George Anson, 1st Baron Anson

George Anson, 1st Baron Anson ( born April 23 1697 in Shugborough at Colwich, Staffordshire, † June 6, 1762 in Moor Park, Hertfordshire) was a British admiral and major theorist of Seekriegskunst.

1739 he received command of a squadron that should disturb trade and the offices of the Spaniards. He left England on 18 September 1740 sailed around Cape Horn, the city Payta burned down in Peru, then sailed to the Philippines and arrived on June 15, 1744 back in England. This trip was productive for the contemporary geography, because Anson was responsible for the detailed examination in particular of Isla Robinson Crusoe and the Mariana Islands. Of the original 1,900 sailors survived only about 500 the journey. Most of them died en route from hunger and scurvy. The Marine preacher Richard Walter wrote after Anson's instructions a report on the expedition ( Voyage round the world London 1748).

Anson was in 1744 promoted to Rear Admiral of the Blue Flag and the White flag 1746. On May 3, In 1747 he defeated the French fleet off Cape Finisterre under Admiral Marquis de la Jonquière, where he seized on seven French merchant ships, four ships of the line and two frigates. For this he was appointed Baron Anson of Soberton. In 1751, Anson was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. In this position, he initiated a comprehensive reform of the British Navy. 1761 Anson eventually became Admiral.

George Anson died on June 6, 1762 at his country estate Moor Park in Hertfordshire.

The English poet and landowner Richard Owen Cambridge, who was friends with a number of high-ranking naval officers, was also among his circle of friends. Cambridge's interest in naval affairs led shortly before death Otherwise his only historical work: An account of the War in India Between The English and French, on the coast of Coromandel, from the year 1750 to the year 1760 Together with a relation of the. late remarkable events on the Malabar coast, and the expeditions to Golconda and Surat. T. Jefferys, London in 1761.

Honors

Seven ships of the Royal Navy have been named after him HMS Anson.