{{Short description|British naval officer and historian}} {{For|the British Army officer|Henry Edward Napier (British Army officer, died 1915)}} {{Use British English|date=November 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = [[Captain (Royal Navy)|Captain]] |name = Henry Edward Napier |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS}} |image =Capt. Henry Edward Napier original (cropped).jpg |image_size = |alt = |caption =Henry Edward Napier |birth_date = {{Birth date|1789|3|5|df=yes}} |death_date = {{Death date and age|1853|10|13|1789|3|5|df=yes}} |birth_place = |death_place = London, England |burial_place = |burial_label = |burial_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> |nickname = |birth_name = |allegiance =[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] |branch = [[Royal Navy]] |service_years = 1803–1830 |rank = [[Captain (Royal Navy)|Captain]] |service_number = |unit = |commands = {{Plainlist| * {{HMS|Goree|1794|6}} * {{HMS|Rifleman|1809|6}} * {{HMS|Jaseur|1813|6}} * {{HMS|Pelorus|1808|6}} }} |battles = [[Napoleonic Wars]] |awards = |relations = |other_work = }}
'''Henry Edward Napier''' (5 March 1789 – 13 October 1853) was a British naval officer and historian.
==Family background== He was the fifth son of Colonel the Honourable [[George Napier]], and his second wife, [[Lady Sarah Lennox]], seventh daughter of the [[Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond|2nd Duke of Richmond]], and one of the famed [[Lennox sisters]]. His brothers included General Sir [[Charles James Napier]], [[Commander-in-Chief, India]] and conqueror of [[Sindh]]; Lieutenant-General Sir [[George Thomas Napier]], Governor and Commander of the [[British Cape Colony|Cape of Good Hope]]; and General Sir [[William Francis Patrick Napier]], [[Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey]], and author of the ''History of the Peninsular War''.<ref name="obyrne">{{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Napier, Henry Edward |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]}}</ref>
==Naval career== Napier entered the [[Royal Naval Academy]] at [[Portsmouth Dockyard]] on 5 May 1803, and on 20 September 1806 joined the [[74-gun]] {{HMS|Spencer|1800|2}}, as a first-class volunteer. In her under the Captains the Honourable [[Robert Stopford (Royal Navy officer)|Robert Stopford]] and [[John Quilliam]], he visited the Cape of Good Hope, and as a midshipman took part in the [[Battle of Copenhagen (1807)|Bombardment of Copenhagen]], also assisting in the destruction of Fleckeroe Castle, on the coast of Norway. From December 1808 until September 1811 he served in the [[East Indies]] aboard the frigate {{HMS|Clorinde|1803|2}} under Captain [[Thomas Briggs (Royal Navy officer)|Thomas Briggs]]; the [[74-gun]] {{HMS|Russell|1764|2}}, flagship of Vice-Admiral [[William O'Bryen Drury]], and the frigate {{HMS|Diomede|1798|2}}, Captain Hugh Cook. He was appointed acting-lieutenant of the ''Diomede'' on 31 October 1809, receiving his commission on 4 May 1810.<ref name="obyrne"/>
In 1812–13 he served aboard the 74-gun {{HMS|Chatham|1812|2}}, Captain [[Graham Moore (Royal Navy officer)|Graham Moore]], and the frigates {{HMS|Minerva|1805|2}}, Captain Richard Hawkins, and {{HMS|Nymphe|1812|2}}, Captain Farmery Predam Epworth, on the North Sea and North American stations. On 7 June 1814, he was promoted to commander aboard the 18-gun sloop {{HMS|Goree|1794|2}} at Bermuda; and soon after appointed to the brig-sloop {{HMS|Rifleman|1809|2}}, employed in protecting merchant vessels in the [[Bay of Fundy]]. In August 1815 Napier went on [[half-pay]], having declined accepting a piece of plate that had been voted to him for his care in the conduct of convoys between the port of [[Saint John, New Brunswick]] and [[Castine, Maine]]. His last appointments were to the {{HMS|Jaseur|1813|2}} at [[Halifax (former city)|Halifax]] from January 1821 to July 1823, and to the {{HMS|Pelorus|1808|2}} at Plymouth, for a brief period in 1826. He was promoted to captain on 31 December 1830.<ref name="obyrne"/>
==Writing career== Napier was elected a fellow of the [[Royal Society]] on 18 May 1820. His chief work was the ''Florentine History from the earliest Authentic Records to the Accession of Ferdinand the Third, Grandduke of Tuscany,'' in six volumes, published in 1846–47.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB |wstitle=Napier, Henry Edward |last=Boase |first=George Clement |authorlink=George Clement Boase |volume=40}}</ref>
==Personal life== On 17 November 1823 Napier married his first cousin, Caroline Bennet (died 5 September 1836), in [[Florence]]). She was the illegitimate daughter of his uncle [[Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond]]. They had five children:
* Augusta Sarah (born 1826) married Frederick Williams-Freeman, grandson of [[William Peere Williams-Freeman|Adm. William Peere Williams-Freeman]]. * Charles George (20 July 1829 – 2 September 1882) married Susanna Juliana Ricarda Carolin, daughter of Samuel Carolin, on 13 December 1860. They had one son, and two daughters. * Adelaide Harriet Sophia (1831–1832) * Arthur Lennox (1833–1839) * Vice-Adm. Richard Henry (11 March 1836 – 1 March 1903) married twice. Firstly, Mary Dyer in 1861. Secondly, Mary Teresa Priest in 1883. No known issue.
Napier died at 62 [[Cadogan Place]], London, on 13 October 1853.<ref name="DNB" />
==References== {{reflist}} * {{cite book |editor-last1=Whitehill |editor-first1=Walter Muir |title=New England blockaded in 1814 : the journal of Henry Edward Napier, Lieutenant in HMS Nymphe |publisher=Peabody Museum |location=Salem, Massachusetts |year=1939 |oclc=861242124}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Napier, Henry Edward}} [[Category:1789 births]] [[Category:1853 deaths]] [[Category:Royal Navy captains]] [[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars]] [[Category:Clan Napier|Henry Edward]] [[Category:Military personnel from County Kildare]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]