Joshua Loring

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Joshua Loring
1716 – October 1, 1781 (aged 65)
Place of birth	Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony
Place of death	Highgate, England, Great Britain
Allegiance	Great Britain
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	c. 1736-1760
Rank	Commodore
Battles/wars	King George's War French and Indian War
Relations	Joshua Loring, Jr., son Sir John Wentworth Loring, son Henry Lloyd Loring, son
Other work	member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council under colonial Governor Thomas Gage

Joshua Loring (1716-October 1781) was an 18th century colonial American naval officer in British service. During the French and Indian War, he served as a commodore in the Great Lakes region and was active during much of the Ontario and Quebec campaigns.

[edit] Biography

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Loring was apprenticed as a tanner but instead chose to enlist the Royal Navy as a young man. He rose to command a privateer during King George's War, however he was captured by the French in 1744. Held as a prisoner in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia for several months, he was eventually released and was made a captain on December 19, 1757. During the French and Indian War, he was involved in naval operations on Lake George and Lake Champlain in 1759 and served under General James Wolfe at the capture of Quebec later that year. Transferred to Lake Ontario, he commanded the advance guard at the Battle of the Thousand Islands while accompanying Field Marshal Jeffrey Amherst to Montreal in August 1760. In the final months of the war, Loring was seriously wounded at an engagement on Lake Ontario and retired at half-pay due to his injuries. ^[1]

Loring settled in Jamaica Plain and lived at Loring-Greenough House for over a decade. He was also appointed a member of the governor's council by Governor Thomas Gage, a position which he served until the onset of the American Revolutionary War. He was denounced by the Provisional Congress as "an implacable enemy to their country" on March 30, 1775 and, following the Battle of Lexington the next month, Loring rode to Boston by horseback and armed with a pistol. On his way to Boston, he stopped to visit an old friend who asked of his intentions. Loring reportedly replied "I have always eaten the King's bread, and always intend to."

Arriving in Boston, he boarded a ship for England forced to leave his home and belongs behind. His estate was later confiscated by the state in 1779. He received a royal pension until his death at Highgate, England in 1781. His son, Joshua Loring, Jr., later became a high-sheriff in Suffolk County, Massachusetts ^[2] and was a Deputy Commissary of American prisoners-of-war in New York from 1777 until 1783. His other sons, Sir John Wentworth Loring and Henry Lloyd Loring also had successful careers in the service of Britain, the latter becoming an archdeacon of Calcutta. ^[3]

[edit] References

Persondata
NAME	Loring, Joshua
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	colonial American captain in British service
DATE OF BIRTH	1716
PLACE OF BIRTH	Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony
DATE OF DEATH	October 1781
PLACE OF DEATH	Highgate, England, United Kingdom