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John Byng
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Sir John Byng (29 October 1704 – 14 March 1757) was a British admiral who was court-martialled and executed for failing to "do his utmost" during the Battle of Minorca, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War.
Byng was born in Bedfordshire, England, the fourth son of George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington.
By the time John enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1718, aged 14, his father George was a well-established admiral with a rising and stellar career, who since supporting William III in his successful bid to be crowned King of Great Britain in 1689 had seen his stature and fortune grow.
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Sir John Byng (29 October 1704 – 14 March 1757) was a British admiral who was court-martialled and executed for failing to "do his utmost" during the Battle of Minorca, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War.
Early life and career
John Byng was born in Bedfordshire, England, the fourth son of George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington.
By the time John enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1718, aged 14, his father George was a well-established admiral with a rising and stellar career, who since supporting William III in his successful bid to be crowned King of Great Britain in 1689 had seen his stature and fortune grow. A highly-skilled naval commander, he won distinction in a series of battles and was held in great esteem by the reigning monarchs he served. In 1721, he was rewarded by King George I with a viscountcy, and created the 1st. Viscount Torrington.
Like most of the younger sons of British nobility, the young John Byng would have to earn his keep, since his father's titles and estates would ordinarily pass on only to the eldest. However, with such an illustrious naval father, Byng's rapid promotions through the service most likely owed something to his father's influence. As things would turn out, the careers of father and son could hardly have ended up more differently.
Early on, Byng was assigned to a series of Mediterranean postings. In 1723, at the age of 19, he was made a lieutenant, and at the age of 23, rose to become Captain of HMS Gibraltar. His Mediterranean service continued until 1739 and was without much incident or action.
In 1742, he was appointed Commodore-Governor of the British Empire colony of Newfoundland.
He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1745, and to vice-admiral in 1747. He served on the most comfortable stations, and avoided the more arduous work of the navy.
Battle of Minorca
On the approach of the Seven Years' War, the island of Minorca, which had been a British possession since 1708, when it was captured during the War of the Spanish Succession, was threatened by a French naval attack from Toulon, and was invaded in 1756.
Byng, an admiral since 1745, was then serving in the Channel. He was ordered to the Mediterranean to relieve the British garrison of Fort St Philip (Port Mahon). Despite all his protests to the Government, he was not given enough money or time to prepare the expedition properly. Even his sailing orders were inexplicably delayed by 5 days, and this turned out to be crucial to the lack of success of the expedition. So he was forced to set out with only ten unseaworthy ships that leaked and were inadequately manned. Then Byng was in particular much aggrieved because his marines were landed to make room for the soldiers who were to reinforce the garrison, and he feared that if he met a French squadron, he would be dangerously undermanned. His correspondence shows clearly that he left prepared for failure, that he did not believe that the garrison could hold out against the French force, and that he was already resolved to come back from Minorca if he found that the task presented any great difficulty. He wrote home to that effect to the Admiralty from Gibraltar. The governor of that fortress refused to spare any of his soldiers to increase the relief force.
Byng sailed on 8 May. Before he arrived the French landed 15,000 troops on the western shore of the island, from where they spread out to occupy it. On the 19th, Byng was off the east coast of Minorca and endeavoured to open communications with the fort. Before he could land any soldiers however, the French squadron appeared.
The Battle of Minorca was fought on the following day, 20 May. Byng, who had gained the weather gauge (was windward), bore down on the French fleet of M. de La Galissonnière at an angle, so that his leading ships went into action while the rest, including Byng's flagship, were still out of effective firing range. The French badly damaged the leading ships and slipped away. When his flag captain pointed out to Byng that by standing out of his line, he could bring the centre of the enemy to closer action, he declined on the ground that Thomas Mathews had been dismissed for so doing. The French, who were equal in number to the British, got away undamaged.
