Hugh Pigot (Royal Navy officer, born 1722)

Hugh Pigot
Born	(1722-05-28)28 May 1722
Died	15 December 1792(1792-12-15) (aged 70) Bristol, England
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1734–1783
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	HMS Vulcan HMS Centaur HMS Ludlow Castle HMS York HMS Royal William HMS Triumph Leeward Islands Station
Battles/wars	Seven Years' War • Siege of Louisburg • Capture of Quebec American Revolutionary War
Relations	George Pigot (brother) Robert Pigot (brother) Henry Pigot (son) Hugh Pigot (son) Hugh Pigot (nephew)

Admiral Hugh Pigot (28 May 1722 – 15 December 1792), of Wychwood Forest in Oxfordshire, was a Royal Navy officer. He commanded York at the reduction of Louisbourg in June 1758 and commanded Royal William at the capture of Quebec in September 1759 during the Seven Years' War. He went on to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands Station during the American Revolutionary War and then became First Naval Lord. He also served as a Member of Parliament.

Naval career

Early career

Hugh Pigot was the third son of Richard Pigot of Westminster, by his wife Frances, daughter of Peter Goode, a Huguenot who had come to England in the late seventeenth century.^[1] His elder brothers were George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot, who twice served as Governor of Madras, and Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Pigot, who commanded the left flank of the British forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill.^[2]

Pigot entered the navy in around 1735, serving for four years as a captain's servant and able seaman aboard the Captain under Captain Alexander Geddes on the home station, and then Seaford under Captain Savage Mostyn. He then served for another two years as a midshipman aboard the Seaford, Cumberland, and Russell. On 5 November 1741 he passed his examination, and on 9 February 1741/42 (OS) was promoted to lieutenant, and on 2 August was appointed to the Romney under Captain Thomas Grenville, in the Mediterranean.^[3]

HMS Royal William which Pigot commanded at the capture of Quebec

In March 1744 he followed Grenville into Falkland on the home station, and on 2 November 1745 was promoted to commander of the fireship Vulcan. On 22 April 1746 he was appointed as post-captain into the Centaur, apparently for rank only, and in April 1747 was appointed to command of the Ludlow Castle in the West Indies.^[3] In 1755, he was appointed captain of the 60-gun York, one of the ships put into commission in anticipation of the war with France.^[4] In June 1758 he commanded York at the reduction of Louisbourg, and in September 1759 he commanded the 84-gun Royal William in the fleet of Sir Charles Saunders at the capture of Quebec.^[3] He was employed in Royal William for the remainder of the war in the Channel; and in May 1760, chased the Diadem, a French third rate of seventy-four guns, bound for Martinique with stores and specie for the payment of the soldiery, into the Groyne.^[4]

He saw no further service at sea following the conclusion of the war in 1763, but in 1769 was appointed colonel of the second (or Portsmouth) division of Marines; shortly before he had been chosen as representative in parliament for the borough of Penryn,^[4] a government-dominated borough which frequently chose distinguished naval officers as its MPs. (Pigot succeeded Vice-Admiral Sir George Rodney.) Pigot was a close friend of the Prime Minister, the Duke of Grafton, and this connection was cemented when Grafton married Elizabeth Wrottesley, sister of Pigot's second wife, Frances. Pigot represented Penryn until 1774, but did not contest the general election that year.^[5]

In January 1771^[3] he was appointed to command of the Triumph, one of the ships commissioned during the dispute with Spain over the Falkland Islands. When the crisis was peaceably settled his ship was put out of commission, and Pigot held no subsequent commission as a captain.^[4]

Flag rank

He was promoted to rear-admiral on 31 March 1775^[6] and to vice-admiral on 5 February 1776.^[7] In 1778, following the death of his brother, Lord George Pigot, he was elected to fill his seat in Bridgnorth.^[5]

By this time he was a consistent opponent of Lord North's government (he was a gaming crony of the Whig leader Charles James Fox), and seems to have been denied commands for political reasons. When Sheridan attacked the government in the Commons in February 1782 for driving the most distinguished naval commanders out of the service, it was Pigot who rose in answer to the invitation to give instances of the First Lord of the Admiralty's conduct towards officers who were his political opponents.^[5]

