John Yelland

Captain John Yelland (1755 – December 1827) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He commanded at Copenhagen in 1801, for which he was mentioned in despatches but despite this and having served under some influential admirals, his promotion was slow and he never rose above the rank of captain.

Early life and career

John Yelland was born in the south-west of England, in or around 1755. He started his career in the Royal Navy as a volunteer, aboard the 74-gun HMS Torbay, soon after the American War of Independence started in 1776. In May 1778, he joined and was serving in her as a midshipman, when she took part in the Battle of Ushant that same year.

Yelland later transferred to , then carrying the flag of Admiral Thomas Graves in the waters around North America. He remained in her until 1781 when he moved, as acting lieutenant, to , in time for the Battle of Chesapeake in September.

Following the Treaty of Paris in September 1783, Yelland found himself on half pay and, apart from a short period aboard the fireship Tisiphone in 1790, remained so until war resumed in 1793. He then joined as a lieutenant, before moving to Admiral William Hotham's flagship, the 100-gun , where he fought at the battles of Genoa and Hyeres in 1795. Yelland subsequently served in and . before joining Horatio Nelson's squadron for the Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April. Monarch suffered the highest number of casualties of any ship in the action with 155 wounded and 55 dead including her captain. Following Mosse's death, early in the battle, Yelland, as next highest-ranking officer, assumed command and was the only junior officer mentioned in the despatches of either Nelson or Parker. The latter writing, Parker could have promoted Yelland himself but chose instead to advance his own favourites. He offered Yelland the position of lieutenant aboard his flagship but Yelland considered this an insult and refused to leave the ship he had fought in. It was spotted at dawn on 24 April by a British squadron comprising the 38-gun , two sloops, eight gun-brigs and Fury, all of which, immediately gave chase. The leading British vessels caught up and the first exchanges of fire occurred at 08:00. The action lasted through to the following morning with the British ships also coming under heavy fire from enemy shore batteries, although only one British seaman was injured. Eight of the armed transports were captured; the rest were escorted into Ambleteuse by armed launches sent out from Boulogne. He joined Greenwich Hospital as an out-pensioner in November 1809 and died in December 1827. Yelland was buried in St George's Field cemetery in Bayswater.