, fourth viscount Howe, and earl Howe, and first baron Howe of Langar,
, fourth viscount Howe, and earl
Howe, and first baron Howe of Langar, a gallant English
admiral, was the third son of sir Emanuel Scrope, second
lord viscount Howe, and Mary Sophia Charlotte, eldest
daughter to the baron Kilmansegge. He was born in 1725,
was educated at Eton, entered the sea-service at the age
of fourteen, on board the Severn, hon. captain Legge,
part of the squadron destined for the South Seas under
Anson. He next served on board the Burford, 1743, under
admiral Knowles, in which he was afterwards appointed
acting lieutenant; but his commission not being confirmed,
he returned to admiral Knowles in the West- Indies, where
he was made lieutenant of a sloop of war; and being employed to cut an English merchantman, which had been
taken by a French privateer under the guns of the Dutch
settlement of St. Eustatia, and with the connivance of the
governor, out of that harbour, he executed the difficult
and dangerous enterprise in such a manner, as to produce
the most sanguine expectations of his future services. In
1745, lieutenant Howe was with admiral Vernon in the
Downs, but was in a short time raised to the rank of commander, in the Baltimore sloop of war, which joined the
squadron then cruizing on the coast of Scotland, under the
command of admiral Smith. During this cruize an action
took place, in which captain Howe gave a fine example of
persevering intrepidity. The Baltimore, in company with
another armed vessel, fell in with two French frigates of
thirty guns, with troops and ammunition for the service of
the pretender, which she instantly attacked, by running
between them. In the action which followed, capt. Howe
received a wound hi his head, which at first appeared to be
fatal. He, however, soon discovered signs of life, and
when the necessary operation was performed, resumed all
his former activity, continued the action, if possible, with
redoubled spirit, and obliged the French ships, with their
prodigious superiority in men and metal, to sheer off, leaving the Baltimore, at the same time, in such a shattered
condition, as to be wholly disqualified to pursue them. He
was, in consequence of this gallant service, immediately
made post-captain, and in April 1746, was appointed to
the Triton frigate, and ordered to Lisbon, where, in consequence of captain Holbourne’s bad state of health, he
was transferred to the Rippon, destined for the Coast of
Guinea. But he soon quitted that station to join his early
patron admiral Knowles in Jamaica, who appointed him
first captain of his ship of 80 guns; and at the conclusion
of the war in 1748, he returned in her to England. In
March 1750-51, captain Howe was appointed to the command of the Guinea station, in La Gloire, of 44 guns;
when, with his usual spirit and activity, he checked the
injurious proceedings of the Dutch governor-general on the
coast, and adjusted the difference between the English and
Dutch settlements. At the close of 1751, he was appointed
to the Mary yacht, which was soon exchanged for the Dolphin frigate, in which he sailed to the Streights, where he
executed many difficult and important services. Here he
remained about three years; and soon after, on his return
to England, he obtained the command of the Dunkirk of
60 guns, which was among the ships that were commissioned from an apprehension of a rupture with France.
This ship was one of the fleet with which admiral Boscawen
sailed to obstruct the passage of the French fleet into the
Gulph of St. Lawrence, when captain Howe took the Alcide, a French ship of 64 guns, off the coast of Newfoundland. A powerful fleet being prepared, in 1757, under
the command of sir Edward Hawke, to make an attack
upon the French coast, captain Howe was appointed to the
Magnanime, in which ship he battered the fort on the
island of Aix till it surrendered. In 1758 he was appointed
commodore of a small squadron, which sailed to annoy tke
enemy on their coasts. This he effected with his usual
success at St. Malo, where an hundred sail of ships and
several magazines were destroyed; and the heavy gale
blowing into shore, which rendered it impracticable for
the troops to land, alone prevented the executing a similar
mischief in the town and harbour of Cherbourg. On the
1st of July he returned to St. Helen’s. This expedition
was soon followed by another, when prince Edward, afterwards duke of York, was entrusted to the care of commodore Howe, on board his ship the Essex. The fleet sailed
on the 1st of August 1758, and on the 6th came to an
anchor in the Bay of Cherbourg; the town was taken, and
the bason destroyed. The commodore, with his royal
midshipman on board, next sailed to St. Malo; and as his
instructions were to keep the coast of France in continual
alarm, he very effectually obeyed them. The unsuccessful affair of St. Cas followed. But never was courage,
skill, or humanity, more powerfully or successfully displayed than on this occasion. He went in person in his
barge, which was rowed through the thickest fire, to save
the retreating soldiers; the rest of the fleet, inspired hy
his conduct, followed his example, and at least seven hundred men were preserved, by his exertions, from the fire
of the enemy or the fury of the waves. In July in the
same year (1758), his elder brother, who was serving his
country with equal ardour and heroism in America, found
an early grave. That brave and admirable officer was killed in a skirmish between the advanced guard of the French,
and the troops commanded by general Abercrombie, in the
expedition against Ticonderago. Commodore Howe then
succeeded to the titles and property of his family. In the
following year (1759), lord Howe was employed in the Channel, on board his old ship the Magnanime but no opportunity offered- to distinguish himself till the month of November, when the French fleet, under Conflans, was defeated. When he was presented to the king by sir Edward
Hawke on this occasion, his majesty said, “Your life, my
lord, has been one continued series of services to your
country.
” In March I advised his
majesty to make the promotion. 1 have tried my lord
Howe on fmportant occasions; he never asked me how he
was to execute any service, but always went and performed
it.
” In