Robert Heriot Barclay
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
naval officer who was engaged in the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, and its North American counterpart, the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
.
He was born at Cupar
Cupar
Cupar is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland. The town is situated between Dundee and the New Town of Glenrothes.According to a recent population estimate , Cupar had a population around 8,980 making the town the ninth largest settlement in Fife.-History:The town is believed to have...
, Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, the son of the Rev. Peter Barclay DD & Margaret Dudingston. He entered 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...
in 1798, aged 11. In 1805 he was promoted Lieutenant, and took part in the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
aboard HMS Swiftsure
HMS Swiftsure (1804)
HMS Swiftsure was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched from Bucklers Hard on 23 July 1804. She fought at Trafalgar.The French 74-gun ship Swiftsure also took part in the battle...
. He was subsequently appointed the second Lieutenant of the frigate HMS Diana
HMS Diana (1794)
HMS Diana was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1794.On 7 March 1815 HMS Diana was sold to the Dutch navy for £36,796...
, serving in the English Channel. In November 1809 he lost his left arm while leading a boarding attack on a French convoy.
After recovering, he continued to serve as Lieutenant aboard several ships and smaller craft on the North American station. After war with America broke out, the Commander in Chief on the North American station (Admiral Warren), detached Barclay and two other Lieutenants (Robert Finnis and Daniel Pring
Daniel Pring
Daniel Pring was an officer in the British Royal Navy. He is best known for the part he played in the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States.He was born near Honiton in Devon...
) to act as "Captains of Corvettes" on the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
. Barclay arrived at Kingston
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
on Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
on May 5, 1813, and took charge of the squadron there with the acting rank of Commander. Ten days later he was superseded by Captain James Lucas Yeo
James Lucas Yeo
Sir James Lucas Yeo KCB was a British naval commander who served in the War of 1812.Yeo was born in Southampton on 7 October 1782, and joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman at the age of 10. He first saw action as a lieutenant aboard a brig in the Adriatic Sea, and distinguished himself during the...
. Yeo first offered the command of the detached squadron on Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
to his friend, William Mulcaster
William Mulcaster
Capt Sir William Howe Mulcaster KCH was an officer in the British Royal Navy who played a distinguished part in the Anglo-American War of 1812, in particular in the Engagements on Lake Ontario....
. Mulcaster declined, probably because of the undermanned and underequipped state of the force, and the post was offered to Barclay, who quickly accepted.
The Americans dominated Lake Ontario and held the Niagara Peninsula. As a result, Barclay was forced to travel overland to Amherstburg
Amherstburg, Ontario
Amherstburg is a Canadian town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario. It is approximately south of the U.S...
, where his command was based, with a handful of officers and seamen. He arrived there on June 5. Although the American had no armed vessels on the lake, they were constructing two large brig-rigged corvettes at Presqu'Isle
Presque Isle State Park
Presque Isle State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on an arching sandy peninsula that juts into Lake Erie, west of the city of Erie, in Millcreek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The peninsula sweeps northeastward, surrounding Presque Isle Bay along the park's...
, and also transferring several from Black Rock on the Niagara River
Niagara River
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
. Barclay immediately set sail in two of his armed vessels. He first recconnoitred Presqu'Isle, and determined that it was defended by an entrenched force of 2000 militia, and the two American brigs had their lower masts fitted. He then proceeded to intercept the American ships from Black Rock, but missed them in hazy weather, although at one point the two forces were apparently only fourteen miles apart off the Cattaraugus Creek.
For the next few weeks, Barclay maintained a blockade of Presqu'Isle, preventing the Americans under Oliver Hazard Perry
Oliver Hazard Perry
United States Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island , the son of USN Captain Christopher Raymond Perry and Sarah Wallace Alexander, a direct descendant of William Wallace...
from crossing the sandbar at the mouth of the harbour. He meanwhile repeatedly requested that Yeo send him more sailors and arms, and that the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (Major General Francis de Rottenburg
Francis de Rottenburg
Major-General Francis de Rottenburg, baron de Rottenburg was raised in what is now Gdańsk in Poland to a Swiss family and became a British military officer and colonial administrator. He spent almost a decade in the French army which came to an end with the French Revolution...
) reinforce the troops at Amherstburg under Major General Henry Procter. Neither senior officer sent the requested help.
On July 28, bad weather and shortage of supplies forced Barclay to lift the blockade. When he returned three days later, Perry's force was free of the sandbar and apparently ready for action. Barclay reasoned that he was outnumbered and withdrew. From then on, Perry controlled the lake, and the British were unable to move supplies to Amherstburg. Finally in September, Barclay had received a last reinforcement of a few officers and sailors and part completed a ship-rigged corvette, but no food remained at Amherstburg. Barclay set out to fight Perry's squadron, and in the Battle of Lake Erie
Battle of Lake Erie
The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes called the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, in Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of Great Britain's Royal Navy...
his squadron was defeated and captured by the Americans. Barclay himself was severely wounded in his right arm.
As was customary after any defeat or the loss of any ship, Barclay was court-martialled. He appeared before the court with one leg and his surviving arm swathed in bandages. The court exonerated him, stating "the Judgement and Gallantry of Captain Barclay . . . were highly conspicuous and entitled him to the highest Praise”. His promotion to Commander was confirmed in November that year.
In August 1815, he married his first cousin, Agnes Cosser, at St John's Westminster (London), England, and they had several children. In November of that year he was granted an annual pension of £200.
Barclay later petitioned the Admiralty for employment, but received the command only of a bomb-vessel in 1822. From 1824 to his death in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
in 1837, he saw no further service.