# Benjamin Caldwell

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{{Short description|Royal Navy Admiral (1739–1820)}}
{{about||the American artist|Benjamin Rollins Caldwell|other people with a similar name|Ben Caldwell (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix = [Admiral](/source/Admiral_(Royal_Navy))
|name = Sir Benjamin Caldwell
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB}}
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1739|01|31|df=yes}}
|death_date= November 1820
|birth_place= [Liverpool](/source/Liverpool)
|death_place= [Basingstoke](/source/Basingstoke), [Hampshire](/source/Hampshire)
|image= BenjaminCaldwell1820.jpg
|caption= Sir Benjamin Caldwell
|nickname=
|allegiance= {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [United Kingdom](/source/United_Kingdom)
|service_years= 1754 to 1795
|rank= [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy) [Admiral](/source/Admiral)
|branch= 22px [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy)
|commands= [HMS ''Martin''](/source/HMS_Martin_(1761))<br/>[HMS ''Milford''](/source/HMS_Milford_(1759))<br/>[HMS ''Rose''](/source/HMS_Rose_(1757))<br/>[HMS ''Emerald''](/source/HMS_Emerald_(1762))<br/>[HMS ''Hannibal''](/source/HMS_Hannibal_(1779))<br/>[HMS ''Berwick''](/source/HMS_Berwick_(1775))<br/>[HMS ''Cumberland''](/source/HMS_Cumberland_(1774))<br/>[HMS ''Impregnable''](/source/HMS_Impregnable_(1786))<br/>[HMS ''Majestic''](/source/HMS_Majestic_(1785))<br/>[Leeward Islands Station](/source/Leeward_Islands_Station)
|unit=
|battles= 
{{tree list}}
* [Seven Years' War](/source/Seven_Years'_War)
** [Battle of Lagos](/source/Battle_of_Lagos)
** [Battle of Quiberon Bay](/source/Battle_of_Quiberon_Bay)
* [American Revolutionary War](/source/American_Revolutionary_War)
** [Battle of Ushant](/source/Battle_of_Ushant_(1781))
** [Battle of the Saintes](/source/Battle_of_the_Saintes)
* [French Revolutionary Wars](/source/French_Revolutionary_Wars)
** [Glorious First of June](/source/Glorious_First_of_June)
{{tree list/end}}
|awards= [Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath](/source/Knight_Grand_Cross_of_the_Order_of_the_Bath)
|other_work=
}}

[Admiral](/source/Admiral_(Royal_Navy)) '''Sir Benjamin Caldwell''',  {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB}} (31 January 1739 – November 1820) was a senior and experienced British [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy) officer of the eighteenth century. His many victories and achievements were overshadowed by his acrimonious departure from the Navy during the [French Revolutionary Wars](/source/French_Revolutionary_Wars) after highly publicised disputes with [Admiral Lord Howe](/source/Richard_Howe%2C_1st_Earl_Howe) and [Admiral Sir John Jervis](/source/John_Jervis%2C_1st_Earl_of_St_Vincent), over perceived slights against his name following the battle of the [Glorious First of June](/source/Glorious_First_of_June) in 1794. As a result of these disputes, Caldwell was overlooked for future employment and only received recognition for his service from [King George IV](/source/George_IV_of_the_United_Kingdom) months before his death.

==Early career==
Caldwell was born in [Liverpool](/source/Liverpool) in 1739, the son of [Dublin](/source/Dublin) solicitor Charles Caldwell and his wife Elizabeth. Caldwell was one of ten children in his family; his sister married [General Sir Phineas Riall](/source/Phineas_Riall) and he was a younger brother of [Andrew Caldwell](/source/Andrew_Caldwell_(Irish_solicitor)), a noted solicitor in Dublin. At 15 in 1754, Caldwell attended the [Royal Naval Academy](/source/Royal_Naval_Academy), [Portsmouth](/source/Portsmouth) and graduated two years later into the [fourth-rate](/source/fourth-rate) [HMS ''Isis''](/source/HMS_Isis_(1747)), where he remained for three years.

