Roger Curtis

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Sir Roger Curtis
4 June 1746 – 14 November 1816
Replace
Place of birth Downton, Wiltshire
Allegiance Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service 1762 to 1816
Rank Royal Navy Admiral
Battles/wars American Revolutionary War
• Great Siege of Gibraltar
French Revolutionary Wars
• Glorious First of June
Napoleonic Wars
Awards Knight Bachelor
Baronetcy

Admiral Sir Roger Curtis, 1st Baronet (4 June 1746 – 14 November 1816) was a long-servince officer of the British Royal Navy, whose extensive career saw action in numerous places during the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary Wars. He was highly-praised in the former conflict for bravery under fire at the Great Siege of Gibraltar where he saved several hundred Spanish lives at great risk to his own. His career suffered however in the aftermath of the Glorious First of June, when he was criticised heavily by several influential figures for his conduct. He subsequently became even more unpopular after decisions taken at two court martials, that of Anthony Molloy in 1795 and James Gambier in 1810. Ultimately his career staled as more popular and successful officers secured active positions. During the Napoleonic Wars, Curtis was relegated to staff duties ashore and did not see action. Historians today see Curtis as an over-cautious officer in a period when dashing, attacking tactics were admired. Contemporary opinion was more divided, with some influential officers expressing admiration of Curtis and other contempt.

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[edit] Early career

Roger Curtis was born in 1746 to a gentleman farmer of Wiltshire, also named Roger Curtis. Curtis joined the Navy aged 16 in 1762 and became a midshipman aboard HMS Royal Sovereign in the final year of the Seven Years War. Curtis did not see any fighting before the Treaty of Paris in 1763, and was soon sent for training aboard HMS Assistance off West Africa. Over the next six years, Curtis moved from Assistance to the guardship HMS Augusta at Portsmouth to the sloop HMS Gibraltar in Newfoundland. In 1769, Curtis joined HMS Venus under Samuel Barrington and then moved to the ship of the line HMS Albion in which he was promoted to lieutenant.[1]

Shortly after his promotion, Curtis joined HMS Otter in Newfoundland and there became friends with the governor Molyneux Shuldham. Shuldham became a patron of Curtis and in 1775 assisted his transfer into HMS Chatham. The following year, with the American Revolutionary War underway, Curtis was promoted to commander and given the sloop HMS Senegal. Curtis performed well in his new command and a year later was again promoted after being noticed by Lord Howe. Howe made Curtis captain of HMS Eagle, Howe's own flagship, and they became close friends.[1]

[edit] American Revolutionary War

In 1778, Curtis returned Eagle to Britain but refused to carry out an order to sail the ship to the Far East, a refusal which earned the enmity of Lord Sandwich. As a result, Curtis was unemployed for the next two years until he was given the new frigate HMS Brilliant for service in the Mediterranean. Ordered to arrive at Gibraltar, Brilliant was attacked by a superior Spanish squadron close to the fortress and had to flee to British-held Minorca. Curtis's first lieutenant Colin Campbell complained extensively about his captain's remaining in port whilst enemy shipping passed by the harbour mouth, but in fact, Curtis was waiting for a 25 ship relief convoy which he convoyed into Gibraltar to help relieve the Great Siege of Gibraltar then in progress.[1]

Although Curtis was personally opposed to British possession of Gibraltar, Curtis took command of a marine unit in the siege, and during the great attack by Spanish gunboats and floating batteries in September 1782, Curtis took his men into action in their small boats. During this operation, Curtis witness the destruction of the batteries by British fireships and rescued hundreds of burnt and drowning Spanish sailors from the water, despite the proximity of the enemy and the sudden detonation of several Spanish ships nearby which showered his overcrowded boats with debries and caused several casualties amongst his crews.[1] When Lord Howe relieved the siege, he carried the much celebrated Curtis back to Britain, where he was featured in many newspaper prints and knighted for his service.[1]

During 1783, Curtis was sent to Morocco to renew treaties with the country and then remained in Gibraltar, accepting the Spanish truce party at the war's end. His ship was paid off in 1784. Curtis remained in employment during the peace, commanding HMS Ganges as guardship off Portsmouth. In 1787, he was placed on half-pay, although it has been speculated that during this period he conducted a secret mission to Scandinavia to ensure British supplies on naval materials from the peninsula in the event of war.[1] In the Spanish armament of 1790, Curtis was briefly made flag captain of HMS Queen Charlotte under Howe, but soon transferred to HMS Brunswick. On Brunswick, Curtis had to deal with an outbreak of a deadly and infectious fever. He was successful in controlling the disease, and later published and advisory pamphlet on techniques for other captain's faced with contagion to follow.[1]

