Robert Henderson

Rear-Admiral Robert Henderson (1778 – 14 January 1843) was an officer of the British Royal Navy who fought in several colonial actions and operations during his service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Henderson served in small cruising warships in the West Indies during the early years of the Napoleonic Wars and took part in the invasion and capture of Saint Lucia in 1803 and operations off Trinidad in 1804. In 1810, Henderson commanded HMS Nereide at the Invasion of Île de France and was awarded a pension for his service which he retained until he became a retired admiral in 1838. He died in 1843.

Military career Henderson was born in 1778, the son of prominent naval officer Captain William Henderson of Aberdeen, an important landowner in Forfarshire. Educated at Marischal College, Henderson followed his father into the British Royal Navy in 1792 as a midshipman in HMS Southampton shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Serving during the war, Henderson became a lieutenant in 1799 aboard the sloop HMS Osprey and was still aboard her during the successful invasion of Saint Lucia in 1803.