1st Edition
Letters and Papers of Charles, Lord Barham 1758-1813, Vol. II
Charles Middleton was one of the most interesting, influential and unlikeable characters in the British naval history. As Controller of the Navy 1778-1790, a member of the Admiralty Board 1794-95, and First Lord 1805-06, as well as the confidential naval adviser of several prime ministers, he played a decisive part in reform and centralization of naval administration over thirty years, and was finally (at the age of eighty) responsible for guiding the Trafalgar campaign.
In this volume are printed correspondence and papers dealing with the latter part of Middleton ‘s period as Controller of the Navy (1779-90), particularly bearing on naval administration and the reform thereof.
Correspondence, 1779-82, with the Earl of Sandwich
Correspondence and Memoranda, 1779-82 ; including letters to Lord George Germain and Lord Shelburne
Letters from Commissioner Laforey, 1780-88, with enclosures from Captain Charles Thompson, Sir Hyde Parker, Sir George Rodney, Lord Howe
Correspondence and Memoranda, 1783 ; including letters to or from William Pitt, Lord Keppel, Lord Howe, Mr.Stephens, the Treasury, the King
Correspondence and Memoranda, 1784 ; including letters to or from Lord Howe, Sir John Lindsay, William Pitt, the Admiralty
Correspondence and Memoranda, 1785 ; including letters to or from Lord Howe, William Pitt, the King
Mr. Pitt's Queries
Correspondence and Memoranda, 1786 ; including letters to or from William Pitt, Francis Baring, Commissioners of Enquiry
Book of Navy Board Warrants
Constitution of the Navy Board
Correspondence and Memoranda, 1787 ; including letters to or from William Pitt, Major Mitchell, Captain Macbride, Vice-Admiral Graves, Sir George Yonge, Lord Howe, Lord Inchiquin, Francis Baring, Rear-Admiral Gower
Preparation for War
Correspondence and Memoranda, 1788 ; including letters to or from William Pitt, James Bowen, Commissioners of Customs
Letters to Lord Sandwich, January and February 1789
Correspondence and Memoranda, 1789 ; including letters to or from Lord Chatham, William Pitt, C A Friend,' the King, Captain Ben. Caldwell
Correspondence and Memoranda, 1790 ; including letters to or from Commissioner Fanshawe, William Pitt, Commissioner Martin
Resignation of Office
Letters to Lord Chatham, 1793
Queries to be sent to Toulon
On the State of our Fleet
Correspondence with Philip Patton, 1784-94
Patton's proposed Disposition of the Fleet
Proposed Arrangement of the Fleet, June 1794
Memorandum as to the Arrangement, 1795
Correspondence, 1795 ; including letters to and from Sir John Laforey, James Dick, Earl Spencer
Biography
John Laughton was born in Liverpool on 23 April 1830, son of a Master Mariner. He was educated at the Royal Institution School, Liverpool and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read mathematics and graduated as a wrangler in 1852. He entered the Royal Navy as an instructor, joining his first ship, Royal George, in 1853, serving in the Baltic during the Crimean War. In 1866 he went ashore to teach at the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, moving with the College to Greenwich in 1873, becoming Head of the Department of Meteorology and Marine Surveying.
