Peter Warren (Royal Navy officer)

Sir Peter Warren, KB (10 March 1703 – 29 July 1752) was a British naval officer from Ireland who commanded the naval forces in the attack on the French fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia in 1745. He later sat as MP for Westminster.

He was the youngest son of Michael Warren and Catherine Plunkett, née Alymer (his mother was the first wife of Sir Nicholas Plunkett).

A brother of his mother was Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer (died 1720), admiral and commander-in-chief, had entered the navy under the protection of the Duke of Buckingham, as a lieutenant, in 1678.

Warren signed on as an ordinary seaman in Dublin in 1716 when he was 13 years old. He rapidly rose in the ranks, becoming a Captain in 1727. His ship patrolled American colonial waters to provide protection from French forces. He became involved in colonial politics and land speculation. In 1731, he married Susannah Delancey (1707–1771), whose brother James was chief justice and lieutenant governor of the province of New York.

Warren's lands included several thousand acres on the south side of the Mohawk River west of Schenectady, New York. In 1738, he hired his nephew William Johnson to manage these western lands. In 1741, Warren built Warren House, a mansion overlooking the Hudson River on his 300-acre (120-hectare) estate in Greenwich Village.^[1] In 1744, he was made commodore and commanded a 16 ship squadron off the Leeward Islands, capturing 24 ships in four months. In 1745, Warren commanded a group of ships that supported the Massachusetts forces in the capture of Louisbourg. The prize system of the time allowed naval officers to profit from the capture of enemy ships, and this expedition earned Warren a fortune, a promotion to the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue, and a knighthood.

Peter and Susannah had six children, but two died in 1744 during the smallpox epidemic in New York. He moved his wife and four surviving daughters to England in 1747. He was second in command of the British fleet on the Devonshire at the Battle of Cape Finisterre. His conduct in the battle won him further fame, a promotion to Vice-Admiral of the Red,^[2] and much prize-money. While on a visit to Ireland in 1752, he died suddenly in Dublin "of a most Violent fever." ^[3]

His granddaughter, Susanna Maria Skinner, was married to Henry Gage, 3rd Viscount Gage, son of General Thomas Gage. (Her father, Lt. General William Skinner, was a brother of Loyalist General Cortlandt Skinner, and both brothers were grandsons of Stephanus Van Cortlandt; a daughter of Cortland Skinner named Catherine was married to Sir William Henry Robinson, a son of loyalist Beverley Robinson. Beverley Robinson was a first cousin once removed of Judith Robinson, first wife of patriot Carter Braxton).

The towns of Warren, Rhode Island and Warren, New Hampshire are named after him, and Warren Street in Lower Manhattan.

Warren family tree

  Sir Christopher Plunkett       Sir Christopher Aylmer, Baron Balrath
 =Margaret                      =Lady Plunkett (dau. of Matthew, 5th Earl of Louth)
  |                              |
  |                              |
  Sir Nicholas Plunkett = Catherine Aylmer = Michael Warren of Warrenstown, Co. Meath.
                                           |
                                           |_________________________________________
                                           |                               |
                                           |                               |
                                           Oliver  & several sons & 1 dau  Peter 
                                                                          =Susanah de Lancey
                                                                           |
   ________________________________________________________________________|
   |                                    |                                  |
   |                                    |                                  |           
   Charlotte Warren                     Ann Warren                         Susanna
  =Willoughby, 4th Earl of Abingdon    =Charles, 1st Baron Southampton    =Colonel Skinner
   |                                    |
   |                                    |
   Montague Bertie,                     George FitzRoy,
 5th Earl of Abingdon             2nd Baron Southampton

References

Sources

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• National Portrait Gallery -- Sir Peter Warren
• Plunkett-Alymer genealogy
• Greenwich Village -- the Gallant Career of Sir Peter Warren