Nelson & His World

In the discussion about John Pasco Inside Nelson's World, Post Captain noted that a junior lieutenant was promoted over him after Trafalgar.

How were promotions up to the rank of post captain organised? Some promotions, I know, were made on the spot by the captain when an officer had shown outstanding gallantry. (Nelson's immediate promotion of an officer who rescued a man who had fallen overboard is a case in point). Sometimes, an officer whose comrades believed he merited promotion did not receive it immediately (e.g. the short delay over Lt Yelland's promotion after Copenhagen that Midshipman Millard records in his account, with some bitterness.) Was this promotion purely at the captain's discretion? Would he do so only if a post was available, or did he have authority to reward any act of gallantry with immediate promotion if he thought it fitting?

How were promotions organised that were not in immediate response to an act of gallantry?

Anna!

Wiser colleagues may well have the definitive answer to your question and, indeed, quote the precise regulations, but my recollection of the promotion system - admittedly based on the period 1810-1820 - makes me offer the following.

1.Promotions to the rank of lieutenant and above were important sources of social and political patronage and were strictly reserved to the admiralty. In certain circumstances, captains were permitted to promote deserving officers to unexpected vacancies at the level of lieutenant: but in home waters these were always temporary and subject to ‘their Lordships pleasure’. and overseas to that of the admiral commanding. In later years, the admiralty actually had a list (secret but widely leaked) giving the names of the officers it intended to promote in order of preference up to the level of captain.

2. In overseas waters, the power to promote was delegated to the commander-in-chief – but only in certain circumstances. Thus, vacancies caused by death or court martial were filled by the c-in-c, those caused by other causes (including illness – which was by far the greatest cause of vacancies) filled by the admiralty. This meant that the c-in-c too had a list, although most of his protégées were serving on the flagship where they promoted into vacancies in order of seniority. Pasco’s problem (as I remember it) was that by stepping down from the position of First Lieutenant (in favour of John Quilliam) to be signals lieutenant he gave up his primary slot on this moving staircase to promotion.

3. Where on-the-spot promotions for daring deeds comes into it, I am mystified. It is possible that (assuming there was a vacancy at lieutenant level on a ship) a captain might instantly promote an individual who had shown outstanding bravery – but such a promotion could have only been temporary and must have been subject to admiralty approval.

4. Likewise, in view of the importance of patronage to the Georgian system, I cannot see how such hero-promotions could have been anything else than exceptional. It is certainly a mistake to think that the devolution of promotion powers from political bureacrats in the admiralty to to front line admirals meant that merit rather than ‘interest’ became more widely rewarded. Indeed, there were plenty of instances when merit and bravery were not rewarded. Here is one.

- In February 1800, the Genereux was attacked by the frigate Success and the 74-gun Alexander - commanded in the absence of Captain Alexander Ball by Lieutenant William Harrington - and surrendered when Nelson arrived with three more ships of his squadron. The incorporation of the French battleship into the Royal Navy triggered a wave of promotions - a captain had to be found to command her, another captain appointed to fill that vacancy, a commander promoted to replace him, and a lieutenant promoted to fill his post. The lucky lieutenant was not however William Harrington of the Alexander, who had been highly praised in Nelson's despatches. It was Lord Cochrane. Why? The answer is not that youthful Cochrane’s fighting skills had been divined by the c-in-c, Lord Keith, but that Cochrane was one of the 30-odd Scots followers with which Keith had filled his flagship – and it was now his - Buggin’s - turn for promotion. Unlike Cochrane, the worthy Harrington was not a peer and but a man without 'interest' who was destined to die a lieutenant. The admirals' action was resented by many in the fleet including Captain Henry Blackwood who wrote critically of the way in which “the Irish peer (ie Keith) has monopolised all the promotions which the well-timed exertions off Lord Nelson had thrown his way and used them to reward his own followers, including Lord Cochrane.”

Brian

Many thanks for that informative post, Brian.

Re: on the spot promotions: I recall another occasion when Nelson seems to have assumed that an officer's gallantry would be rewarded by promotion. After the capture of the Guillaume Tell Nelson wrote one of his charming letters to a young officer who, it appears, had asked earlier to be transferred from the Penelope to the Foudroyant:

To Lieut Charles Inglis, on board the Guillaume Tell at Syracuse, 16 April 1800

My Dear Sir,

How fortunate I did not permit you to quit the Penelope to be a junior lieutenant in the Foudroyant. You will now get your promotion in the pleasantest of all ways, by the gallant exertions of yourself and those brave friends who surrounded you on that glorious night. What a triumph for you - what a pleasure to me.....'

Not quite an 'on the spot' promotion but Nelson seems very certain that Inglis's promotion is a foregone conclusion.

My understanding is that there was a tradition for first lieutenants of ships that had been in a successful action reported in the Gazette (including battles such as Trafalgar) to be promoted to commander by the Admiralty. Did this add to the resentment at Keith's passing over William Harrington?

In the case of Charles Inglis, 1st Lieutenant of the Penelope, there was presumably also an expectation that he would be promoted, but I think perhaps Nelson may have had time to check that his promotion was certain before he wrote the letter. The Guillaume Tell had been captured on the 30th March, and in a letter to Lord Keith on the 8th April, Nelson rather pointedly wrote "I am confident your Lordship will bestow the promotions in the properest manner, therefore I have done nothing in that respect...". He also wrote to Lord Spencer saying he was "sure your Lordship will not be sparing of promotion to the deserving...". Perhaps by the 16th, when he wrote to Inglis, he had received some indication from Lord Keith that Inglis would be promoted?

What Tony says about the tradition that first lieutenants of ships that had been in a successful action reported in the Gazette expected to be promoted to Commander by the Admiralty is certainly the case. After Trafalgar they did better. Quilliam, as First Leiutenant of Victory was promoted directly to Post Captain while Pasco became a Commander. Not bad - but obvously disappointing for him.

No doubt this tradition added to the resentment at Keith's passing over William Harrington, but I think there was more to it, in that promotion of an officer also reflected credit on the subordinate commander (ie Nelson) and recognised his contribution.

Brian

The anecdote that I know is where Nelson promoted the Master’s Mate of the Victory, Edward Flin, in 1804. James Archibald, a seaman supposed to have been Edward Flyn’s servant, fell overboard during the night, and Edward Flin jumped overboard after him to save him. The cutter was then lowered to recover them. Nelson promoted Flin to acting lieutenant, but when he received his promotion, the excited cheers from the other midshipmen made Nelson realise that the promotion might put other servants at risk! So he went over to them and said: ‘Stop, young gentlemen! Mr. Flin has done a gallant thing to-day, and he has done many gallant things before, for which he has got his reward. But mind, I'll have no more making Lieutenants for servants falling overboard!’

In this case, Nelson was commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet, and Flin was promoted acting lieutenant in the Bittern, a vacancy created by another lieutenant being invalided home. Nelson then wrote to the Admiralty expressing the hope that they would confirm the appointment: ‘…I therefore hope their Lordships will approve of my having placed him in this invaliding vacancy, and confirm the appointment’ (which they did). This therefore followed the rules set out by Brian in his earlier post.