John Charnock

John Charnock (28 November 1756 – 16 May 1807) was a Royal Navy volunteer and author. He wrote a book on the history of marine architecture, a book on Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, and Biographia Navccalis about leading figures in Britain's Royal Navy. Charnock studied at Trinity College, Oxford. He volunteered with the Royal Navy and researched historical and contemporary naval affairs. He was able to hear stories and obtain letters from his friends in the Royal Navy, especially Captain William Locker. Charnock's six-volume Biographia Navalis was published from 1794 to 1798. In common with William James, William Richard O'Byrne and others who attempted to make a career writing about the Royal Navy, he then encountered financial difficulty. Life He was the son of a barrister, John Charnock of Stanford-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire, and his wife Frances Boothby. He studied at Winchester College and at Trinity College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 15 December 1774. In his student days, Charnock wrote political essays for periodicals. Then he fell out with his father over his chosen lifestyle, with his marriage as a possible further grounds for the rupture.