Vice Admiral Sir John Chambers White, KCB (c. 1770 – 2 April 1845) was a prominent British Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century, who participated in a number of engagements during the Napoleonic Wars. He achieved most of his fame in the late 1790s as the commander of HMS Sylph, a small brig operating in Northern European waters. White was able to capture a number of equivalent French, Spanish and Dutch vessels and on one occasion was instrumental in the destruction of a much larger French frigate by a British squadron. In 1798 he was with the squadron that discovered the French invasion attempt on Ireland and acted as a messenger in the campaign to destroy the invasion force that ended at the Battle of Tory Island. He was later flag captain for Sir John Borlase Warren and participated at the action of 13 March 1806 and the destruction of the Regulus in 1814. After the war, White largely retired, but retained several shore appointments and rose to the rank of vice-admiral.
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In 1790 he was promoted to lieutenant and served in the French Revolutionary Wars, becoming commander of the brig Sylph in 1795.[2]
Sylph was a highly successful cruiser in home waters. At the action of 12 May 1796 she captured the Dutch brig Mercury. Then in 1796 she captured the French privateer Phoenix. Sylph assisted Anson in the destruction of the French corvette Calliope at the action of 16 July 1797. Together, they drove Calliope on shore, where Sylph proceeded to fire on her. When Pomone checked a week later, Calliope was wrecked; her crew were camped on shore trying to salvage what stores they could. Pomone confirmed that the flute Freedom and a brig that Anson and Sylph had also driven ashore too were wrecked.[3] In August, Sylph attacked Sable d'Olonne. In 1798, White seized six French, Spanish and American ships in the Bay of Biscay, and during October participated in the opening stages of the Battle of Tory Island. In 1799, White was rewarded with promotion to post captain and was given command of the ship of the line HMS Renown, flagship of his former squadron commander Sir John Borlase Warren. Renown served in the Mediterranean, and in 1801 engaged the defences of Porto Ferrajo.[4]
In 1803, Renown was attached to the blockade of Toulon, and the following year Warren and White were transferred to the ship of the line HMS Foudroyant in Britain, later assigned to find and defeat the French squadrons in the Atlantic during the Atlantic campaign of 1806. These squadrons could not be found, but Foudroyant was engaged at the successful Action of 13 March 1806, when a separate French squadron was defeated and captured. In 1810, White took command of the first rate HMS Hibernia under Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, sailing for the Mediterranean, where he took command of HMS Centaur off Toulon. In 1811 he assisted the Spanish defenders at the first Siege of Tarragona and subsequently involved in the destruction of the Regulus in 1814.[5]
White was twice married. His first marriage was to Cordelia Fanshawe (d. 1809), a daughter of Christiana (née Gennys) Fanshawe and Capt. Robert Fanshawe (a son of Rear-Admiral Charles Fanshawe).[7]
After his first wife's death in 1809, he married Charlotte Elizabeth Dalrymple, the daughter of Lt.-Gen. Sir Hew Whiteford Dalrymple, 1st Baronet and Frances Leighton (a daughter of Gen. Francis Leighton). Together, they were the parents of:[7]
Sir John died on 2 April 1845 at Sheerness, Kent. He was survived by his second wife and their son.[5]
The Annual Register, 1845, p. 267
The Annual Register, 1845, p. 268
Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 1024.
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