, first lord viscount Harrington, a nobleman of considerable learning,
, first lord viscount
Harrington, a nobleman of considerable learning, and
author of several books, was the youngest son of Benjamin
Shute, merchant (youngest son of Francis Sbute, of Upton, in the county of Leicester, esq.) by a daughter of the
Kev. Jos. Caryl, author of the commentary on Job. He
was born at Theobalds in Hertfordshire, in 1678, and received part of his education at Utrecht, as appears from a
Latin oration which he delivered at that university, and
published there in 1698, in 4to, under the following title
“Oratio de studio Philosophise conjungendo cum studio
Juris Roman!; habita in inclyta Academia Trajectina Kalendis Junii, 1698, a Johanne Shute, Anglo, Ph. D. et
L. A. M.
” He published also three other academical exercises; viz. 1. “Exercitatio Physica, de Ventis,
” Utrecht,
Dissertatio Philosophica, de Theocratia
morali,
” Utrecht, Dissertatio Philosophica Inauguralis, de Theocratia civili,
” Utrecht, An essay upon the
interest of England, in respect to Protestants dissenting
from the Established Church,
” 4to. This was reprinted two
years after, with considerable alterations and enlargements,
and with the title of “The interest of England considered,
”
&c. Some time after this he published another piece in.
4to, entitled “The rights of Protestant Dissenters,
” in
two parts. During the prosecution of his studies in the
law, he was applied to by queen Anne’s whig ministry, at
the instigation of lord Sorners, to engage the Presbyterians in Scotland to favour the important measure then in
agitation, of an union of the two kingdoms. Flattered at
the age of twenty-four, by an application which shewed
the opinion entertained of his abilities, and influenced by
the greatest lawyer and statesman of the age, he readily
sacrificed the opening prospects of his profession, and undertook the arduous employment. The happy execution
of it was rewarded, in 1708, by the place of commissioner
of the customs, from which he was removed by the Tory
administration in 1711, for his avowed opposition to their
principles and conduct. How high Mr. Shute’s character
stood in the estimation even of those who differed most
widely from him in religious and political sentiments, apyears from the testimony borne to it by Dr. Swift, who
writes thus to archbishop Kitig, in a letter dated London,
Nov. 30, 1708. “One Mr. Shute is named for secretary
to lord Wharton. He is a young man, but reckoned the
shrewdest head in England, and the person in whom the
Presbyterians chiefly confide; and if money be necessary
towards the good work, it is reckoned he can command as
far as 100,000l. from the body of the dissenters here. As
to his principles, he is a moderate man, frequenting the
church and the meeting indifferently.
” In the reign of
queen Anne, John Wildman, of Becket, in the county of
Berks, esq. adopted him for his son, after the Roman custom, and settled his large estate upon him, though he was
no relation, and said to have been but slightly acquainted
with him. Some years after, he had another considerable
estate left him by Francis Harrington, of Tofts, esq. who
had married his tirst cousin, and died without issue. This
occasioned him to procure an act of parliament, pursuant
to the deed of settlement, to assume the name and bear the
arms of Barrington. On the accession of king George
he was chosen member of parliament for the town of Berwick-upon-Tvveed. July 5, 1717, he had a reversionary
grant of the office of master of the rolls in Ireland, which.
he surrendered Dec. 10, 1731. King George was also
pleased, by privy seal, dated at St. James’s, June 10, and
by patent at Dublin, July 1, 1720, to create him baron
Barrington of Newcastle, and viscount Barrington of Ardglass. In 1722 he was again returned to parliament as
member for the town of Berwick; but in 1723, the house
of commons, taking into consideration the affair of the Harburgh lottery, a very severe and unmerited censure of expulsion was passed upon his lordship, as sub-governor of
the Harburgh company, under the prince of Wales.
