William Rowley (Royal Navy officer)
William Rowley K. B. ( ~ * 1690, † January 1, 1768 ) was a British admiral.
Life
William Rowley was born in 1690 as son of William Rowley. Before 1729 he married Arabella Dawson. The marriage produced four sons and a daughter were born, including Clotworthy and Joshua Rowley.
Rowley joined in 1704 as a volunteer in the Royal Navy and served under the command of Captain John Norris. 1708 was promoted to Lieutenant. As such, he served until May 1713 the HMS Somerset. In 1716 he was promoted to captain and given command of HMS Bideford. For the next two years he stayed with the Bideford at Gibraltar and took action against saléische pirates. 1719 he moved to the HMS Lively, which vornämlich between Dublin and Carrickfergus, was operating on the coast of Ireland. In 1739 he was offered the command of the HMS Ripon, but he refused, saying he had to clarify legal issues and it initially wanted to stay on land. Beginning of 1741, he finally took over the HMS Barfleur, the part of the English fleet in the Mediterranean under the command of Nicholas Haddock, and later under his successor as commander in chief, Thomas Mathews, was. 1743 was Rowley's appointment as rear admiral of the white flag. During the Battle of Toulon he commanded the vanguard of the English fleet. Despite the unsatisfactory for the UK output of the battle, Rowley were different from those of the other commanders not put decisions into question. In June 1744 he was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Blue Flag and took over in August as the successor Mathews finally the supreme command of the English fleet in the Mediterranean. In July 1745 he was recalled to England. The gone ahead was a court-martial proceedings against Captain Richard Norris, the son of John Norris, in which Rowley had held the presidency, which was criticized as biased. On April 30, 1745 House of Commons passed a resolution that described the process as " biased, arbitrary and illegal" in the course of studies on the Battle of Toulon. The Admiralty of the Royal Navy rated Rowley role in the process as well as improper and ordered the said return to England. Rowley never went then back to the lake. Despite this incident Rowley was promoted to Admiral of the Blue Flag and finally on 12 May 1748 Admiral of the white flag on 15th July 1747. 1749, he received the title of Rear- Admiral of Great Britian.
Rowley was a friend of the politician Charles Wyndham, at his request, he took over in 1750 his seat in the House of Commons for the electoral district of Taunton. Rowley belonged to the House of Commons until 1761. From 1754, however, for the constituency of Portsmouth.
Wyndham turn enabled his friend a seat in the Admiralty of the Royal Navy. Rowley now functioned from June 1751 to November 1756 as Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty at that. With the resignation of Thomas Pelham Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle -upon- Tyne Rowley lost this position again. As Holles successor William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire was again replaced in 1757 by Thomas Pelham- Holles, Rowley was again for a short period from April to July 1757 Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty in the Admiralty of the Royal Navy. 1762 he was appointed Fleet Admiral ( Admiral of the Fleet ).
On December 12, 1753 he was admitted as a Knight of the Bath in the Order of the Bath.
Family
William Rowley founded the maritime tradition of his family. Among other things, his son Joshua Rowley and his grandson Josias Rowley, Charles Rowley, Samuel Campbell Rowley and George Martin reached high ranks in the Royal Navy.