==Seven Years' War==
{{Main|Great Britain in the Seven Years' War}}
In 1759 Caldwell joined [HMS ''Namur''](/source/HMS_Namur_(1756)), the flagship of [Admiral Edward Boscawen](/source/Edward_Boscawen) in which he participated in the victories of the [Battle of Lagos](/source/Battle_of_Lagos) and [Battle of Quiberon Bay](/source/Battle_of_Quiberon_Bay) in the same year.<ref name="ODNB"/>

Profiting from his service in ''Namur'', Caldwell was promoted to lieutenant in [HMS ''Achilles''](/source/HMS_Achilles_(1757)) and in her saw out the [Seven Years' War](/source/Seven_Years'_War). In 1762 he commanded the sloop [HMS ''Martin''](/source/HMS_Martin_(1761)) and in 1765 became captain of the [frigate](/source/frigate) [HMS ''Milford''](/source/HMS_Milford_(1759)). Caldwell later commanded the small frigate [HMS ''Rose''](/source/HMS_Rose_(1757)) until the outbreak of the [American War of Independence](/source/American_War_of_Independence) when he was transferred to [HMS ''Emerald''](/source/HMS_Emerald_(1762)) on the [North American Station](/source/North_American_Station) blockading ports, raiding and escorting convoys along the American eastern seaboard.<ref name="ODNB"/>

==American War of Independence==
In December 1779, Caldwell was given the new fourth-rate [HMS ''Hannibal''](/source/HMS_Hannibal_(1779)), moving to the new [ship of the line](/source/ship_of_the_line) [HMS ''Agamemnon''](/source/HMS_Agamemnon_(1781)) in 1781 with the [Channel Fleet](/source/Channel_Fleet). Caldwell commanded this ship at the [Second Battle of Ushant](/source/Battle_of_Ushant_(1781)) under [Richard Kempenfelt](/source/Richard_Kempenfelt) with success and the following year had sailed for the Caribbean for the largest and most decisive fleet action of the war, the [Battle of the Saintes](/source/Battle_of_the_Saintes), where [Sir George Rodney](/source/George_Rodney) successfully broke the French line and captured five ships. Caldwell was again distinguished in the action and continued on the North American station until the war's end in 1783.<ref name="ODNB"/>

==Peacetime==
Caldwell spent the next four years in semi-retirement, using the opportunity to marry Charlotte Osborn, daughter of admiral and politician [Henry Osborn](/source/Henry_Osborn_(Royal_Navy_officer)).{{Ref label|A|a|none}} In 1787 he returned to sea again for several months as captain of [HMS ''Alcide''](/source/HMS_Alcide_(1779)) and in 1790 during the [Spanish armament](/source/Spanish_armament) he took over [HMS ''Berwick''](/source/HMS_Berwick_(1775)). A more permanent commission was not however forthcoming until 1793, when at the outbreak of the [French Revolutionary Wars](/source/French_Revolutionary_Wars), Caldwell was promoted to [rear-admiral](/source/Rear_admiral_(Royal_Navy)), raising his flag in [HMS ''Cumberland''](/source/HMS_Cumberland_(1774)).<ref name="ODNB"/>

==Glorious First of June==
Caldwell moved from the ''Cumberland'' after only a short period and took over [HMS ''Impregnable''](/source/HMS_Impregnable_(1786)), a 98-gun [second rate](/source/second_rate) in the Channel Fleet of [Admiral Lord Howe](/source/Richard_Howe%2C_1st_Earl_Howe).<ref name="ODNB"/> With the rest of Howe's fleet, ''Impregnable'' was present at the [Glorious First of June](/source/Glorious_First_of_June), at which Howe attempted to destroy a large French fleet protecting a grain convoy. The convoy escaped the British, but seven French ships were taken and the rest driven back to France. ''Impregnable'' was heavily engaged in the action and suffered 31 casualties but along with many officers, Caldwell was overlooked in Howe's dispatch to the [Admiralty](/source/British_Admiralty).<ref name="ODNB"/> Unmentioned in the dispatch, Caldwell's part in the action was not celebrated in Britain and Caldwell was even denied a commemorative medal issued to the captains who had fought at the battle.<ref name="ODNB"/>

