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Up for sale a RARE! "Royal Navy Officer" Philip Charles Durham Clipped Signature.
ES-3818D
Admiral Sir Philip
Charles Henderson Calderwood Durham, GCB (baptised 29 July 1763 – 2 April 1845) was a Royal Navy officer whose service in the American War of
Independence, French Revolutionary War and Napoleonic Wars was lengthy, distinguished and at times
controversial. Destined to be one of the luckiest men in the Georgian Navy,
Philip Charles Durham was born in Largo, Fife in 1763, the fourth child and third son of
James Durham His maternal grandmother was the diarist Margaret Calderwood. He came from a wealthy landed
family, and entered the navy aged fourteen in 1777 aboard the ship of the line HMS Trident.
His first year at sea was somewhat blighted when that ship came under the
command of a martinet captain, Anthony James Pye Molloy, under whom the ship's
company grew mutinous. In 1778 Durham procured his discharge and afterwards
obtained a position under his original captain, on HMS Edgar. Aboard her he saw his first action
during the Great Siege of Gibraltar,
later gaining the attention of Admiral Richard Kempenfelt, with
whom he served on HMS Victory and HMS Royal George.
Durham was watch officer on 29 August 1782 when, through no fault of his own,
the Royal George, which was heeled for repairs, suddenly and
catastrophically sank at Spithead. Being on deck, Durham was able
to jump overboard and swim to safety, but the Admiral and over 800 persons lost their
lives. Durham then filled a lieutenant's vacancy on HMS Union in which he saw further service at
the siege of Gibraltar before making a cruise to the West Indies and then
another one down the African coast in HMS Raisonnable as
a junior lieutenant. Durham spent the next two years living in France,
becoming fluent in French. Afterwards he served in HMS Salisbury and HMS Barfleur. The
emergency in 1790 brought him promotion to Commander on 2 November 1790 and command of HMS Daphne. From there he moved in 1791 to HMS Cygnet. On 12 February 1793 Durham took
command of the small for 14 guns but only carried ten.
The
next day he captured the French privateer Afrique. The capture
of Afrique was the first capture of the war of a vessel
flying La tricolore. For this
feat Lloyd's of London gave
him a piece of plate worth 100 guineas, or £300, their
first such award of the war.
Durham
received promotion to post captain on 24
June 1793 and command of her, on 22 October, he moved to HMS Hind. In Hind he brought in a
convoy of 157 merchant ships from the Mediterranean in the face of enemy
opposition. This feat provoked accolades and rewards, and he took over the biggest frigate in the Navy, cut down (razeed)
from a ship of the line to oppose large French frigates, and in her fought
numerous actions, especially at the Battle of Donegal in
October 1798. On 28 March 1799 he
married Lady Charlotte Matilda Bruce, daughter of royal governess Lady
Elgin and sister of the Lord Elgin of Elgin Marbles fame, and continued his service in home
waters until the Peace of Amiens. Following the
resumption of hostilities, Durham was given HMS Defiance, which he took to join
Admiral Sir Robert Calder's fleet in 1804 and participated in the battle of Cape
Finisterre after which he was informally reprimanded by Calder for
being "over zealous" in pursuit of the enemy. Following the battle
Admiral Calder requested a court martial to acquit his own conduct and called
Captain Durham to appear in his defence along with two other captains. Unlike his
two comrades, Durham flatly refused to leave his ship which had been repaired at
Portsmouth
and specially requested by Lord Nelson and so was still in command at the Battle of Trafalgar a
few months later. The other two captains, William Brown and William battle whilst in England.