William Monson
Encyclopedia
Sir William Monson British
admiral
, was the third son of Sir John Monson of South Carlton in Lincolnshire
, where the family was of old standing.
, in 1581, but ran away to sea in 1585, being then according to his own account sixteen. His first services were in a privateer
in an action with a Spanish ship in the Bay of Biscay
, of which he gives a somewhat Münchhausen
-like account in his Naval Tracts. In the Armada
year he served as Lieutenant of the "Charles," a small ship of the Queen's. There being at that time no regular naval service, Monson is next found serving with the adventurous Earl of Cumberland
(1558-1605), whom he followed in his voyages of 1589, 1591 and 1593. During the second of these ventures Monson was taken prisoner by the Spaniards
in a recaptured prize after an engagement off Berlengas Islands
, and was for a time detained at Lisbon
in captivity. His cruises must have brought him some profit, for in 1595 he was able to marry, and he thought it worthwhile to take his M.A. degree. The Earl offended him by showing favour to another follower, and Monson turned elsewhere. In the expedition to Cádiz
in 1596, he commanded the Repulse. From this time till the conclusion of the war with Spain he was in constant employment. In 1602 he commanded the last squadron fitted out in the reign of Queen Elizabeth
. In 1604 he was appointed Admiral of the Narrow Seas, the equivalent of the Channel
Fleet of modern times. In 1614 he was sent to the coasts of Scotland
and Ireland
to repress the pirates who then swarmed on the coast. Monson claimed to have extirpated these pests, but it is certain that they were numerous a generation later. After 1614 he saw no further active service till 1635, when he went to sea as vice-admiral of the fleet fitted out by King Charles I
with the first ship money
. He spent the last years of his life in writing his Tracts, and died in February 1643.
's favourites, and was made a baronet
in 1611. He held a position of trust at the Tower of London
, a circumstance which led to his arrest as one of the participators in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury
. He was, however, soon released. His eldest son was Sir John Monson, Bart. (1600-1683), a member of parliament under Charles I
, and another son was Sir William Monson
(c. 1607-1678), who was created an Irish peer as Viscount Monson of Castlemaine in 1628. Having been a member of the court which tried Charles I the viscount was deprived of his honours and was sentenced to imprisonment for life in 1661. Sir John Monson's descendant, another Sir John Monson, Bart. (1693-1748), was created Baron Monson in 1728. His youngest son was George Monson (1730-1776), who served with the English troops in India from 1758 to 1763. The baron's eldest son was John, the 2nd baron (1727-1774), whose son William Monson (1760-1807) served in the Mahratta War under General Lake. William's only son William John (1796-1862) became 6th Baron Monson in succession to his cousin Frederick John, the 5th baron, in October 1841. His son William John, the 7th baron (1829-1898), was created Viscount Oxenbridge in 1886. When he died without sons in 1898 the viscounty became extinct, but the barony descended to his brother Debonnaire John (1830-1900), whose son Augustus Debonnaire John (b. 1868) became 9th Baron Monson in 1900. Another of Viscount Oxenbridge's brothers was Sir Edmund John Monson, Bart. (b. 1834), who, after filling many other diplomatic appointments, was British ambassador in Paris from 1896 to 1904.
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
, was the third son of Sir John Monson of South Carlton in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, where the family was of old standing.
Career
He matriculated at Balliol College, OxfordBalliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
, in 1581, but ran away to sea in 1585, being then according to his own account sixteen. His first services were in a privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
in an action with a Spanish ship in the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
, of which he gives a somewhat Münchhausen
Baron Munchhausen
Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Freiherr von Münchhausen , usually known as Baron Münchhausen in English, was a German nobleman born in Bodenwerder and a famous recounter of tall tales....
-like account in his Naval Tracts. In the Armada
Spanish Armada
This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
year he served as Lieutenant of the "Charles," a small ship of the Queen's. There being at that time no regular naval service, Monson is next found serving with the adventurous Earl of Cumberland
George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland
Sir George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, KG was an English peer, as well as a naval commander and courtier in the court of Queen Elizabeth I.-Background:...
(1558-1605), whom he followed in his voyages of 1589, 1591 and 1593. During the second of these ventures Monson was taken prisoner by the Spaniards
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in a recaptured prize after an engagement off Berlengas Islands
Battle of Berlengas Islands
The Battle of Berlengas Islands took place on 15 July of 1591 during the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585. It was fought between an English privateer squadron under George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, and 5 Spanish galleys commanded by Don Francisco Coloma, who succeeded in capture several English...