With the fall of the government the following month,^[5] on 30 March 1782 Pigot was appointed to the Board of Admiralty in the Second Rockingham ministry,^[5]^[8] and on 24 April 1782 was promoted to full admiral^[9] and appointed to supersede Sir George Rodney as commander-in-chief in the Leeward Islands Station.^[10] Pigot hoisted his flag on board the 50-gun Jupiter, and sailed from Plymouth^[4] on 18 May,^[3] only a day before the arrival of the frigate bringing the news of the defeat of the French fleet under Comte de Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes on the 12 April.^[4] Although Rodney was neither in favour with the new ministry, nor a particularly popular commander, it was considered politic to allow him to remain in command and a message was sent after Pigot to recall him.^[4] However, it failed to arrive before he had assumed command at Jamaica on 13 July.^[3] His appointment was allowed to proceed, and Rodney received an apology and was made a Baron. Pigot, having hoisted his flag on board the 98-gun Formidable, then sailed, as was customary at that time, to America during the hurricane months.^[4]

Pigot had little experience as a captain, with none as an admiral. His second-in-command, Samuel Hood, seems to have regarded him with mixed feelings of pity and contempt, and considered that the government had acted unwisely "in placing an officer at the head of so great a fleet who was unequal to the very important command, for want of practice". In any event Pigot's term of command was uneventful,^[3] and following the signing of the peace treaty in September 1783, he returned to England.^[4] Pigot served as First Naval Lord from January 1783 to December 1783^[11] and then retired from the Navy on 30 December 1783,^[4] and was defeated at Bridgnorth at the general election of 1784.^[5] Pigot lived in the Ranger's Lodge at Wychwood Forest in Oxfordshire exploiting the forest by demanding a firewood allowance from the keepers.^[12]

Pigot died at Bristol on 15 December 1792.^[3]

Personal life

Pigot was twice married, firstly c.1749, to Elizabeth le Neve,^[5] by whom he had a son, General Sir Henry Pigot (1750–1840)^[3] and a daughter, and secondly c.1768 to Frances, the daughter of the Very Reverend Sir Richard Wrottesley, 7th Baronet,^[5] by whom he had a second son, Captain Hugh Pigot, RN, (1769–1797),^[3] and two daughters.^[5] He inherited a one-third share of the Pigot Diamond from his older brother, which remained in the family until sold in a lottery in 1801.^[13]

References

↑ Marshall, P. J. (2004). "Pigot, George, Baron Pigot (1719–1777)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
↑ "Brig. Gen. Robert Pigot and the Battle of Bunker Hill". derekbeck.com. 17 June 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Laughton, John Knox (1896). "Pigot, Hugh (1721?-1792)". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 45. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Charnock, John (1797). Biographia Navalis; or, Impartial memoirs of the lives and characters of officers of the navy of Great Britain, from the year 1660 to the present time; drawn from the most authentic sources, and disposed in a chronological arrangement. Vol. V (1st Continuation). London: R. Faulder. pp. 497–499. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Namier, Lewis; Brooke, John, eds. (1964). "Pigot, Hugh (1722-92), of Wichwood Forest, Oxon.". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790. Boydell & Brewer. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
↑ "No. 11549". The London Gazette. 1 April 1775. p. 1.
↑ "No. 11637". The London Gazette. 3 February 1776. p. 2.
↑ "Sainty, JC, Lord High Admiral and Commissioners of the Admiralty 1660-1870, Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 4: Admiralty Officials 1660-1870 (1975), pp. 18-31.". Retrieved 4 September 2009.
↑ "No. 12290". The London Gazette. 23 April 1782. p. 1.
↑ Haydn, Joseph (13 Jun 2008). The Book of Dignities: Containing Lists of the Official Personages of the British Empire ... from the Earliest Periods to the Present Time ... Together with the Sovereigns and Rulers of Europe, from the Foundation of Their Respective States; the Peerage of England and Great Britain Original 1851 Digitized by the University of Michigan. Longmans, Brown, Green, and Longmans. p. 279.
↑ Rodger, p. 69
↑ "Wychwood and Cornbury" (PDF). Victoria County History. p. 7. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
↑ Ogden, Jack (April 2009). "England's largest diamond". Gems and Jewellery History. 18 (2).

