Samuel Hood Linzee

Vice-Admiral Samuel Hood Linzee (27 December 1773 – 1 September 1820) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Biography Linzee was born in Plymouth, Devon, the son of John Linzee and Susannah Inman, and named in honour of Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, who was married to his father's cousin, Susannah. His father was a Royal Navy captain, and had served during the American War, commanding the sloop from October 1774 until after July 1776, and saw action at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. Although his infant son Samuel's name appeared on the ship's muster roll as captain's servant and senior clerk, it is highly improbable that Samuel was on board the ship, but it did count towards the years of sea time necessary for all candidates for a lieutenant's commission. Samuel Linzee subsequently received his on 21 July 1790, aged only sixteen and a half. He was promoted to commander on 5 November 1793, and to post-captain on 8 March 1794, only two months past his 20th birthday, and given command of the 28-gun sixth-rate frigate .

On 9 December 1795, the French frigate Sensible and corvette Sardine captured Nemesis while she was at anchor in the neutral port of Smyrna. Nemesis did not resist and Linzee protested the illegality of the action. The British frigates Aigle and blockaded the three ships until Ganteaume's squadron drove the British ships off. The French sailed Nemesis to Tunis in January 1796, but the British recaptured her on 9 March. the from 1809 to 1811, in March 1812, and then the from April to August 1812. He was appointed a Colonel of Marines on 20 July 1811.

Linzee was promoted to the flag rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue on 12 August 1812, then to Rear Admiral of the White on 4 December 1812, Rear Admiral of the Red on 4 June 1813, and finally to Vice-Admiral of the Blue on 12 August 1819.

Death Linzee died on 1 September 1820, at his home at Stonehouse, Devon, at the age of 46, after an attack of apoplexy caused him to fall from his horse a few days before. A monument can be found in the north aisle of the Church of St. Andrews, Plymouth.

Personal life Linzee first married Miss J. Clark, at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, in July 1799. She and her baby died during childbirth on 28 August 1800, at Greenwich. On 7 September 1802 Linzee married Emily Wooldridge, the daughter of Captain William Wooldridge, at St Andrew's Church, Plymouth. They had nine children; the first three, all boys, were stillborn, while the fourth, named Samuel Hood Linzee, was born in August 1806, but died of smallpox on 26 December the same year. The fifth child, Emily Wooldridge Linzee, was born on 27 September 1807. The sixth, also Samuel Hood Linzee, was born on 19 December 1809, and was drowned off Cape Frio on 11 July 1831, aged only 22, while serving as a lieutenant aboard . The seventh child, John Linzee was born 22 September 1812, while the eighth, Susanna Inman Linzee, was born on 17 December 1815. The ninth and final child, Mary Ann Charlotte Linzee was born on 26 January 1818.