Charles Cornwall

Vice-Admiral of the Blue Charles Cornewall (1669 – 7 October 1718) was a Royal Navy officer and Whig politician who represented Bewdley and Weobley in the House of Commons of Great Britain between 1709 and 1718.

Origins

Cornewall was born in 1669, eldest of the eleven children of Robert Cornewall and Edith Cornwallis, and was baptised at Eye, Herefordshire, on 5 August 1669.

Career

Cornewall joined the navy in 1683 and was given his first command, the Sloop , on 19 September 1692. The following year he was given command of the 44-gun and sailed under the command of Admiral Edward Russell to the Mediterranean, where he would remain until 1696.

On 27 January 1695, Adventure was one of a squadron of six frigates under the command of Commodore James Killegrew aboard . The flotilla was spotted by two French warships, the 60-gun Content and the 52-gun Trident, who closed on them believing them to be merchant ships. They retreated on discovering their mistake and were pursued by the British ships, the ensuing firefight lasting through the night and into the next morning before the French ships were compelled to surrender. Killigrew was killed in the action, and Cornewall was appointed to command the Plymouth in his place. but left the navy after the Treaty of Ryswick. In 1701 he stood for parliament in Weobley against his cousin Henry Cornewall, but was defeated having gained just four votes. Returning to sea in March that year, he was given command of but had to resign a few months later due to the sudden death of his father whose concerns, he wrote on 25 September 1701, "are like to prove more troublesome and tedious than I expected, though when settled may prove of very considerable advantage to my children." He did not spend much time in the house, being busy commanding squadrons in the Downs and off Dunkirk. In October 1710 he led a convoy to Smyrna aboard , but his Whig politics made it impossible to gain a further command on his return, and he languished on half-pay for some years. He was promoted to the rank of rear admiral on 16 June 1716, and appointed Commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean in October the following year. During this time he engaged in a bitter dispute with the Governor, who refused to admit the admiral's authority even in matters relating to the ships in the port. Cornwall eventually resolved to put the matter before the King or the Speaker of the House of Commons, but was prevented from doing so by being once more engaged in active service.

After the battle, Cornwall transferred his flag back to HMS Argyll and convoyed the captured Spanish prizes to Port Mahon, from where he set sail for England. However, his health had been poor for some time, and on putting in at Lisbon on the homeward journey he died there on 7 October 1718.

Cornwall's career had been illustrious without being spectacular, as John Charnock put it: "We have at least a very extraordinary, if not unequalled instance in this gentleman, of its being possible for an officer to serve, with the most irreproachable character, and to attain a very high rank in the service, without ever having it in his power to increase his reputation, by any of those brilliant exploits which fortune throws in the way of her greater favourites."

Family Cornwall married twice, but no details of his first marriage survives. His second wife was Dorothy Hanmer daughter of Thomas Hanmer, with whom he had fourteen children: Henry Cornewall (b. 1698) Thomas Cornewall (b. & d. 1699) Sir Robert de Cornwall (1700–56), MP for Leominster Henrietta Cornewall (1701–28) Cyriac Cornewall (1702–1703) Charles Cornewall (b. & d. 1704) Job Cornewall (1705–28) Theophila Cornewall (1706–21) Jane Cornewall (b. 1708) Jacobs Cornewall (1709–38), father of Charles Wolfran Cornwall Emma Cornwall (1712–77), married Thomas Vernon Edith Cornwall (b. & d. 1712) Annabella Cornwall (1713–82) Mary Cornwall (b. 1714)

His estate at Berrington was inherited on his death by Sir Robert.