Sir Charles Richardson | |
|---|---|
&sq=Google&lang=en&file=File:Vice-Admiral_Sir_Charles_Richardson_(cropped).jpg) Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Richardson | |
| Born | Baptized 10 March 1769 Shap, Westmorland |
| Died | (aged 83) Painsthorpe Hall, Yorkshire |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1787–1850 |
| Rank | Vice-Admiral of the White |
| Commands | |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | Order of the Crescent Naval General Service Medal with four clasps |
Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Richardson KCB (c. 10 March 1769 – 10 November 1850) was a British naval officer of the 18th and 19th centuries. His naval career began when he joined HMS Vestal as a captain's servant in 1787. In Vestal he made an aborted journey to China before serving on the East Indies Station where he transferred to HMS Phoenix and fought in the Battle of Tellicherry and the Third Anglo-Mysore War in 1791 and 1792. Having returned to England as a master's mate, Richardson fought at the Glorious First of June on HMS Royal George in 1794 before being promoted to lieutenant in HMS Circe. In 1797, he successfully combated the Nore mutiny in Circe before fighting in the Battle of Camperdown where he personally captured the Dutch admiral Jan Willem de Winter. Afterwards he became flag lieutenant to Admiral Adam Duncan and fought at the Battle of Callantsoog and the Vlieter Incident in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland of 1799. He then sailed to Egypt in HMS Kent where he again went onshore, fighting in the battles of Abukir, Mandora, and Alexandria in 1801.
Promoted to commander in July 1801, Richardson was given command of the en flute HMS Alligator. After the Napoleonic Wars began in 1803 he was sent to the Leeward Islands Station, where he captured three Dutch settlements in September. Richardson made a valuable contribution in the Battle of Suriname in the following year for which he was given command of HMS Centaur and promoted to post-captain. Leaving Centaur in 1805, at the start of the next year he received command of HMS Caesar. In Caesar Richardson fought at the battles of Les Sables-d'Olonne and the Basque Roads in 1809. He joined the Walcheren Campaign later in the year, where he took command of a naval brigade operating ashore. In 1810 he was given command of HMS Semiramis in the English Channel; cooperating with HMS Diana he fought an action against two French warships and a small convoy off the Gironde that was complimented by Spencer Perceval, the prime minister.
Leaving Semiramis in 1815, Richardson's next command came in 1819 as captain of HMS Leander on the East Indies Station. He transferred to HMS Topaze in 1821 and sailed to China, where his crew killed two Chinese locals in what they claimed was self-defence. The resulting diplomatic incident was settled at the start of the following year but caused such a strain on Richardson's health that he was invalided home in October 1822. This was his last service in the Royal Navy, but he continued to be rewarded, being nominated a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1841 and promoted to vice-admiral in 1847. He died of influenza at his home at Painsthorpe in 1850.