabled the schooner Odin and five gunboats to attack. Their first shots killed Bettesworth, and in all Tartar lost two dead and seven wounded before she could escape. Tartar did manage to sink one gunboat.
and Elizabeth Grey, on 24 August 1807, while he was captain on Crocodile. After Bettesworth's death, she married Edward Ellice
, a merchant, on 30 October 1809. She died on 28 July 1832.
Betteworth's body was buried at Howick, Northumberland
, in the vault of the Grey family, on 27 May 1808. Major Trevanion
, "a brother of Captain Bettesworth", was chief mourner. (Byron's grandmother was a Miss Trevanion.)
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. During his service he participated in a notable single ship action, and had been wounded 24 times, which is probably a record.
HMS Phoebe
Robert Barlow (Royal Navy officer)
Admiral Sir Robert Barlow GCB was a senior and distinguished officer of the British Royal Navy who saw extensive service in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He made his name in small ship actions, especially fighting French frigates, or which...
, who commanded the frigate HMS Phoebe
HMS Phoebe (1795)
HMS Phoebe was a 36-gun fifth rate of the British Royal Navy. She had a career of almost twenty years and fought in the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812...
. While with Phoebe Bettesworth participated in two notable single ship actions. On 21 December 1797 Phoebe captured the French 36-gun frigate Nérëide. Then on 19 February 1801, she captured the 38-gun Africaine, which was crowded with the 400 soldiers she was carrying to Egypt. In the battle, Phoebe had one man killed and 14 wounded. The French had some 200 men killed, and 143 wounded, many of them critically. The high casualty count was due to the soldiers remaining on deck as a point of honor, even though they could not contribute to the battle.
HMS Centaur and HMS Curieux
Bettesworth remained with Phoebe until January 1804 when was he was promoted to lieutenant on HMS CentaurHMS Centaur (1797)
HMS Centaur was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 March 1797 at Woolwich. She served as Sir Samuel Hood's flagship in the Leeward Islands and the Channel. During her 22-year career Centaur saw action in the Mediterranean, the Channel, the West Indies, and the Baltic, fighting...
. On 4 February 1804 he took part in a cutting out expedition that captured the 16-gun French privateer Curieux
HMS Curieux (1804)
HMS Curieux was a French corvette launched 20 September 1800 at Saint Malo to a design by François Pestel, and carrying 16 6-pounder guns. She was commissioned under Capitaine de frégate Joseph-Marie-Emmanuel Cordier. The British captured her in 1804 in a cutting-out action at Martinique...
at Fort Royal harbour, Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
. Bettesworth received a slight wound in this engagement. The Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
took Curieux into service as the sloop-of-war
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
HMS Curieux. After her first commander, Robert Carhew Reynolds, died of the wounds he had received during her capture, Bettesworth then became her commander.
While captain of the Curieux, Bettesworth one day took her jolly boat in shore, together with the purser, who played his violin. A local black came out of the undergrowth on shore and held up a pair of fowl, indicating that he sought to sell them. Bettesworth took the bait and had his men row to the shore. The moment the boat touched the beach, a squadron of cavalry burst from the undergrowth. Their gunfire wounded Bettesworth in the thigh, causing substantial loss of blood, and broke the coxswain's arm. At Bettesworth's urging, the crew of his boat got it off the beach and rowed back to Curieux. On the way back Bettesworth wanted to open a bottle of champagne, but the purser broke it in his nervousness.
On 8 February 1805, Curieux chased the French 16-gun privateer Dame Ernouf for twelve hours before being able to bring her to action. After forty minutes of hard fighting the Frenchman, which had a larger crew than Curieux, maneuvered to attempt a boarding. Bettesworth turned with the result that the French vessel got stuck in a position where Curieux could rake her deck. Unable to fight back, the Dame Ernouff struck. Curieux suffered five killed and four wounded, including Bettesworth, whom a musket ball had hit in the head. The Frenchman had 30 killed and 40 wounded. The French recaptured Dame Ernouf shortly thereafter, but the British then recaptured her again too.
That same year (1805) he brought home from Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
despatches from Admiral Nelson, apprising the government of Admiral Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was a French naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of the French and Spanish fleets defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar....
's homeward flight from the West Indies. On the way Bettesworth spotted the French fleet and alerted the Admiralty. His information led to Rear Admiral Robert Calder
Robert Calder
Admiral Sir Robert Calder, 1st Baronet, KCB was a British naval officer who served in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.-Early life:...
's interception of the Franco-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Finisterre
Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)
In the Battle of Cape Finisterre off Galicia, Spain, the British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder fought an indecisive naval battle against the Combined Franco-Spanish fleet which was returning from the West Indies...
. For his services, Lord Barham
Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham
Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham PC was a British naval officer and politician.He was born at Leith, Midlothian to Robert Middleton, a customs collector of Bo'ness, Linlithgowshire, and Helen, daughter of Charles Dundas.-Naval career:Middleton entered the Royal Navy in 1741 as captain's...
promoted Bettesworth to Post-Captain
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:...