, brother to the preceding, and fifth son of the first lord viscount Harrington, was born in 1729, and entered very
, brother to the preceding, and fifth son of the first lord viscount Harrington, was born in 1729, and entered very young into the service of the British navy, passing through the inferior stations of midshipman and lieutenant with great reputation. He first went to sea in the Lark, under the command of lord George Graham, and in 1744, he was appointed a lieutenant by sir William Rowley, then commanding a squadron in the Mediterranean. In 1746, he had the rank of master and commander in the Weazcl sloop, in which he took a French privateer off Flushing. During the same year, or in 1747, he became post-captain, by being appointed totheBellona frigate (formerly a French privateer) in which he took the Duke de Chartres outward bound East India ship, of 800 tons, and of superior force, after a severe engagement, in which the French lost many killed and wounded. After the peace of 1748, he had the command of the Sea-horse, a twenty-gun ship in the Mediterranean, and while there, was dispatched from Gibraltar to Tetuan, to 'negociate the redemption of some British captives, in which he succeeded. He had afterwards the command of the Crown man of war, on the Jamaica station, and was in commission during the greater part of the peace. When the war broke out again between Great Britain and France, in 1756, he was appointed to the command of the Achilles of 60 guns. In 1759, he signalized his courage in an engagement with the Count de St. Florentin, French man of war, of equal force with the Achilles she fought for two hours, and had 116 men killed or wounded, all her masts shot away, and it was with difficulty she was got into port. The Achilles had twenty-five men killed or wounded. In the Achilles, captain Barrington was after this dispatched to America, from whence she returned about the close of the year 1760. In the Spring of the ensuing year, captain Barrington served under admiral Keppel, at the siege of Belleisle. To secure a landing for the troops, it became necessary to attack a fort and other works, in a sandy bay, intended to be the place of debarkation; three ships, one of which was the Achilles, were destined to this service. Captain Barrington got first to his station, and soon silenced the fire from the fort and from the shore, and cleared the coast for the landing the troops, and although, soon obliged to re-embark, they were well covered by the Achilles, and other ships. Ten days after the troops made good their landing, at a place where the mounting the rock was, as the commanders expressed it, barely possible, and captain Barrington was sent home with this agreeable news. After the peace of 1763, captain Barrington in 1768 commanded the Venus frigate, in which ship the late duke of Cumberland was entered as a midshipman. In her he sailed to the Mediterranean, and as these voyages are always intended both for pleasure and improvement, he visited the most celebrated posts in that sea. Soon after his return, the dispute between Great Britain and Spain, respecting Falkland’s Island, took place, and on the fitting out of the fleet, captain Barrington was appointed to the command of the Albion, of 74 guns, and soon after made colonel of marines. He found some little difficulty, from a scarcity of seamen, in manning his ship, and had recourse to a humourous experiment. He offered a bounty. for all lamp-lighters, and men of other trades which require alertness, who would enter; and soon procured a crew, but of such a description that they were, for some time, distinguished by the title of Barrington‘ s blackguards. He soon, however, changed their complexion. He had long borne the character of being a thoroughrbred seaman, and a rigid disciplinarian. His officers under him were the same, and they succeeded in making the Albion one of the best disciplined ships in the royal navy. The convention between the two courts putting an end to all prospect of hostilities, the Albion was ordered, as a guardship, to Plymouth; and in this situation captain Barrington commanded her for three years, made himself universally esteemed, and shewed that he possessed those accomplishments which adorn the officer and the man. In the former capacity he had so completely established his character, as to be looked up to as one who, in case of any future war, would be intrusted with some important command. In the latter, the traits of benevolence which are known, exclusive of those which he was careful to keep secret, shew, that with the roughness of a seaman, he possessed the benevolence of a Christian. An economical style of living enabled him to indulge his inclination that way, with a moderate income. On the breaking out of the war with France, captain Barrington, having then been thirty-one years a post-captain in the navy, was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and dispatched with a squadron to the West Indies. He found himself, on his arrival, so much inferior to the enemy, that he could riot preserve Dominica from falling into their hands. However, before the French fleet under D’Estaing could reach the West Indies, he was joined at Barbadoes by the troops under general Grant from America. He then immediately steered for St. Lucia, and the British troops had gained possession of a part of the island, when the French fleet, under the command of count D‘Estaing, appeared in sight. ’ Barrington lay in the Grand Cul de Sac, with only three ships-of the line, three of fifty guns, and some-frigates, and with this force, had not only to defend himself against ten sail of the line, many frigates, and American armed ships, but also to protect a large fleet of transports, having on board provisions and stores for the army, and which there had not yet been time to land; so that the fate of the army depended on that of the fleet. During the night the admiral caused the transports to be warped into the bay, and moored the men of war in a line without them. D'Estaing, elated with the hopes of crushing this small naval force under Barrington, attacked him next morning, first with ten sail of the line, but failing, he made a second attack with his whole force, and was equally unsuccessful, being only able to carry off one single transport, which the English had not time to warp within the line. This defence is among the first naval atchievements of the war. In an attack by land, on general Meadows’s intrenchments, the count was equally repulsed, and the island soon after capitulated. Admiral Byron shortly after arriving in the West Indies, Barrington, of course, became second in command only. In the action which took place between the British fleet and the French on the 6th of July, 1775, admiral Barrington, in the Prince of Wales, commanded the van division. The enemy were much superior to the English, but this discovery was not made till it was too late to remedy it. Admiral Barrington, in the Prince of Wales, with the Boyne and Sultan, pressed forward, soon closed with the enemy’s fleet, and bravely sustained their attack until joined by other ships. It was not, however, the intention of the French admiral to risk a general engagement, having the conquest of Grenada in view, and his ships being cleaner than those of the English, enabled him to choose his distance. The consequence was, that several of the British ships were very severely handled, whilst others had no share in the action. Barrington was wounded, and had twenty-six men killed, and forty-six wounded, in his own ship. Soon after this engagement, admiral Barrington, on account of ill-health, returned to England. These two actions established our admiral’s reputation, and he was looked on as one of the first officers in the English navy. The ferment of parties during the close of that war occasioned many unexpected refusals of promotion; and as admiral Barrington was intimately connected with lord Shelburne, col. Barre, and several other leading men in opposition, it was probably owing to this circumstance that he refused the command of the channel fleet, which was offered to him after the resignation of admiral Geary in 1780, and on his declining to accept it, conferred on admiral Darby. In 1782, he served, as second in command, under lord Howe, and distinguished himself at the memorable relief of Gibraltar. The termination of the war put a period to his active services. In February 1786, he was made lieutenant-general of marines; and on Sept. 24, 1787, admiral of the blue. During the last ten years of his life, his ill state of health obliged him to decline all naval command. He died at his lodgings in the Abbey Green, Bath, August 16, 1800.