Downs Station

Downs Station
Active	1626–1834
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Naval formation
Part of	Royal Navy
Garrison/HQ	Deal, Kent, England

Military unit

The Downs Station^[1] also known as the Commander-in-Chief, the Downs^[2] or Admiral Commanding at the Downs^[3] was a formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain and then the United Kingdom's Royal Navy based at Deal. It was a major command of the Royal Navy from 1626 until 1834.^[4]

The Downs is a roadstead (area of sheltered, favourable sea) in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast. It is primarily known in naval history for the Dutch defeat of the Spanish in the Battle of the Downs in 1639.

History

The Downs served as permanent base for naval vessels operating out of Deal, Kent.^[5]

It served as a base for warships patrolling the North Sea. The command generally covered an area in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast. The station lasted until 1815, when it was absorbed into the Commander-in-Chief, The Nore's control, whose role and geographic area of responsibility was re-defined by the Admiralty.

Commanders in chief

Incomplete list includes:^[6]
N = died in post

Commodore Sir Henry Palmer, 1626
Rear-Admiral Sir John Penington, 1626–1631
Vice-Admiral Sir John Penington, 1638–1645^[3]
Vice-Admiral Sir John Mennes, 1645–1649^[3]
Rear-Admiral Richard Badiley, 1649–1650
Vice-Admiral John Lawson, 1650–1656
Vice-Admiral Richard Badiley, 1656 N
Admiral Sir Edward Montagu, 1657–1663^[3]
Commodore Thomas Allin, 1663–1664^[3]
Admiral Sir William Penn, 1664–1666^[3]
Vice-Admiral Sir John Holmes, 1667–1679^[7]
Commodore Stafford Fairborne, 1695–1697 ^[8]
Rear-Admiral Basil Beaumont, 1699–1703 N
Commodore Richard Griffith, 1707
Commodore Gerard Ellwes, 1707–1708 ^[9]
Commodore Charles Cornwall, 1709–1710
Commodore Tudor Trevor, 1711–1712^[9]
Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Wager, 1712–1714^[9]
Captain Edward Vernon, 1716
Commodore Philip Cavendish, 1716^[9]
Admiral Edward Vernon, 1745^[7]
Vice-Admiral William Martin, 1745
Commodore Matthew Michell, 1745–1748
Admiral Thomas Smith, 1755–1758
Commodore Sir Peircy Brett, 1758–1761
Commodore John Moore, 1761–1766^[9]
Rear-Admiral John Montagu, 1771^[9]
Commodore John Elliot, 1777–1778^[9]
Vice-Admiral Matthew Buckle, 1778–1779^[9]
Vice-Admiral Francis William Drake, 1779–1782^[10]
Rear-Admiral John Evans, 1780–1781*
Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Hughes, 1781–1782*^[11]

Station not active 1782 to 1790

Rear-Admiral Sir Richard King, 1790–1791^[2]

Station not active 1791 to 1793

Rear-Admiral John MacBride, 1793–1794 ^[12]
Vice-Admiral Joseph Peyton, 1794–1799^[9]
Rear-Admiral John Bazely, 1796–1797*
Vice-Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge, 1799–1802^[13]
Rear-Admiral Edward Thornbrough, 1803 ^[14]
Vice-Admiral Philip Patton, 1803–1804^[15]
Vice-Admiral John Holloway, 1804–1807 ^[16]
Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Rowley, 1807–1808 ^[17]
Vice-Admiral George Campbell, 1808–1811^[18]
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Foley, 1811–1815 ^[19]
Rear-Admiral William Hall Gage, 1833^[20]

Temporary command in absence of senior officer *

Notes

^ Clarke, James Stanier; McArthur, John (2 September 2010). The Naval Chronicle: Volume 27, January-July 1812: Containing a General and Biographical History of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom with a Variety of Original Papers on Nautical Subjects. Cambridge University Press. p. 43. ISBN 9781108018661.
^ ^a ^b Papers, Relative to Correspondence between Sir Home Popham and the Admiralty, between 1 January 1787 and 31st December 1792. Oxford University. 1808. p. 198.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Charnock 1794, pp. 29–31.
^ Lee, Christopher (20 November 2014). Nelson and Napoleon: The Long Haul to Trafalgar. Faber & Faber. pp. Chapter 7. ISBN 9780571321681.
^ Robson, Martin (2005). The Battle of Trafalgar. Conway Maritime Press. pp. 29, 36, 158. ISBN 0-85177-979-4.
^ Hiscocks, Richard (1 February 2016). "Downs commander-in-chief 1777-1815 - more than Nelson". more than Nelson. Richard Hiscocks. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
^ ^a ^b Schomberg 1802, p. 224.
^ Harrison, Simon. "Stafford Fairborne (d.1716)". threedecks.org. Simon Harrison 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Harrison, Simon (2010–2018). "Commander-in-Chief at The Downs". threedecks.org. S.Harrison. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
^ Schomberg 1802, p. 243.
^ Marshall, John (18 November 2010). Royal Naval Biography: Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-Officers, Superannuated Rear-Admirals, Retired-Captains, Post-Captains, and Commanders. Cambridge University Press. p. 10. ISBN 9781108022712.
^ O’Byrne, William R. (6 February 2012). A Naval Biographical Dictionary - Volume 1. Andrews UK Limited. p. 38. ISBN 9781781502778.
^ Archives, The National. "Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge, Commander-in-Chief in the Downs, Order to Captain Portlock of the Arrow. Copy. Paper No 6". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. National Archives, 1799 May 26, HO 69/5/6. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
^ Burke, John (1838). A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland. Henry Colburn, London. p. 302. Rear-Admiral Edward Thornbrough Downs Station.
^ O’Byrne, William R. (6 February 2012). A Naval Biographical Dictionary - Volume 2. Andrews UK Limited. p. 875. ISBN 9781781502792.
^ Goodman, Alfred Edwin (1916). Goodman, a Family History. A.H. Timms, Printer. p. 404.
^ Urban, Sylvanus (1811). Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. E. Cave, London. p. 586.
^ The Annual biography and obituary. A & R Spottiswoode, London. 1827. p. 448.
^ Marshall, John (18 November 2010). Royal Naval Biography: Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-Officers, Superannuated Rear-Admirals, Retired-Captains, Post-Captains, and Commanders. Cambridge University Press. p. 220. ISBN 9781108022682.
^ Laughton, John Knox. "Gage William Hall". Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900. Retrieved 15 March 2017.

References

Charnock, John (1794). Biographia Navalis; or, Impartial memoirs of the lives of officers of the navy of Great Britain from 1660 (Volume 1 ed.). pp. 29–31.
Ireland, Bernard (2001), Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail - War at Sea 1756–1815, 1st Ed, WW Norton & Co. ISBN 9780393049831.
Marshall, John (18 November 2010). Royal Naval Biography: Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-Officers, Superannuated Rear-Admirals, Retired-Captains, Post-Captains, and Commanders. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108022682
Rodger, N.A.M. (2004), The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649–1815. New York and London: W.W. Norton and Company. ISBN 9780393060508.
Schomberg, Isaac (1802). Naval Chronology: Or, An Historical Summary of Naval & Maritime Events, from the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace, Volume 5. London, England: T Egerton. p. 224.

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