.
HMS Crocodile
In July 1806, he became captain of the 22-gun Banterer classBanterer class post ship
The Banterer-class sailing sixth rates were a series of six post ships built to an 1805 design by Sir William Rule, which served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War...
Post-ship HMS Crocodile, on the Guernsey station, and later Halifax, Nova Scotia
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
. While with Crocodile, Bettesworth was involved in an unsuccessful claim for salvage rights to the American vessel Walker. A French privateer had captured Walker, but her crew has subsequently recaptured their ship when Crocodile came on the scene and escorted her to Halifax. For this service, Crocodile claimed salvage rights. The court did not agree.
HMS Tartar
In October 1807, Bettesworth took command of the 32-gun frigate HMS TartarHMS Tartar (1801)
HMS Tartar was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, built at Frindsbury and launched in 1801. She captured privateers on the Jamaica station and fought in the Gunboat War and elsewhere in the Baltic before being lost to grounding off Estonia in 1811.-Jamaica station:Captain James Walker...
. That month his cousin, the poet Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
, wrote:
- "Next January ... I am going to sea for four or five months with my cousin, Captain Bettesworth, who commands the Tartar, the finest frigate in the navy ... We are going probably to the Mediterranean or to the West Indies, or to the devil; and if there is a possibility of taking me to the latter, Bettesworth will do it, for he has received four-and-twenty wounds in different places, and at this moment possesses a letter from the late Lord Nelson stating that Bettesworth is the only officer in the navy who had more wounds than himself."
Battle of Alvøen
The Battle of Alvøen was a sea battle of the Gunboat War between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom. It was fought on 16 May 1808 in Vatlestraumen, outside Bergen in Norway, between the British frigate HMS Tartar and a Norwegian force consisting of four kanonjolles and one kanonsjalupps .The...
. Tartar was watching some vessels outside Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
and decided to cut some of them off from the protecting gunboats. However, Tartar became becalmed amid the rocks, which enabled the schooner Odin and five gunboats to attack. Their first shots killed Bettesworth, and in all Tartar lost two dead and seven wounded before she could escape. Tartar did manage to sink one gunboat.
Personal
Bettesworth had married Lady Hannah Althea Grey, the second daughter of General Charles Grey, 1st Earl GreyCharles Grey, 1st Earl Grey
Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey, KB PC was one of the most important British generals of the 18th century. He was the fourth son of Sir Henry Grey, 1st Baronet, of Howick in Northumberland. He served in the Seven Years' War, American War of Independence and French Revolutionary War...
and Elizabeth Grey, on 24 August 1807, while he was captain on Crocodile. After Bettesworth's death, she married Edward Ellice
Edward Ellice (merchant)
Edward Ellice the Elder , known in his time as the "Bear", was a British merchant and politician. He was a Director of the Hudson's Bay Company and a prime mover behind the Reform Bill of 1832....
, a merchant, on 30 October 1809. She died on 28 July 1832.
Betteworth's body was buried at Howick, Northumberland
Howick, Northumberland
Howick is a village in Northumberland, between Boulmer and Craster. It is just inland from the North Sea, into which Howick burn flows, from Howick Hall...
, in the vault of the Grey family, on 27 May 1808. Major Trevanion
John Bettesworth-Trevanion
John Trevanion Purnell Bettesworth-Trevanion, MP, OW was a Cornish politician. He rebuilt Caerhays as a Gothic-style castle.-Early years:...
, "a brother of Captain Bettesworth", was chief mourner. (Byron's grandmother was a Miss Trevanion.)
Sources
- Brenton, Edward Pelham (1823) The naval history of Great Britain, from the year MDCCLXXXIII. to MDCCCXXXVI. (London: C. Rice).
- Rose, Hugh JamesHugh James RoseHugh James Rose was an English churchman and theologian who served as the second Principal of King's College London....
, Henry John RoseHenry John RoseHenry John Rose was an English churchman, theologian of High Church views, and scholar, who became archdeacon of Bedford.-Life:Born at Uckfield, Sussex, on 3 January 1800, he was younger son of William Rose , then curate and schoolmaster in the parish, and afterwards vicar of Glynde, Sussex; Hugh...
, Thomas Wright (1857) A new general biographical dictionary, Volume 4. (London: T. Fellowes). - Southey, Thomas (1827) Chronological history of the West Indies, Vol. 3. (London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green).
- Stewart, James, Nova Scotia. Vice-Admiralty Court (1814) Reports of cases, argued and determined in the court of vice-admiralty: at Halifax, in Nova-Scotia, from the commencement of the war, in 1803, to the end of the year 1813, in the time of Alexander Croke. (London : J. Butterworth).
- Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1793-1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing, 2nd edition, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4.