Sir John Duckworth, 1st Baronet

Admiral of the Blue Sir John Thomas Duckworth, 1st Baronet, GCB (9 February 1748 – 31 August 1817) was a Royal Navy officer, colonial administrator and politician who served in the Seven Years' War, American War of Independence, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812. In addition to serving as the governor of Newfoundland, he was also a member of the British House of Commons during his semi-retirement. Duckworth, a vicar's son, achieved much in a naval career that began at the age of 11.

Serving with most of the great names of the Royal Navy during the later 18th and early 19th centuries, he fought almost all of Britain's enemies on the seas at one time or another, including a Dardanelles operation that would be remembered a century later during the First World War. He was in command at the Battle of San Domingo, the last major battle fought between British and French ships of the line in open water during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Early life

Born in Leatherhead, Surrey, England, Duckworth was one of five sons of Sarah Johnson and the vicar Henry Duckworth A.M. of Stoke Poges, County of Buckinghamshire. The Duckworths were descended from a landed family, with Henry later being installed as Canon of Windsor. John Duckworth briefly attended Eton College, but began his naval career in 1759 at the suggestion of Edward Boscawen, when he entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman on HMS Namur. Namur later became part of the fleet under Sir Edward Hawke, and Duckworth was present at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759.

On 5 April 1764, he joined the 50-gun HMS Guernsey at Chatham, after leaving HMS Prince of Orange, to serve with Admiral Hugh Palliser, then Governor of Newfoundland.