After remaining near Minorca for four days without being able to reestablish communication with the fort or sighting the French, Byng realised that there was little more he could do without effecting some badly needed repairs to his ships. As the nearest port available to him for carrying out repairs and landing wounded men was Gibraltar, Byng's plan was to sail back there, repair his ships, and try once again to get extra forces before returning to Fort St Philip. But before he could do any of this, another ship arrived from England, relieved Byng of his command and took him into custody. As for the garrison on Minorca, it held out against the overwhelming French numbers until 29 June, when it was forced to capitulate. Under negotiated terms the garrison was allowed passage back to England, while the fort and island came under French control.
Court-martial, trial and execution
The failure to hold the fort initially caused an outburst of wrath in the country. Byng was brought home to be tried by court-martial for breach of the Articles of War, which had recently been revised to mandate capital punishment for officers who did not do their utmost against the enemy, either in battle or pursuit.
During the War of Austrian Succession in 1745, a young lieutenant called was court-martialed and shot after his ship was captured by the French. His captain, who had done nothing to prepare the vessel for action, was killed almost immediately by a broadside. Taking command, the inexperienced officer was forced to surrender the ship when she could no longer be defended.
Although the negligent behaviour of Phillips' captain was noted by the subsequent court martial, his sentence was approved by higher officers in the navy (who showed great leniency to those of their own rank). This injustice angered the country and the Articles of War were amended to be one law for all; the death penalty for any officer who did not do his utmost against the enemy either in battle or pursuit.
That Byng had "failed to do his utmost" could not be denied; he had failed to pursue the larger French fleet in order to protect his own. The court martial sitting in judgment of Byng acquitted him of personal cowardice and disaffection, and convicted him only for not having done his utmost. The court martial had no discretion under the Articles of War and condemned Byng to death. However its members recommended that the Lords of the Admiralty ask King George to exercise his prerogative of clemency.
The severity of the penalty, aided by a not unjust suspicion that the Admiralty sought to cover themselves by throwing all the blame on the admiral led to a reaction in favour of Byng both in the Navy and in the country which had previously demanded retribution.
William Pitt the Elder, then Leader of the House of Commons, told the king: "the House of Commons, Sir, is inclined to mercy", to which George II responded: "You have taught me to look for the sense of my people elsewhere than in the House of Commons."
The royal prerogative was not exercised and John Byng was shot on 14 March 1757 in the Solent on the forecastle of HMS Monarch by a platoon of musqueteers.
Legacy
Byng's execution was satirized by Voltaire in his novel Candide. In Portsmouth, Candide witnesses the execution of an officer by firing squad; and is told that "in this country, it is wise to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others" (Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres).
Byng was the last of his rank to be executed in this fashion, and 22 years after the event the Articles of War were amended to allow "such other punishment as the nature and degree of the offence shall be found to deserve" as an alternative to capital punishment. In 2007, some of Byng's descendants petitioned the government for a posthumous pardon; the Ministry of Defence refused. Members of his family and a group at Southill in Bedfordshire where the Byng family lived continue to seek a pardon.
Byng's execution has been called "the worst legalistic crime in the nation's annals". It nevertheless may have had a salutary effect on the behaviour of later naval officers, by instilling in them "a culture of aggressive determination which set British officers apart from their foreign contemporaries, and which in time gave them a steadily mounting psychological ascendancy". This in turn may have contributed to the success of the Royal Navy and the acquisition and defence of the British Empire, as commanders knew that while there was a chance of failure in battle, not to risk battle was certain to result in punishment. This "judicial murder" had brutally demonstrated that more was expected of naval officers than just courage and loyalty.
Such policy considerations were no comfort to the family of their victim. Admiral Byng's epitaph at the family vault in All Saints Church, in Southill, Bedfordshire, expresses their view and the view of much of the country:
To the perpetual Disgrace
of PUBLICK JUSTICE
The Honble. JOHN BYNG Esqr
Admiral of the Blue
Fell a MARTYR to
POLITICAL PERSECUTION
March 14th in the year 1757 when
BRAVERY and LOYALTY
were Insufficient Securities
For the
Life and Honour
of a
NAVAL OFFICER
See also
Further reading
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