Sir William Penn (23 April 1621 – 16 September 1670) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
admiralAdmiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral. It is usually abbreviated to "Adm." or "ADM"...
, and the father of
William PennWilliam Penn was an English founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future U.S. State of Pennsylvania. He was known as an early champion of democracy and religious freedom and famous for his good relations and his treaties with...
, founder of the
colony of PennsylvaniaThe Province of Pennsylvania, also known as Pennsylvania Colony, was a colony in British America founded by William Penn on March 4, 1681 as dictated in a royal charter granted by King Charles II of England. Pennsylvania got its name for William Penn's father and the Latin word silva, meaning...
.
Penn was born in St. Thomas Parish,
BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
to Giles Penn and Joan Gilbert . On 6 June, 1643 he married Margaret Jasper, a daughter of a famous and wealty Dutch merchant. They had three children: Margaret, Richard and William.
He served
his apprenticeship at sea with his father.
Sir William Penn (23 April 1621 – 16 September 1670) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
admiralAdmiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral. It is usually abbreviated to "Adm." or "ADM"...
, and the father of
William PennWilliam Penn was an English founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future U.S. State of Pennsylvania. He was known as an early champion of democracy and religious freedom and famous for his good relations and his treaties with...
, founder of the
colony of PennsylvaniaThe Province of Pennsylvania, also known as Pennsylvania Colony, was a colony in British America founded by William Penn on March 4, 1681 as dictated in a royal charter granted by King Charles II of England. Pennsylvania got its name for William Penn's father and the Latin word silva, meaning...
.
Penn was born in St. Thomas Parish,
BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
to Giles Penn and Joan Gilbert . On 6 June, 1643 he married Margaret Jasper, a daughter of a famous and wealty Dutch merchant. They had three children: Margaret, Richard and William.
He served
his apprenticeship at sea with his father. In the first Civil
War he fought on the side of the parliament, and was in
command of a ship in the squadron maintained against the king
in the Irish seas. The service was arduous and called for both
energy and good seamanship. In 1648 he was arrested and
sent to London, but was soon released, and sent back as rear
admiral in the
Assurance. The exact cause of the
arrest is unknown, but it may be presumed to have been that
he was suspected of being in correspondence with the king's
supporters. It is highly probable that he was, for until the
Restoration he was regularly in communication with the Royalists,
while serving the parliament, or Cromwell, so long as their
service was profitable, and making no scruple of applying for
grants of the confiscated lands of the king's Irish friends.
After 1650 he was employed in the Ocean, and in the Mediterranean
in pursuit of the Royalists under Prince Rupert. He
was so active on this service that when he returned home on
the 18th of March 1651 he could boast that he had not put foot
on shore for more than a year.
In the
First Anglo-Dutch WarThe First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands...
, he served in the navy of the
Commonwealth of EnglandThe Commonwealth of England, from 1653-1659 the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, was the republican government which ruled first England and Wales, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Some would call this government a "crowned" republican government...
, commanding squadrons at the battles of
the Kentish KnockThe Battle of the Kentish Knock was a naval battle between the fleets of the Dutch Republic and England, fought on 8 October 1652 during the First Anglo-Dutch War near the shoal called the Kentish Knock in the North Sea about thirty kilometres east of the mouth of the river Thames...
(1652),
PortlandThe naval Battle of Portland, or Three Days' Battle took place during 28 February-2 March, 1653 , during the First Anglo-Dutch War, when the fleet of the Commonwealth of England under General at Sea Robert Blake was attacked by a fleet of the Dutch Republic under Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp...
,
the GabbardThe naval Battle of the Gabbard, also known as the Battle of Gabbard Bank, the Battle of the North Foreland or the second Battle of Nieuwpoort took place on 2–3 June 1653 according to the New Style of Julian calendar then used in England during the First Anglo-Dutch War near the Gabbard...
and
ScheveningenThe Battle of Scheveningen was the final naval battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War...
(1653).
