Richard Hancorn

Richard Hancorn (c. 1754 – 1792) was a British Royal Navy officer, serving during the late eighteenth century.

Naval career On 15 February 1783, Hancorn was commissioned to the rank of lieutenant aboard the Bonetta-class sloop under the command of William Henry Ricketts. Soon after, he joined HMS Melampus, under the command of Sir Charles Pole, 1st Baronet, who was appointed to the frigate in May 1790 as a result of the Nootka Crisis.

Hancorn v. Butterfield Upon joining HMS Melampus, Hancorn provoked the anger of the midshipmen by handing out "harsh and unfair" punishments for minor transgressions. Of particular grievance was his response to the misdemeanour of Midshipman William Butterfield, who was lashed to a grating and pulled to the top of the mizzen in a public display, because he had engaged in his ordinary duties without express permission from a senior officer. As Hancorn expressed, he was "getting under way before he had received his sailing orders." An explosive incident occurred soon after when Hancorn entered the Star & Garter Inn in Portsmouth and was followed by Butterfield and four other midshipmen: Hannam, Hamlin, Parkinson and Trollop, the latter three being from HMS Melampus. Hannam, who was informed of the incident and believed Hancorn a tyrant, immediately initiated in verbally abusing him. The others followed and Hancorn soon found himself challenged to five separate fights. He responded by reminding them of their Naval traditions and that, as a superior officer, such behaviour was "totally reprehensible". Labelled a "rascal", "scoundrel" and "coward", he vacated the situation, prompting a further torrent of insults and hisses. The Bulama Association, a philanthropic and financial organisation of which Hancorn was a member, hoped to create a colony that would remove the need for slave plantations in the Caribbean. Hancorn died on the island weeks after the other leaders had decided to return home, on 21 July 1792.