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Hyde Parker

Three admirals of the Royal Navy, father, son, and grandson, were named Hyde Parker.


Vice Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, Bt. (1714-02-25 – 1782), was born at Tredington , Worcestershire. His father, a clergyman, was a son of Sir Henry Parker. His paternal grandfather had married a daughter of Bishop Alexander Hyde, of Salisbury. He began his career at sea in the merchant service. Entering the Royal Navy at the age of 24, he was made lieutenant in 1744, and in 1748 he was made post-captain. During the latter part of the Seven Years' War he served in the East Indies, taking part in the capture of Pondicherry in 1761 and of Manila in 1762. In the latter year Parker with two ships captured one of the valuable Spanish plate ships in her voyage between Acapulco and Manila. In 1778 he became Rear Admiral and went to North American waters as second-in-command. For some time before George Rodney's arrival he was in command on the Leeward Islands station, and conducted a skilful campaign against the French at Martinique. In 1781, having returned home and become Vice Admiral, he fell in with a Dutch fleet of about his own force, though far better equipped, near the Dogger Bank on 1781-08-05 . After a fiercely contested battle, in which neither combatant gained any advantage, both sides drew off. Parker considered that he had not been properly equipped for his task, and insisted on resigning his command. In 1782 he accepted the East Indies command, though he had just succeeded to the family baronetcy. On the outward voyage his flagship Cato was lost with all on board.

His second son, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker (1739–1807), entered the Royal Navy at an early age, and became lieutenant in 1758, having passed most of his early service in his fathers' ships. Five years later he became a post-captain, and from 1766 onwards for many years he served in the West Indies and in North American waters, particularly distinguishing himself in breaking the defences of the North River at New York in 1776. His services on this occasion earned him a knighthood in 1779. In 1778 he was engaged in the Savannah expedition, and in the following year his ship was wrecked on the hostile Cuban coast. His men, however, entrenched themselves, and were in the end brought off safely. Parker was with his father at the Dogger Bank, and with Richard Howe in the two actions in the Straits of Gibraltar. In 1793, having just become Rear Admiral, he served under Samuel Hood at Toulon and in Corsica, and two years later, now a Vice Admiral, be took part, under The Lord Hotham, in the indecisive fleet actions on 1795-03-13 and the 1795-07-13 . From 1796 to 1800 he was in command at Jamaica and ably conducted the operations in the West Indies. In 1801 he was appointed to command the fleet destined to break up the northern armed neutrality, with Horatio Nelson as his second-in-command. Copenhagen, the first objective of the expedition, fell in the Battle of Copenhagen on 1801-04-02 to the fierce attack of Nelson's squadron, Parker with the heavier ships taking little part. Subsequently Parker hesitated to advance up the Baltic after his victory, a decision which was severely criticised. Soon afterwards he was recalled and Nelson succeeded him. He died in 1807.

The family name was continued in the navy in his eldest son, who became Vice Admiral and was First Sea Lord of the Admiralty in 1853 (dying in 1854); and also in that son's son, who as a captain in the Black Sea during the Crimean War was killed in 1854 when storming a Russian fort.

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Last updated: 08-09-2005 17:50:14
Last updated: 01-04-2007 01:18:57
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