Hugh Downman

Hugh Downman (c. 1765 – 4 January 1858) was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of admiral.

Downman spent most of the American War of Independence as a midshipman, with a spell in French captivity after his ship was wrecked off the coast of Ushant while chasing an enemy frigate. He was promoted to lieutenant shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars and served with distinction during operations in the Mediterranean. Downman served under several Admirals, and fought with Jervis at Battle of Cape St Vincent. Shortly after the battle he was rewarded with his own command, going on to capture several privateers and fighting off an attack by a larger vessel. Promoted to post-captain and given a frigate to command, he operated in the Mediterranean and performed services for the nobles and monarchs of the Italian states. Downman went on to command several ships of the line, often as a flag-captain, and took part in the capture of the Cape Colony and operations on the Río de la Plata.

Left without active employment after the end of the wars with France, he briefly returned to service in 1824. before being promoted to flag rank the following year. Downman continued to rise through the ranks, reaching the rank of full admiral before his death in 1858.

Family and early life Hugh Downman was born in Plympton, Devon around 1765. His uncle was Dr Hugh Downman, a physician and poet, who obtained for his nephew an offer to serve aboard the 32-gun as a midshipman. Downman took up the offer, joining the ship, which was then under the command of Captain Mitchell Graham, on 10 October 1776. He served aboard Thetis for the next two years, leaving the ship in August 1778 and joining . The Arethusa was wrecked off Ushant on 19 March 1779 while chasing a French ship, and Downman and the rest of the crew were taken prisoner by the French. Exchanged in January 1780 Downman went on to serve aboard under Captain Samuel Marshall, before moving into the 74-gun in May 1782. Edgar at this time was flying the broad pennant of Commodore William Hotham, and in October that year was part of the fleet sent out under Lord Howe to relieve Gibraltar.

Linzee was advanced to rear-admiral on 11 April 1794 and shifted his flag to the 98-gun , bringing Downman with him as his second lieutenant. Hood was preparing to return to the Mediterranean aboard Victory, when on 2 May he was ordered to strike his flag. Victory then went out to the Mediterranean as a private ship, whereupon she became the flagship of Rear-Admiral Robert Mann, and then Sir John Jervis. Captain William Brown was to have succeeded Downman in 1799, but he was given another ship instead, and Downman retained Santa Dorothea. He cut out vessels from Bordiguera on 11 January 1800 and Hospitallier on 11 February 1800, before taking command of a small squadron blockading Savona. In July 1801 he conveyed troops to Egypt and received the Order of the Crescent. He took part in the destruction of the 40-gun French frigate Amazone off Cape Barfleur, conveyed a fleet of East Indiamen to Madeira and carried out cruises in the North Sea. In November 1813 he landed marines at Scheveningen in support of the Prince of Orange, and went on to visit Spitsbergen. Princess Carolina was paid off in 1814 and Downman spent the next ten years with no active service.

Later years, family and legacy Downman briefly returned to active service in 1824, taking command of the 74-gun . He commanded her until being promoted to flag rank in May 1825. He was advanced to vice-admiral in 1837 and a full admiral in 1847. From 1851 he received a service pension of £150 a year. On 4 January 1858, he died at his seat in Hambledon, Hampshire.

Downman married Dorothea Palmer, the youngest daughter of Peter Palmer of Portsmouth on 23 June 1803. The couple had a son, the Reverend Hugh Downman, and two daughters, Dorothea Frances and Caroline. Caroline married Edward Hale and had two sons, Henry George Hale who joined the navy, and William Godfrey Hale, who joined the army. Henry Hale distinguished himself in the Baltic campaign during the Crimean War and was twice mentioned in dispatches by Vice-Admiral Richard Saunders Dundas. Lieutenant-General T. Downman, superintendent at Woolwich, was a first-cousin of Admiral Hugh Downman.

Politically Downman was an ardent supporter of Whig Charles James Fox and opposed the Melvilles, Henry and his son Robert, who were for a number of years powerful at the Admiralty. Downman attributed this political interest as being the cause of his period of unemployment after having reached flag-rank. He was described as a "strict disciplinarian, but an accomplished gentleman; well-read...[and] temperate..." Whilst serving in the Mediterranean he was apparently especially disliked by Emma Hamilton, with Downman's obituary noting that "from this fact some slight judgement of his character may be formed."