Philip Wodehouse

Vice-Admiral Philip Wodehouse (16 July 1773 – 21 January 1838) was a Royal Navy officer. A son of John Wodehouse, 1st Baron Wodehouse, he joined the navy some time before 1794. In 1796 he was promoted to commander and then captain, commanding sloops and frigates in the Mediterranean Fleet. Wodehouse cycled through a series of frigate commands towards the end of the French Revolutionary Wars, including HMS Mignonne which he had to burn as useless in 1797. In 1803, while commanding HMS Resistance, his ship was wrecked off Cape St Vincent. Wodehouse subsequently commanded several ships of the line, including HMS Cumberland in the Mediterranean where in 1809 he fought at the Battle of Maguelone. Wodehouse was appointed Resident Commissioner, Halifax, in 1811 and served there until the dockyard was closed in 1819. He was promoted to rear-admiral later in the year. Wodehouse saw no further active service, but was promoted to vice-admiral in 1830. Naval career Philip Wodehouse was born on 16 July 1773. He was the second of four sons of Sir John Wodehouse, 6th Baronet, who would go on to be created Baron Wodehouse in 1797, and Sophia née Berkeley, a relative of the Earls of Berkeley. At some point early in his life Wodehouse began a career in the Royal Navy. French Revolutionary Wars The first recorded service of Wodehouse in the Royal Navy is his promotion to lieutenant on 6 January 1794, after which he served in the Mediterranean Fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis. Early in 1796 Wodehouse was promoted to commander and given command of the 16-gun sloop HMS Albacore on the Downs Station. Soon afterwards he was selected to move to the command of a ship of the same type, HMS Peterel, in the Mediterranean, to supersede her current commander, Commander Bartholomew James. Peterel was serving in Captain Horatio Nelson's squadron off Genoa, and Wodehouse spent four months chasing Peterel around the Mediterranean before he was able to catch up with her and take over from James in November. On 23 December Wodehouse was promoted to captain in the 28-gun frigate HMS Aurora, still in the Mediterranean, after her previous commander drowned. He stayed in Aurora only very briefly, moving to the 32-gun frigate HMS Mignonne, also stationed in the Mediterranean, later in December.