In 1654 he offered to carry the fleet over to the king, but in October of the same year he had no scruple in accepting the naval command in the expedition to the West Indies sent out by Cromwell. In 1655 he commanded the fleet that launched a bungled
attack{The Siege of Santo Domingo of 1655, was a major battle fought between April 23, 1655 to April 30, 1655 at Santo Domingo, Colony of Santo Domingo. A force of 2400 Spanish troops led by Governor Don Bernardino Meneses y Bracamonte, Count of Peñalba, defeated a force of 13,120 troops and 34 ships of...
on La Hispaniola. He was not responsible for the shameful repulse at San Domingo, which was due to a panic among the troops. Afterwards the less desirable island of
JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
was seized for the Commonwealth regime. On their return he and his military colleague Venables were sent to the Tower. He made humble submission, and when released retired to the estate he had received from confiscated land in Ireland.
He continued in communication with the Royalists, and in 1660 had a rather obscure share in the
RestorationThe English Restoration, often shortened to the Restoration, began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Commonwealth of England that followed the English Civil War...
: he was sent in the
Naseby (later the
Royal CharlesTwo ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Royal Charles, both after King Charles II.* The first Royal Charles was an 80-gun ship of the line, launched as Naseby for the Commonmwealth Navy in 1655, renamed in 1660, and captured by the Dutch in the Raid on the Medway in 1667.* The...
) to fetch king
Charles IICharles II was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father King Charles I was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. The English Parliament did not proclaim Charles II king at this time. Instead they passed a statute making such a...
over to England.
In the
Second Anglo-Dutch WarThe Second Anglo–Dutch War was fought between England and the United Provinces from 4 March, 1665 until 31 July, 1667. England tried to end the Dutch domination of world trade. After initial English successes, the war ended in a Dutch victory...
he was captain of the fleet at the
Battle of LowestoftThe naval Battle of Lowestoft took place on 13 June 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.A fleet of more than a hundred ships of the United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam attacked an English fleet of equal size commanded by James Stuart, Duke of York forty...
in 1665 under
James Stuart, Duke of YorkJames II & VII was King of England and Ireland as James II, and Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
.
The key source for the adult life of Penn is the Diary of his next door neighbour
Samuel PepysSamuel Pepys, FRS was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. Although Pepys had no maritime experience, he rose by patronage, hard work and his talent for administration, to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II...
. In 1660 Penn was appointed a Commissioner of the
Navy BoardThe Navy Board is today the body responsible for the day-to-day running of the British Royal Navy. Its composition is identical to that of the Admiralty Board of the Defence Council of the United Kingdom, except that it does not include any of Her Majesty's Ministers.From 1546 to 1831, the Navy...
where he worked with Pepys, Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board. The character of “mean fellow” given him by Pepys is borne
out by much that is otherwise known of him. But it is no less
certain that he was an excellent seaman and a good fighter.
Like Pepys and the
Earl of SandwichEdward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, KG was an English Infantry officer who later became a naval officer. He was the only surviving son of Sir Sidney Montagu, and was brought up at Hinchingbrooke House....
(Pepys' patron at the Navy Board) Penn was a "moderate"
Roundhead"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they were the supporters of Oliver Cromwell against King Charles I. Cromwell rose to prominence as a Member of Parliament and Parliamentary soldier, and eventually...
who had succeeded in maintaining his position at the Restoration. Unsurprisingly, Penn appears several times in Pepys diary most vividly in an entry for 1665 when we read,
"At night home and up to the leads [roof], were contrary to expectation driven down again with a stinke by Sir W. Pen's shying of a shitten pot in their house of office"
A native of the
West CountryThe West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
Sir William Penn is buried in the church of St. Mary Redcliffe in
BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
. His
helmA helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries, a variation of the hat. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from sword blows and arrows...
and
half-armourArmour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat...
are hung on the wall, together with the tattered banners of the
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
ships that he captured in battle.
His portrait by Lely is in the
Painted Hall at Greenwich. Though Sir William Penn was not a high-minded man, he is
a figure of considerable importance in British naval history.
As admiral and general for the parliament he helped in 1653
to draw up the first code of tactics provided for the navy. It
was the base of the “Duke of York's Sailing and Fighting
Instructions,” which continued for long to supply the orthodox
tactical creed of the navy.