The Lord Barham | |
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![]() Portrait by Isaac Pocock | |
Member of Parliament for Rochester | |
In office 1784–1790 | |
Preceded by | George Finch-Hatton |
Succeeded by | George Best |
Personal details | |
Born | 14 October 1726 Leith, Midlothian, Scotland |
Died | 17 June 1813 Barham Court, Teston, Kent, England | (aged 86)
Known for | Abolitionism |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Branch/service | Royal Navy |
Years of service | 1741–1813 |
Rank | Admiral |
Commands | HMS Arundel HMS Emerald HMS Adventure |
Battles/wars | Seven Years' War American War of Independence French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars |
Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, PC (14 October 1726 – 17 June 1813[1]) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. As a junior officer he saw action during the Seven Years' War. Middleton was given command of a guardship at the Nore, a Royal Navy anchorage in the Thames Estuary, at the start of the American War of Independence, and was subsequently appointed Comptroller of the Navy. He went on to be First Naval Lord and then First Lord of the Admiralty.
Charles Middleton was born at Leith, Midlothian to Robert, a customs collector of Bo'ness, Linlithgowshire, and Helen, daughter of Captain Charles Dundas RN and granddaughter of Sir James Dundas of Arniston. He was a nephew of Brigadier-General John Middleton (1678–1739), a grandson of George Middleton DD, and a great-grandson of Alexander Middleton (younger brother of John Middleton, 1st Earl of Middleton), the last two having served as Principal of King's College, Aberdeen.[2]
On 21 December 1761, Charles married Margaret Gambier[3] (c.1731 – 10 October 1792), daughter of James Gambier and Margaret Mead, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, London. Margaret was the sister of Vice-Admiral James Gambier (1723–1789) and a niece of Captain Mead, captain of the Sandwich. Margaret's first encounter with Charles was aboard the Sandwich some twenty years earlier. Margaret later moved to Teston in Kent, to be close to her friend Elizabeth Bouverie. After their marriage, Charles and Margaret made their home at Barham Court in Teston where they lived until their respective deaths.[4] Charles and Margaret had one daughter, Diana, later Diana Noel, 2nd Baroness Barham, born 18 September 1762.[5]
Charles and Margaret also raised Margaret's nephew, James, later James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier, born 13 October 1756.[6]
In 1786, Charles and Margaret adopted Charles's nephew Robert Gambier Middleton (November 1774 – 21 August 1882), the eldest son of Charles's elder brother Captain George Middleton (1724–1794) and Elizabeth Wilson. Robert Gambier Middleton attained the rank of Rear-Admiral on 9 June 1832.[7]
In addition to his service in the Royal Navy, Middleton played a crucial role in the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire. He had been influenced by a pamphlet written by Rev. James Ramsay, who served as a surgeon under Middleton aboard HMS Arundel in the West Indies, but later took holy orders and served on the Caribbean island of St Christopher (now St Kitts), where he observed first-hand the treatment of slaves. In 1777, exhausted by the continuing conflict with influential planters and businessmen, Ramsay returned to Britain and briefly lived with Sir Charles and Lady Middleton at Teston.[14] He later became vicar of Teston and rector of Nettlestead, Kent, the livings being in the gift of Middleton.[15]
Ramsay's pamphlet Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies, published in 1784, especially affected Lady Middleton. Feeling inadequate to take up the issue of the slave trade in Parliament himself, and knowing that it would be a long, hard battle, Sir Charles Middleton suggested the young Member of Parliament William Wilberforce as the one who might be persuaded to take up the cause. (Whether this was the first time that the issue had been suggested to Wilberforce is debatable). In 1787 Wilberforce was introduced to James Ramsay and Thomas Clarkson at Teston, as well as meeting the Testonites, a growing group of supporters of abolition which also included Edward Eliot, Hannah More, the evangelical writer and philanthropist, and Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London.[16]
Clarkson had first made public his desire to spend his life fighting for emancipation at Middleton's home, Barham Court, overlooking the River Medway at Teston, Kent. In order to make a case for abolishing the slave trade, Clarkson did much research over many years, gathering evidence by interviewing thousands of sailors who had been involved in the slave trade.[16]
Barham Court was effectively used for planning the campaign by Lord and Lady Barham, with numerous meetings and strategy sessions attended by Wilberforce, Clarkson, Eliot and Porteus before presenting legislation to Parliament. While Middleton never played a direct role in the effort to abolish the slave trade (finally accomplished in 1807) and slavery itself (in 1833) he played a very important part as a behind the scenes facilitator. His efforts were motivated by his evangelical faith.[17]
A key leader in the Royal Navy (1778–1807), he was an austere but politically liberal public official. As Comptroller of the Navy, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Commissioner, his success in handling the problems of supply, construction, inefficiency, and insubordination made a critical contribution to Britain's naval victories in the Napoleonic wars, according to Bernard Pool.[18]
Three warships of the Royal Navy have been named Barham in honour of Middleton including the battleship Barham launched in 1914. A fourth was planned but never completed.[19] Barham Building at HMS Nelson, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth), is also named after Middleton.[20]
Barham is a character in Treason's Tide by Robert Wilton, set during the summer of 1805.[21] He is also portrayed by the simple moniker of Admiral Barham in Naomi Novik's alternative history fiction series, Temeraire, in the second novel, Throne of Jade, (published with Del Rey in 2006) in which he is depicted as arbitrating a dispute between the Chinese delegation and the British government over the possible return of Captain William Laurence's dragon Temeraire to China. His political relationship with William Wilberforce and the Abolitionist movement in Britain is also referenced in the work.[22]