Robert Digby (Royal Navy officer)

Robert Digby
Admiral Digby
Born	20 December 1732 Water Orton
Died	25 February 1815 (1815-02-26) (aged 82)
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain
Service / branch	Royal Navy
Rank	Admiral
Commands	North American Station
Battles / wars	American Revolutionary War

Admiral Robert Digby (20 December 1732 – 25 February 1815) was a Royal Navy officer who also served briefly as a Member of Parliament (MP). He is the namesake of Digby, Nova Scotia.

The Prince George, Digby's flagship arrives in New York on 16 Oct 1781, the 17 year old Prince William Henry is a member of the crew

Naval career

Digby was the third son of Charlotte Fox and the Hon. Edward Digby, eldest son of William Digby, 5th Baron Digby. He entered the navy aged twelve or thirteen, and became Captain of HMS Solebay (1742) at the age of 23 in 1755, and was present at the 1757 Raid on Rochefort the 1758 Raid on St Malo, and Capture of Gorée, and at the Battle of Quiberon Bay 1759 November 20 as Captain of HMS Dunkirk (1754). He transferred to HMS Trident in March 1777, and the following month to HMS Ramillies, in which he was present at the Battle of Ushant.

Rising to Second-in-Command of the Channel Fleet in 1779, he was made Rear-Admiral of the Blue, and transferred to HMS Prince George, in which he was present at the attack on the Caracas Convoy and the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in January 1780.

Digby was appointed in 1781 as Rear-Admiral of the Red and given the command of the North American Station.

After the surrender of New York City in 1783, Digby helped to organise the evacuation of some 1,500 United Empire Loyalists to the small port of Conway in Nova Scotia. The settlement he led transformed the tiny village into a town, which in 1787 was renamed Digby. The town's museum was also named the Admiral Digby Museum in his honor.

He was recalled to home waters in 1787, was promoted to Admiral of the Blue, and retired from the navy in 1794.

Family

His father died before inheriting the family's title, Baron Digby (in the peerage of Ireland), and on the death in 1752 of the 5th Baron, the title passed to the admiral's oldest brother Edward. When Edward died in 1757, the title was inherited by their brother Henry, and Robert was elected to succeed Edward as MP for Wells in Somerset, holding the seat from 1757 to 1761. (Because the family's title was in the peerage of Ireland, it did not confer a seat in the House of Lords, and did not disqualify the holder from election to the British House of Commons).

He married Eleanor Jauncey (née Elliot), daughter of Andrew Elliot, Lieutenant-Governor of New York. They had no children.

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• List of Naval Battles – Robert Digby
• Admiral Digby museum, in Digby, Nova Scotia