View source for George Darby

{{short description|British Royal Navy officer (c. 1720–1790)}}
{{for-multi|the British Conservative politician|George Darby (MP for East Sussex)|the 19th-century baseball player|George Darby (baseball)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix = [[Vice admiral (Royal Navy)|Vice-Admiral]]
|name= George Darby
|birth_date=c. 1720
|death_date= 1790
|birth_place= 
|death_place=
|image=Vice-Admiral George Darby.jpg
|caption=Vice-Admiral George Darby, by [[George Romney (painter)|George Romney]], c. 1784
|nickname=
|allegiance={{flag|Kingdom of Great Britain}}
|serviceyears=1742–1782
|rank= [[Vice Admiral (Royal Navy)|Vice-Admiral]]
|commands=[[HMS Aldborough (1743)|HMS ''Aldborough'']]<br>[[HMS Seahorse (1748)|HMS ''Seahorse'']]<br>[[HMS Norwich (1745)|HMS ''Norwich'']]<br>[[HMS Devonshire (1745)|HMS ''Devonshire'']]<br>[[Channel Fleet]]
|branch=  {{navy|Kingdom of Great Britain}}
|unit=
|battles=[[Seven Years' War]]<br>[[American Revolutionary War]]
|awards=
|laterwork=
}}
[[Vice Admiral (Royal Navy)|Vice-Admiral]] '''George Darby''' ({{c.}} 1720 &ndash; 1790) was an officer of the British [[Royal Navy]]. He commanded [[HMS Norwich (1745)|HMS ''Norwich'']] at the [[British expedition against Martinique|capture of Martinique]] in 1762 during the [[Seven Years' War]]. He went on to command the [[Western Squadron]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]] and later in that war served as [[First Sea Lord|First Naval Lord]] when he commanded the force that relieved [[Gibraltar]] from [[Great Siege of Gibraltar|its siege by the Spanish]] in April 1781.

==Naval career==
===Early career===
{{further|Great Britain in the Seven Years War}}
Darby was the second son of Jonathan Darby (III) (d.1742/3) and Anna Marie Frend both of [[Leap Castle]], in [[King's County, Ireland]]. He joined the [[Royal Navy]] as a volunteer in September 1742.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7140?docPos=8|title= George Darby |year= 2004 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/7140 |access-date=23 July 2017}}</ref> Promoted to [[post-captain]] on 12 September 1747, he received his first command, the [[sixth-rate]] [[HMS Aldborough (1743)|HMS ''Aldborough'']].<ref name=decks>{{cite web|url=https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_crewman&id=2142|title=George Darby (1720-1790)|publisher=Three Decks|access-date=24 July 2017}}</ref> He went on to become commanding officer of the sixth-rate [[HMS Seahorse (1748)|HMS ''Seahorse'']] in 1756 and of the [[fourth-rate]] [[HMS Norwich (1745)|HMS ''Norwich'']] in 1757 in which he served under [[George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney|Admiral Rodney]] at the [[British expedition against Martinique|capture of Martinique]] in 1762 during the [[Seven Years' War]].<ref name=odnb/> After that he became commanding officer of the [[third-rate]] [[HMS Devonshire (1745)|HMS ''Devonshire'']] in 1760.<ref name=decks/>

===American War of Independence===
In the [[American Revolutionary War]] of 1775 to 1783, [[Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel|Admiral Keppel]]'s resignation during the crisis following the [[Battle of Ushant (1778)|Battle of Ushant]] in 1778 left a vacancy for command of the [[Western Squadron]]. On 23 January 1778 Darby became a [[Rear admiral (Royal Navy)|rear-admiral]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=11843|page=2|date=24 January 1778}}</ref> and on 19 March 1779 he was promoted to [[Vice admiral (Royal Navy)|vice-admiral]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=11962|page=2|date=16 March 1779}}</ref> thanks to his association with [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich|Lord Sandwich]], [[First Lord of the Admiralty]], during the court martial of [[Hugh Palliser|Admiral Palliser]]. Thus he unexpectedly came to command the Channel Fleet in 1780 at a time of grave danger for the kingdom.<ref name=odnb/>

Darby was appointed to the [[Board of Admiralty]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Sainty, JC, ''Lord High Admiral and Commissioners of the Admiralty 1660-1870, Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 4: Admiralty Officials 1660-1870'' (1975), pp. 18–31.|url=http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=16652|access-date=4 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007025436/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=16652|archive-date=7 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> as [[First Sea Lord|First Naval Lord]] in the [[North ministry]] in September 1780.<ref>Rodger, p. 69</ref> In April 1781 he relieved [[Gibraltar]] from [[Great Siege of Gibraltar|its siege by the Spanish]],<ref name=odnb/> for the second time during that war. This event is recorded in a full-length portrait by [[George Romney (painter)|George Romney]], painted 1783&ndash;6, which hangs in the [[National Maritime Museum]]. On the change of ministry in April 1782 he resigned his command and did not again serve at sea; he also resigned his seat on the Admiralty Board. He was [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Plymouth (UK Parliament constituency)|Plymouth]], from 1780 to 1784.<ref name=odnb/> He lived at Newtown House at [[Newtown, Hampshire|Newtown]] in [[Hampshire]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://morethannelson.com/officer/george-darby/|title=George Darby|publisher=More than Nelson|access-date=6 August 2017}}</ref> and died in 1790.<ref name=odnb/>

==Personal life==
When in England he lived at Newtown House, [[Newtown, Hampshire]] and had five children. Darby was married to Mary, daughter of [[Sir William St Quintin, 4th Baronet]] and then to Ann Bridges, a widow whose brother was colonial agent and MP, [[Richard Jackson (colonial agent)|Richard Jackson]].<ref>Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Irish Family Records. London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976.</ref>
Darby's male issue achieved high military rank and held significant wealth:
*William Thomas St Quentin (1769-1805) lived at Darby House, [[Sunbury on Thames]] and later at [[Scampston Hall]], Malton, Yorkshire
**Colonel Matthew Chitty Downes St. Quintin (his son)
*Major-General [[Matthew Darby-Griffith|Matthew Chitty Darby-Griffith]] (1772–1823) lived at [[Padworth College|Padworth House]], Berkshire

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|last=Rodger|first=N.A.M. |year=1979|title=The Admiralty. Offices of State|publisher= Lavenham: T. Dalton Ltd|isbn=0900963948}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Darby, George|first= John Knox |last=Laughton|volume=14}}

== External links ==
{{Commonscatinline}}
* History of Parliament: [http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/darby-george-1720-90/ George Darby ]

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{{Succession box| title=[[Rear-Admiral of Great Britain]] | before=[[George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney|Lord Rodney]] | years=1781&ndash;1790 | after=[[Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport|Lord Bridport]]}}
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[[Category:Royal Navy vice admirals]]
[[Category:1720s births]]
[[Category:1790 deaths]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Seven Years' War]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Plymouth]]
[[Category:British MPs 1780–1784]]
[[Category:People from Newtown, Hampshire]]
[[Category:Military personnel from County Offaly]]
[[Category:Lords of the Admiralty]]
[[Category:Irish officers in the Royal Navy]]