Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood
Hood was made an Irish peer for his share in the defeat of the Comte de Grasse on 9 April and 12 April near Dominica.
During the peace, he entered Parliament as Member for Westminster in the election of 1784, was promoted to vice-admiral in 1787, and in July 1788, was appointed to the Board of Admiralty under the Second Earl of Chatham.
On the outbreak of the French Revolution, he was sent to the Mediterranean Sea as Commander-in-Chief. His period of command, which lasted from May 1793 to October 1794, was very busy. In August, he occupied Toulon on the invitation of the French royalists, in co-operation with the Spaniards. In December of the same year, the allies, who did not work harmoniously together, were driven out, mainly by the generalship of Napoleon.
Hood then turned to the occupation of Corsica, which he had been invited to take in the name of the King of England by Paoli. The island was for a short time added to the dominions of George III, chiefly by the exertions of the fleet and the co-operation of Paoli.
While the occupation of Corsica was being effected, the French at Toulon had so far recovered that they were able to send a fleet to sea. In June, Hood sailed in the hope of bringing it to action. The plan which he laid to attack it in the Golfe Jouan in June may possibly have served to some extent as an inspiration, if not as a model, to Nelson (who has been recorded as saying that Hood was "the greatest sea officer I ever knew.") for the Battle of the Nile, but the wind was unfavourable, and the attack could not be carried out.
In October, he was recalled to England in consequence of some misunderstanding with the admiralty or the ministry, which has never been explained.
He attained the rank of full Admiral in April 1794. However, he held no further command at sea. In 1796, he was named governor of Greenwich Hospital, which he held until his death.
A peerage of Great Britain was conferred on his wife, Susanna, as Baroness Hood of Catherington in 1795, and he was himself created Viscount Hood of Whitley in 1796. The titles descended to his son, Henry (1753–1836), the ancestor of the present Viscount Hood.
There are several portraits of Lord Hood by Abbot in the Guildhall and in the National Portrait Gallery. He was also painted by Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough.
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Legacy
A biographical notice of Hood by McArthur, his secretary during the Mediterranean command, appeared in the Naval Chronicle, vol. ii. Charnock's Biogr. Nay. vi., Ralfe, Nav. Biog. i., may also be consulted. His correspondence during his command in America was published by the Navy Record Society.
The history of his campaigns will be found in the historians of the wars in which he served: for the earlier years, Beatson's Naval and Military Memoirs; for the later, James's Naval History, vol. i., for the English side, and for the French, Troudes, Batailles navales de la France, ii. and iii., and Chevalier's Histoire de la marine française pendant Ia guerre de l'indépendance américaine and Pendant Ia République.
In 1792, Lieutenant William Broughton, sailing with the expedition of George Vancouver to the Northwest Coast of North America, named Mount Hood in present-day Oregon, and Hood's Canal in present-day Washington, for Hood.
Two of the three ships of the Royal Navy named HMS Hood were named after him as well, including HMS Hood (51), sunk by the Bismarck in 1941 during World War II.
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See also
Several other members of the Hood family were notable officers of the Royal Navy:
- Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, his brother, was also an Admiral.
- Samuel Hood (1705–1805), his cousin, was a purser.
- Sir Samuel Hood (1762–1814), his cousin once removed, was a Rear Admiral.
- Alexander Hood (1758–1798), brother of Sir Samuel Hood, was a captain.
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References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by New Creation |
Viscount Hood 1796–1816 |
Succeeded by Henry Hood |
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