John Neale Pleydell Nott (c1732-81)

A West-countryman, Nott was a well-regarded officer, esteemed by the King despite his politics. He died in battle at the age of 49 having never had the opportunity to distinguish himself that his ability deserved.

He was born on 3 July 1732, the oldest of three surviving sons of John Nott of Braydon Lodge, Cricklade, Wiltshire, and of his wife Elizabeth Neale. He was the half-brother of Captain Edward Herbert.

Nott attended the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth beginning in August 1746, and in March 1749 he joined the Sphinx 24, as a ‘volunteer per order’, meaning that he was assigned to the ship by the Admiralty rather than being selected by the captain. He remained in the Sphinx for the next four years under Captains William Lloyd and Edward Wheeler, seeing service in the Mediterranean, off the Irish Coast, to Africa and at Jamaica.

He passed his lieutenant’s examination on 14 November 1753 but had to wait another two and a half years before being commissioned lieutenant into the Ipswich 64 in July 1756 at the beginning of the Seven Years War. Several posts as a lieutenant in various ships of the line followed, notably on the Cambridge 80 in the Leeward Islands under Captain Thomas Burnet. Commodore John Moore promoted Nott to be commander of the sloop Barbadoes 14 on 7 September 1759 at that island. From August 1760 he commanded her sister ship, the Antigua 14, taking two small French privateers at the end of September.

Captain Nott met a most unlucky end at the Battle of Martinique in 1780

Posted captain on 24 September 1761 in his 29th year, Nott took command of the Rose 20, temporarily replacing Captain Francis Banks when that officer briefly commanded the Echo 24 for Captain John Lendrick. He soon returned to the Antigua, in which he was present at the capture of Martinique in February 1762. When Banks transferred to the Lizard 28 that month, Nott replaced him once more aboard the Rose, in which he participated in the capture of Havana later that same year. Thereafter he served on the North American and West Indian stations prior to the vessel being paid off in May 1764, by which time the Seven Years War had been over for more than a year.

Nott married Catherine Andrews of Lower Grosvenor Street, London on 29 June 1766 at St. George’s, Hanover Square. The couple were to have three sons and two daughters, in addition to three other children who died in infancy.

During the Falkland Islands dispute of 1770-1, Nott was employed as the captain of the Impressment Service at Bristol, trying to get the Admiralty to provide bounties for volunteers, managing press gangs, and organising the tender vessels in which newly entered men were held. The dispute with the Spanish ended after a few months, putting him out of a job, and Nott remained on the beach for the next seven years.

On 9 June 1778, with France about to enter the American War of Independence, Nott was appointed to the Exeter 64, in which he fought at the Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778. He gave evidence at Admiral Hon. Augustus Keppel’s court martial in the following January, supporting his commander against the charge of negligence. In April 1779 when the Exeter was docked for a refit, he joined the Centaur 74, escorting a large convoy for America well out into the Atlantic in May. His ship was part of the Channel Fleet: she was present during the fleet’s retreat of August, in the cruise during October, and at the detention of the Dutch convoy on 31 December.

After having copper sheets applied to her hull at Portsmouth in early 1780, the Centaur sailed from Torbay with a convoy for the West Indies in May. By July she had joined Admiral Sir George Rodney’s Leeward Islands fleet, sailing with that force to New York in the autumn before returning to the West Indies at the end of the year.

Captain Nott was fatally wounded at the Battle of Fort Royal, Martinique on 29 April 1781 when a spent cannon ball lodged in his groin . He had gone below to his cabin in order to study the significance of a signal , one which had been made because he was sailing far closer to the enemy than the rest of the line of battle. During the action his first lieutenant also lost his life along with another ten men killed and twenty-six wounded. A memorial to his memory was erected in St. Sampson’s Church, Cricklade, Wiltshire. A portrait of John Nott by Benjamin West hangs at Lydiard Park in Wiltshire.

His eldest son, John, entered the Navy and died a lieutenant at Jamaica of yellow fever aged 23 in 1794, his second son, Edward Nott, entered the Clergy, and his third son George entered the Navy and died a midshipman of yellow fever aged 17 in 1795. A grandson, John Neale Nott rose to the rank of captain.

Nott was regarded as a gallant officer. When King George learned of his death, he declared that ‘I am sorry to hear that Captain Nott has been killed, for he was a very good officer, though perhaps too much of a politician, and not of the right sort’.

Thank you to S.G Cornford for providing a wealth of material on Captain Nott