Richard Howe
Richard Howe
British admiral who won the battle of 1 June 1794
On 1 June 1794 Howe commanded the Channel Fleet against the French fleet escorting a grain convoy, capturing seven ships. Known as the Glorious First of June, the battle links directly to the site's French Revolutionary Wars event entry.
Royal Navy officer and politician. Born in London in 1726, he served in the War of the Austrian Succession and won renown in the 1759 Battle of Quiberon Bay during the Seven Years' War, then commanded the North American station and served as a peace commissioner during the American War of Independence. He was First Lord of the Admiralty in 1783 and again from December 1783 to 1788, and in the French Revolutionary Wars commanded the Channel Fleet, defeating the French fleet at the battle of 1 June 1794. During the 1797 Spithead mutiny he restored peace within twelve hours by direct persuasion rather than repression. He died on 5 August 1799.
Career timeline
- 1739Entered the navy aboard the fifth-rate HMS Pearl
- 1746Promoted to post-captain
- 1758Inherited the Irish peerage after his brother George Howe was killed
- 1776–1778North American naval commander and peace commissioner
- 1783–1788First Lord of the Admiralty
- 1788Created Earl Howe
- 1793–Channel Fleet commander in the French Revolutionary Wars
- 1796Promoted to Admiral of the Fleet
- 1797Settled the Spithead mutiny