William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock
Royal Navy admiral (1753-1825)
Admiral of the Red William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, GCB (9 July 1753 – 20 August 1825) was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Newfoundland.
Early life and education
Waldegrave was the second son of John Waldegrave, 3rd Earl Waldegrave, and Elizabeth (née Gower). He was educated at Eton.
Naval career
Waldegrave joined the Royal Navy in 1766, initially in HMS Jersey, the flagship of the Mediterranean fleet. He was promoted to lieutenant and later commander in 1775 when he received command of the sloop HMS Zephyr. He was further promoted to captain in 1776 when he sailed to India in HMS Rippon, flagship of Admiral Edward Vernon. After 15 months poor health forced him home but from 1778 to the end of the War of American Independence in 1783 he was a frigate captain. He spent the next ten years travelling and beginning a family.
At the start of the French Revolutionary War Waldegrave commanded HMS Courageux under Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood at Toulon and later HMS Barfleur under John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent in the Mediterranean where he was third in command at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. Waldegrave was offered a baronetcy for the role he played in the battle, but declined the offer on the grounds that, as a son of an earl, he already held a higher station.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock” is royal Navy admiral (1753-1825). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through William, Waldegrave and Baron, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “royal Navy admiral (1753-1825)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8019889. VIAF identifies the subject as 310519358. The Library of Congress control number is no2016014192. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1753, 1825, 1766 and 1775.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock primary sources, William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock archive and William research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.