Sources

Concise Dictionary of National Biography. 1930.
Namier, Lewis (1961). The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd ed.). London: St Martin's Press.
Rodger, N.A.M. (1979). The Admiralty. Offices of State. Lavenham: T. Dalton Ltd. ISBN 0900963948.

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by George Brydges Rodney Francis Basset	Member of Parliament for Penryn 1768–1774 With: Francis Basset 1768–1769 William Lemon 1770–1774	Succeeded by Sir George Osborn William Chaytor
Preceded by Thomas Whitmore The Lord Pigot	Member of Parliament for Bridgnorth 1778–1784 With: Thomas Whitmore	Succeeded by Thomas Whitmore Isaac Hawkins Browne
Military offices
Preceded by Sir George Brydges Rodney	Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands Station 1782–1783	Succeeded by Sir Richard Hughes
Preceded by Sir Robert Harland	First Naval Lord January 1783–December 1783	Succeeded by John Leveson-Gower

First Sea Lords of the Royal Navy
Senior Naval Lords (1689–1771)	Arthur Herbert Sir John Chicheley Edward Russell Henry Priestman Earl of Orford Sir George Rooke Sir John Leake Sir George Byng Sir John Leake Sir George Byng Matthew Aylmer Sir George Byng Sir John Jennings Sir John Norris Sir Charles Wager Lord Archibald Hamilton Lord Harry Powlett Lord Archibald Hamilton Lord Vere Beauclerk Lord Anson Sir William Rowley Edward Boscawen Sir William Rowley Edward Boscawen John Forbes Earl Howe Sir Charles Saunders Augustus Keppel Sir Peircy Brett Sir Francis Holburne
First Naval Lords (1771–1904)	Augustus Hervey Sir Hugh Palliser Robert Man George Darby Sir Robert Harland Sir Hugh Pigot John Leveson-Gower Lord Hood Sir Charles Middleton James Gambier Sir Thomas Troubridge James Gambier John Markham James Gambier Sir Richard Bickerton William Domett Sir Joseph Yorke Sir Graham Moore Sir William Johnstone Hope Sir George Cockburn Sir Thomas Hardy The Hon. George Dundas Charles Adam Sir George Cockburn Sir Charles Adam Sir George Cockburn Sir William Parker Sir Charles Adam Sir James Dundas The Hon. Maurice Berkeley Hyde Parker The Hon. Maurice Berkeley The Hon. Sir Richard Dundas William Martin The Hon. Sir Richard Dundas The Hon. Sir Frederick Grey Sir Alexander Milne Sir Sydney Dacres Sir Alexander Milne Sir Hastings Yelverton Sir George Wellesley Sir Astley Key Sir Arthur Hood Lord John Hay Sir Arthur Hood Sir Richard Hamilton Sir Anthony Hoskins Sir Frederick Richards Lord Walter Kerr
First Sea Lords (1904–present)	Sir John Fisher Sir Arthur Wilson Sir Francis Bridgeman Prince Louis of Battenberg The Lord Fisher Sir Henry Jackson Sir John Jellicoe Sir Rosslyn Wemyss The Earl Beatty Sir Charles Madden, Bt Sir Frederick Field The Lord Chatfield Sir Roger Backhouse Sir Dudley Pound The Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope Sir John Cunningham The Lord Fraser of North Cape Sir Rhoderick McGrigor The Earl Mountbatten of Burma Sir Charles Lambe Sir Caspar John Sir David Luce Sir Varyl Begg Sir Michael Le Fanu Sir Peter Hill-Norton Sir Michael Pollock Sir Edward Ashmore Sir Terence Lewin Sir Henry Leach Sir John Fieldhouse Sir William Staveley Sir Julian Oswald Sir Benjamin Bathurst Sir Jock Slater Sir Michael Boyce Sir Nigel Essenhigh Sir Alan West Sir Jonathon Band Sir Mark Stanhope Sir George Zambellas Sir Philip Jones

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