George Johnstone Hope

Infobox Military Person
name=Sir George Johnstone Hope
lived=6 July, 1767 - 2 May, 1818


caption="Rear-Admiral Sir George Johnstone Hope KCB"
nickname=
placeofbirth=Scotland
placeofdeath=London
allegiance=United Kingdom
branch=Royal Navy
serviceyears=1781-1818
rank=Rear Admiral of the White
unit=
commands=HMS "Defence"
battles=War of 1812
Napoleonic Wars
:Battle of Trafalgar
awards=KCB
relations=
laterwork=Member of Parliament

Rear-Admiral Sir George Johnstone Hope, KCB (6 July, 1767 - 2 May, 1818) was a British naval officer, who served with distinction in the Royal Navy throughout the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, including service at the Battle of Trafalgar. A close personal friend of Admiral Nelson, he received many honours following the battle, and later served as a Lord of the Admiralty.

Early life

Born the son of The Hon. Charles Hope-Weir, and grandson of Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun, Hope joined the navy at 13, in 1781, and spent much of his early career serving on frigates. He was promoted from midshipman to lieutenant on 29 February 1788. He was given command of his own sloop, the HMS "Racehorse" on 22 November 1790.

War service

At the time of Britain's entry into the war, as part of the First Coalition, Hope was serving in the sloop HMS "Bulldog" in the Mediterranean Sea, and conducted several convoys to the forces of Lord Hood, who was besieging Toulon at the time. Later in the year, on 13 September 1793, he was promoted to the rank of Post Captain, and given command of the large frigate HMS "Romulus", in which he saw action against French ships off Genoa in 1795. In 1798, however, whilst commanding HMS "Alcmene", Hope made a serious "faux pas", when he assumed that Admiral Nelson would have called off his passage to Egypt in the face of poor weather. He accordingly took the frigates under his command back to Gibraltar, thus denying Nelson his scouts at a pivotal point in the campaign and earning a furious rebuke from his commander.

By dint of courageous effort, Hope regained Nelson's good graces the following year, by capturing the French gunbrig "Légère" off Egypt, and seizing dispatches intended for Napoleon. He then sailed to Naples and successfully evacuated the Neapolitan royal family in the face of a Republican uprising, which was eventually quelled by Nelson's personal intervention. By 1801, Hope was an experienced Mediterranean campaigner, and, in command of the frigate HMS "Leda", supported the successful amphibious landings which began the British invasion of Egypt.

Battle of Trafalgar

Following the Peace of Amiens, Hope was moved to the 74-gun ship of the line HMS "Defence". He participated in the chase of the French fleet across the Atlantic, and the ensuing blockade of Cadiz, and thus, on the morning of 21 October 1805, found his ship at the rear of Admiral Collingwood's division at the start of the Battle of Trafalgar.

The position of his ship prevented Hope engaging with the enemy until the battle was two and a half hours old, but once within range, the "Defence" was heavily engaged, fighting with the French ship "Berwick" (formerly the British HMS "Berwick"), and then the Spanish ship "San Ildefenso", whose surrender Hope received after some hours of battle. Hope sensibly anchored both ships during the ensuing storm, and so his prize was one of only four captured ships to survive the following week of gales. During the action and storm, "Defence" suffered just 36 casualties, despite being heavily engaged during the close of the battle.

Later years

Following his action at Trafalgar, Hope continued to serve in the "Defence", transferring to the Baltic Sea under Sir James Saumarez, where he remained until 1811. On 1 August of that year, he was made Rear Admiral of the Blue through seniority and good service, and on 21 August 1812, was promoted to Rear Admiral of the White. In 1812 he performed a special mission to rescue as much of the Russian fleet as could be saved from the French invasion, and bring it to Britain. The plan was never fully enacted due to the defeat of Napoleon, but for his continued excellent service, Hope was rewarded with a position as one of the Lords of the Admiralty, a post he retained for the next six years. His service ended abruptly, when he died suddenly whilst working late at the Admiralty on the evening of 2 May 1818.

Hope served as a Member of Parliament for East Grinstead, Sussex, from 1815 until his death. On 2 January 1815, he was inducted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. He received a sword of honour and gold medal in recognition of his service at Trafalgar. Hope was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a large wall-mounted memorial remains to his memory, although his tombstone has been removed to make way for later burials.

References

*Rayment

Further reading

*White, C. (2005). "The Trafalgar captains: their lives and memorials". London: Chatham. ISBN 1-86176-247-X

External links

* [http://www.nelson-society.org.uk/html/george_johnstone_hope.htm George Johnstone Hope Biography] from the Nelson Society
* [http://www.nmm.ac.uk/searchbin/searchs.pl?flashy=et1740z&flash=true Animation of the Battle of Trafalgar]