1st Edition
Letters and Papers of Charles, Lord Barham 1758-1813, Vol. III
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.
Middleton’s career continues at the Admiralty and out of office, with much correspondence to and from politicians and sea officers. This volume covers Barham’s brief period as First Sea Lord (a term he appears to have invented) during the Trafalgar Campaign.
Middleton to Lord Chatham, 12th December 1794
Mem. by Lord Spencer, (?)25th August 1795
Rear-Admiral Gambier to Middleton, 29th October 1795
Middleton to Chatham, 8th November 1795
Middleton to (?) Lord Loughborough, iith November 1795
Anon. to Middleton, (?)April 1798
Middleton to Fordyce, 16th August 1798
Middleton to J. D. Thomson, 21st July 1800
On the State of the Navy, April 1803
Middleton to J. D. Thomson, 18th July 1803
Memoranda of Advice, May 1804
Memorandum by Lord Melville, 3rd July 1804
Lord Mulgrave to Lord Melville, 13th September 1804
Correspondence with J. D. Thomson, December 1804
Memorandum by Lord Melville, 5th March 1805
Middleton to Lord Melville, March, April 18o5
Middleton to J. D. Thomson, April 18o5
Lord Hawkesbury to Lord Barham, 17th May, 1805
Letters, Plans and Memoranda relating to Organisation and Administration
Correspondence concerning the Operations in the North Sea
Letters from Captain Collier
Chart of the Texel, 1799 to face
Letters from Nauticus
Correspondence relating to the Command at Cork
Captain Grant's Narrative
Letters, Orders and Memoranda relating to the Command off Brest
Facsimile of Minute of 9th July 18o5 to face
The Calder Episode
Mem. for Mr. James
Correspondence relative to the Command off Cadiz
Plan of the Battle of Trafalgar to fare
Correspondence about Villeneuve
Correspondence with Sir J. T. Duckworth
Correspondence in Retirement
Examination of Officers
The Thomson Papers
INDEX
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.