[edit] French Revolutionary War

In 1793, with the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War, Curtis returned to Queen Charlotte and joined Lord Howe at the head of the Channel Fleet. In May 1794, Howe led the fleet to sea to capture a French grain convoy. After a month of fruitless searching, Howe discovered that the French Atlantic Fleet under Villaret de Joyeuse had left harbour and was sailing to meet the convoy. Howe gave chase in the Atlantic campaign of May 1794. On 1 June 1794, Howe caught Villaret and the fleets engaged in the battle of the Glorious First of June. The battle was hard fought and Curtis was in the midst as the flagship fought several French craft simultaneously.[1]

As the battle closed however, the aged Howe retired and Curtis was given responsibility for the flagship and consequently the fleet over the next day. Exactly how much of what transpired was Curtis's fault has never been established, but in a series of unusual decisions, the British did not pursue the French fleet in the aftermath of battle and a dispatch was sent to the Admiralty concerning the battle which mentioned certain officers and excluded others. The awards presented to the captain's who had served at the battle were given based on the report a captain received, and those omitted were excluded from the victory medal. Although Howe had ultimate responsibility for the dispatch, many blamed Curtis for this slight, as it was he who was rumoured to have abandoned pursuit and then penned the report in Howe's name.[1]

Curtis's subsequent actions did not endear him to his fellow officers either. Whilst Curtis was granted a baronetcy for his role in the action, one captain in particular, Anthony Molloy, faced a court martial and national disgrace for his failure to engage the enemy during the battle.[1] Curtis became prosecutor in the case and Molloy was subsequently dismissed his ship and effectively dismissed the service as a result of Curtis's prosecution. Cuthbert Collingwood, one of the captains overlooked by the dispatch, subsequently described Curtis as "an artful, sneeking creature, whose fawning insinuating manners creeps into the confidence of whoever he attacks and whose rapacity wou'd grasp all honours and all profits that come within his view".[1]

During the years after the battle, Curtis saw brief periods in command of HMS Canada, HMS Powerful, HMS Invincible and HMS Formidable. In 1796, he was promoted to rear-admiral and raised his flag on HMS Prince. In command of this ship, Curtis was in charge of the naval operations which succeeded in destroying or driving off much of the French force sent to support the Irish Rebellion of 1798.[1] Later in the year he joined St Vincent off Cadiz and was soon afterwards made vice-admiral. In 1799, he retired ashore.

[edit] Staff service

Curtis's remaining career was taken up by shore stations, first at Cape Town between 1800 and 1803, which he hated and subsequently from 1805 to 1807 as part of the "Commission for revising the civil affairs of His Majesty's navy". This latter was an important role and Curtis performed well, introducing many beneficial reforms to the service.[1] In 1802, Curtis's eldest son Roger, a post captain in the navy, died suddenly on duty. In 1809, Curtis took on his final command, that of commander-in-chief at Portsmouth. It was in this role that Curtis performed his last significant duty when he presided over the highly controversial court martial examining the conduct of Lord Gambier at the Battle of Basque Roads. Gambier and Curtis had fought together at the Glorious First of June and the trial inevitably ended in acquital.[1]

Curtis retired after the trial and died in 1816 in peaceful retirement, followed a year later by his wife of many years, Sarah. His only surviving child, Lucius Curtis inherited the baronetcy and later became and admiral in his own right. Curtis was a highly controversial officer during his career whose public disputes frequently resulted in bitterness. He was also however, indisputably brave and resourceful, his actions at Gibraltar resulting the naming of the Curtis Group, several small islands in the Bass Strait.[1] Curtis was also close friends with Horatio Nelson, who once described him as "an able officer and conciliating man".[1]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Curtis, Sir Roger, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Roger Knight, Retrieved 19 January 2008

[edit] References


Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by
New Creation		 Curtis Baronets
1794–1816		 Succeeded by
Sir Lucius Curtis, 2nd Baronet


Persondata
NAME Curtis, Roger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Curtis, Sir Roger, 1st Baronet
SHORT DESCRIPTION British Royal Navy admiral
DATE OF BIRTH 4 June 1746
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH 14 November 1816
PLACE OF DEATH