, and was for a time detained at Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
in captivity. His cruises must have brought him some profit, for in 1595 he was able to marry, and he thought it worthwhile to take his M.A. degree. The Earl offended him by showing favour to another follower, and Monson turned elsewhere. In the expedition to Cádiz
Capture of Cadiz
The Capture of Cádiz in 1596 was an event during the Anglo-Spanish War, when English and Dutch troops under Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and a large Anglo-Dutch fleet under Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, with support from the Dutch United Provinces, raided the Spanish city of...
in 1596, he commanded the Repulse. From this time till the conclusion of the war with Spain he was in constant employment. In 1602 he commanded the last squadron fitted out in the reign of Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
. In 1604 he was appointed Admiral of the Narrow Seas, the equivalent of the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
Fleet of modern times. In 1614 he was sent to the coasts of 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...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
to repress the pirates who then swarmed on the coast. Monson claimed to have extirpated these pests, but it is certain that they were numerous a generation later. After 1614 he saw no further active service till 1635, when he went to sea as vice-admiral of the fleet fitted out by King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
with the first ship money
Ship money
Ship money refers to a tax that Charles I of England tried to levy without the consent of Parliament. This tax, which was only applied to coastal towns during a time of war, was intended to offset the cost of defending that part of the coast, and could be paid in actual ships or the equivalent value...
. He spent the last years of his life in writing his Tracts, and died in February 1643.
Legacy
His claim to be remembered is not based on his services as a naval officer, though they were undoubtedly honourable, but on his Tracts. These treatises consist in part of historical narratives, and in part of argumentative proposals for the reform of abuses, or the development of the naval resources of the country. They form by far the best account by a contemporary of the naval life and transactions of the reign of Elizabeth I and the beginning of the reign of King James. Monson takes care to do himself full justice, but he is not unfair to his contemporaries. His style is thoroughly modern, and has hardly a trace of the poetry of the Elizabethans. He was the first naval officer in the modern sense of the word, a gentleman by birth and education who was trained to the sea, and not simply a soldier put in to fight, with a sailing master to handle the ship for him, or a tarpaulin who was a sailor only. The one authority for the life of Sir William Monson is his own Tracts, but a very good account of him is included by Southey in his Lives of the Admirals, vol. v. The Tracts were first printed in the third volume of Churchill's Voyages, but they have been edited for the Navy Record Society by Mr Oppenheim.Family
Monson's elder brother, Sir Thomas Monson (1564-1641), was one of James IJames I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
's favourites, and was made a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
in 1611. He held a position of trust at the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
, a circumstance which led to his arrest as one of the participators in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury
Thomas Overbury
Sir Thomas Overbury was an English poet and essayist, and the victim of one of the most sensational crimes in English history...
. He was, however, soon released. His eldest son was Sir John Monson, Bart. (1600-1683), a member of parliament under Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, and another son was Sir William Monson
William Monson, 1st Viscount Monson
William Monson, 1st Viscount Monson was one of the Regicides of King Charles I of England.William Monson was son of Sir Thomas Monson. He was created Viscount Monson of Castlemaine in 1628 and knighted in 1633. He was elected M.P. for Reigate in 1640, 1645 and 1648. He was nominated as one of...
(c. 1607-1678), who was created an Irish peer as Viscount Monson of Castlemaine in 1628. Having been a member of the court which tried Charles I the viscount was deprived of his honours and was sentenced to imprisonment for life in 1661. Sir John Monson's descendant, another Sir John Monson, Bart. (1693-1748), was created Baron Monson in 1728. His youngest son was George Monson (1730-1776), who served with the English troops in India from 1758 to 1763. The baron's eldest son was John, the 2nd baron (1727-1774), whose son William Monson (1760-1807) served in the Mahratta War under General Lake. William's only son William John (1796-1862) became 6th Baron Monson in succession to his cousin Frederick John, the 5th baron, in October 1841. His son William John, the 7th baron (1829-1898), was created Viscount Oxenbridge in 1886. When he died without sons in 1898 the viscounty became extinct, but the barony descended to his brother Debonnaire John (1830-1900), whose son Augustus Debonnaire John (b. 1868) became 9th Baron Monson in 1900. Another of Viscount Oxenbridge's brothers was Sir Edmund John Monson, Bart. (b. 1834), who, after filling many other diplomatic appointments, was British ambassador in Paris from 1896 to 1904.