Caldwell was infuriated by this snub, and became even more so when the Admiralty endorsed Howe's version of events despite an outcry from the overlooked officers.<ref name="ODNB"/> Transferred to the West Indies under [Sir John Jervis](/source/John_Jervis%2C_1st_Earl_of_St_Vincent) as a [vice-admiral](/source/Vice_admiral_(Royal_Navy)) in [HMS ''Majestic''](/source/HMS_Majestic_(1785)), Caldwell attempted to put his feelings behind him and was even briefly made commander in chief of the [Leeward Islands Station](/source/Leeward_Islands_Station) when Jervis returned to England in 1794.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Haydn|first1=Joseph|title=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|date=13 June 2008|publisher=Longmans, Brown, Green, and Longmans|page=279|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aURnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA272|language=en}}</ref> Caldwell's ambitions were however thwarted when the Admiralty appointed [John Laforey](/source/John_Laforey) to replace him after only a few months. Perceiving this second slight to be a consequence of the first, Caldwell returned to England at once and refused to serve at sea again even if the Admiralty, who had been unimpressed by his attitude, offered him employment, which they did not.<ref name="ODNB"/>

==Retirement==
Retiring to his estates, Caldwell refused all further involvement in naval affairs, and his later promotion to full admiral in 1799 was a formality only. In consequence of the disagreement between Caldwell and the Admiralty, Caldwell was not conferred a knighthood in 1815 at the conclusion of hostilities, as were so many of his contemporaries, and it was not until 1820 that this was reversed, Caldwell being made a [Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath](/source/Knight_Grand_Cross_of_the_Order_of_the_Bath) in early 1820.<ref name="ODNB">[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4383 Caldwell, Sir Benjamin], ''[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)'', [J. K. Laughton](/source/John_Knox_Laughton), Retrieved 8 December 2007</ref> He died a few months later at his son Charles Andrew's estates near [Basingstoke](/source/Basingstoke), survived by his wife.

==Notes==
{{refbegin}}
'''a.''' {{Note label|A|a|none}} The updated version of the ''[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)'' states that Caldwell became [MP](/source/member_of_parliament) for [Knocktopher](/source/Knocktopher_(Parliament_of_Ireland_constituency)) in the [Irish House of Commons](/source/Irish_House_of_Commons) between 1776 and the peace in 1783, and MP for [Harristown](/source/Harristown_(Parliament_of_Ireland_constituency)) until 1790.<ref name="ODNB"/> However he does not appear in the lists of MPs collected by E. M. Johnston-Liik.<ref name="GM">{{cite book |last=Johnston-Liik|title=MPs in Dublin|page=76}}</ref> Benjamin's claimed tenure at Knocktopher coincides with that of his brother, Andrew, and may be the reason for some of the confusion.
{{refend}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite web
 | title = Caldwell, Sir Benjamin
 | work  = [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography), [J. K. Laughton](/source/John_Knox_Laughton)
 | url   = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4383}}
*{{cite book |first=E. M.|last=Johnston-Liik|title=MPs in Dublin: Companion to History of the Irish parliament, 1692-1800|publisher=Ulster Historical Foundation|year=2006|isbn=978-1-903688-60-1}}
{{refend}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef | before=[Sir John Jervis](/source/John_Jervis%2C_1st_Earl_of_St_Vincent)}}
{{s-ttl | title=[Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands Station](/source/Leeward_Islands_Station) | years=1794&ndash;1795}}
{{s-aft | after=[Sir John Laforey](/source/John_Laforey)}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caldwell, Benjamin}}
Category:1739 births
Category:1820 deaths
Category:Royal Navy admirals
Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Category:Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War
Category:Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars
Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Seven Years' War

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Benjamin Caldwell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Caldwell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Caldwell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.