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Auction: 16043 - Autographs, Historical Documents, Ephemera and Postal History
Lot: 25

(x) Documents
Rear Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham
1809-13 a group of letters to Sir Home Popham with 1809 A.L.S. from Lord Mulgrave (First Lord of the Admiralty); 1811 from Lord Gambier (Admiral of the Fleet); 1813 from Lord Hood (Governor of Greenwich Hospital) and Sir John Duckworth (former Governor of Newfoundland); 1816 from Sir Richard Strachan (Vice Admiral of the White) and two others. (7 letters)

Rear Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham, KCB, KCH (1762 – 1820), was a Royal Navy commander who saw service against the French during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is remembered for his scientific accomplishments, particularly the development of a signal code that was adopted by the Royal Navy in 1803. In 1807 Lord Gambier appointed him captain of the fleet for the Second Copenhagen Expedition. In 1809 he went on to command HMS Venerable, which he continued to command with success against the French in Spain. Popham's instructions were in general use by 1812 throughout the Royal Navy. But there were doubters, such as a major sceptic Admiral Sir George Berkeley who refused to use the signals and could not see their point. In 1812 and 1813 he was stationed on the northern coast of Spain where he worked with the Spanish guerrillas to successfully harry the French troops and assault French fortresses on the Basque coast while Wellington was advancing through Spain. He was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1814.

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Sold for
£320