{{Short description|Royal Navy Admiral (1718–1778)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = Admiral | name = John Amherst | image = | caption = | birth_date = 1718 | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1778|2|14|1718}} | burial_label = Place of burial | burial_place = Sevenoaks, Kent | birth_place = | death_place = Gosport, Hampshire | burial_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | nickname = | allegiance = {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Great Britain}} | branch = {{navy|Kingdom of Great Britain}} | service_years = 1730–1778 | rank = Admiral of the Blue | unit = | commands =''Preston''<br/>{{HMS|Mars||2}}<br/>{{HMS|Deptford|1732|2}}<br/>{{HMS|Captain|1743|2}}<br/>{{HMS|Arrogant|1761|2}} | battles = First Carnatic War<br/>Seven Years' War | awards = | relations = William Amherst (brother)<br/>Jeffery Amherst (brother) | other_work = }} Admiral '''John Amherst''' (1718 – 14 February 1778) was a Royal Navy officer served during the First Carnatic War and the Seven Years' War, and who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.

==Family== He was the fourth son of lawyer Jeffrey Amherst and Elizabeth Kerrill, of Riverhead, Kent, and his older brothers included Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, and Lieutenant-General William Amherst.<ref>G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume I, page 121. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage</ref>

==Naval career== Amherst joined the Royal Navy in 1730,<ref name=odnb>{{Cite ODNB |url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/444 |title=John Amherst |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/444 |access-date=30 November 2010 }}</ref> and after serving as midshipman and lieutenant in the Mediterranean Fleet under the command of Admirals Nicholas Haddock and Thomas Mathews, he was promoted to the rank of captain in December 1744.<ref name=charnock>Charnock's Biographia Navalis, v. 275</ref>

In 1746, during the First Carnatic War, Amherst was appointed commander of the 50-gun ''Preston'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dalton |first1=Charles |title= Memoir of Captain Dalton: defender of Trichinopoly, 1752-1753 |url= http://www.daltondatabank.org/Chronicles/Captain_Dalton_Trichinopoly.htm |year= 1886 |publisher= W.H. Allen & Co |location= London }}</ref> and served as flag captain to Rear-Admiral Thomas Griffin, on board the ''Princess Mary'' in the East Indies.<ref name=odnb/>

In 1753 he commissioned the 64-gun {{HMS|Mars||2}} which formed part of the fleet sent into North American waters under Vice-Admiral Edward Boscawen in 1755. On entering Halifax Harbour, ''Mars'' ran aground, and was wrecked. Amherst was court-martialled, but subsequently acquitted.<ref name=odnb/>

On his return to England, was appointed to command the 50-gun {{HMS|Deptford|1732|2}}, which sailed with Admiral John Byng to the Mediterranean in March 1756. In the Battle of Minorca, off Cape Mola on 20 May, the admiral ordered the ''Deptford'' to quit the line of battle, to be ready to assist any ship, as directed. Amherst took no part in the battle, except to assist the disabled {{HMS|Intrepid|1747|2}}. The following year he commanded the 64-gun {{HMS|Captain|1743|2}} during the Louisbourg Expedition, under Francis Holburne and Boscawen; and in 1761 commanded the 74-gun ship {{HMS|Arrogant|1761|2}} at the capture of Belle Île.<ref name=charnock/>

Afterwards, in 1762, he flew his broad pennant as senior officer at Gibraltar. In 1765 he was advanced to flag rank, and in 1776 was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth. He was still holding this command, when he died suddenly at Gosport, on 14 February 1778, in his 59th year.<ref name=odnb/> He was buried in the parish church of Sevenoaks, Kent.<ref name=charnock/>

==Family== He married Anne Linzee.<ref name=odnb/>

== Notes == {{Reflist}}

== References == *{{cite DNB|wstitle=Amherst, John}}

{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{succession box | title=Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth | years=1776&ndash;1778 | before=Sir Richard Spry| after=Sir Molyneux Shuldham}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amherst, John}} Category:1718 births Category:1778 deaths Category:Royal Navy admirals Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Seven Years' War