Joshua Sydney Horton (1768-1835)
Though fifty years separated his first and last active service, Horton was only at sea for a third of the intervening period. Nevertheless, an action against a superior French frigate earned him the personal approval of the King. He was also renowned for his attention to the education of young officers.
He was born at Ripponden, Yorkshire on 7 March 1768, the second son of Thomas Joshua Horton of Howroyde in the West Riding, and his second wife, Mary Bethia Woolen.
Horton joined the Navy as a boy during the latter part of the American Revolutionary War and was commissioned lieutenant on 12 October 1793 in his 25th year, ten months after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War. He was the first lieutenant of the Lowestoft 32, Captain Robert Gambier Middleton which on 24 June 1795 assisted her consort, the Dido 28, Captain George Henry Towry, in the capture of the French frigate Minerve 42 in the Mediterranean, although another frigate, the Artémise 40, escaped their clutches. He was promoted commander in November 1795, although it does not appear that he was given a ship at this time.
In July 1797 he was appointed to the sloop Fairy 14, a small vessel mounting 16 six-pounder guns, despite her official rating of 14. The Fairy escorted a convoy to Plymouth from Portsmouth at the end of August and then operated out of the Downs while serving off the northern French coast. On 5 October Horton’s vessel sank a French lugger off Blanc Bez near Boulogne; on 13 November she was off Calais when her launch (commanded by the purser and containing just seven men) captured the Dunkirk privateer Epervier 2, manned by a crew of 25 men, and within musket shot of a French battery. After bringing a convoy from Cuxhaven to Sheerness in October, in January 1799 she captured the Spanish privateer Nuestra Senora del Pont Bonaventa 8 in the Channel.
On 5 February 1800 off St. Malo the Fairy and the Harpy 18 (Commander Henry Bazely), were chased by the French frigate Pallas 38 and brought to action. The two small British vessels drove their antagonist off, and after repairing their damage, followed the French vessel. When three more British ships (including a frigate and two smaller ships) arrived on the scene, all five vessels cooperated to attack and eventually capture the Pallas, which had put up a gallant defence. The prize was added to the Navy as the Pique. Aboard the Fairy four men were killed and nine wounded (Horton himself was slightly wounded). At a levee shortly afterwards, he was presented to the King, who accorded him particular attention. His heroics were also recognised by the Admiralty when he was posted captain with effect from 18 February, although this promotion required him to leave the Fairy.
Despite an announcement that he had been appointed to the Syren 32 in October 1800, that vessel remained in the West Indies and Horton continued in unemployment for the next six years, including the last two years of the French Revolutionary War, the short period of peace, and the first three years of the Napoleonic War. Apparently residing in the north during this time, his presence was noted at a masked ball in Preston, whilst in September 1803 he attended the Pontefract Races.
He returned to duty when in early August 1806 he took command of the Princess of Orange 74 as the flagship of Vice-Admiral John Holloway in the Downs, celebrating his appointment by giving a sumptuous public breakfast aboard this vessel in September. He soon earned the approval of the authorities for his attempts to prevent smuggling on the Kent coast. The danger of confronting the smugglers was amply demonstrated on 18 August 1807 when one of his boats, attempting to stop a smuggling vessel from landing its contraband on a beach near Deal Castle, was faced by two hundred men, many of whom were armed. In the confrontation that followed a naval coxswain was shot dead. Meanwhile, in April 1807 Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Samuel Rowley had succeeded Admiral Holloway as the commander-in-chief in the Downs aboard the Princess of Orange 74, and Horton retained the position of flag captain until April 1808 when his command sailed around to Portsmouth.
Horton remained out of active service for the next three years, taking the opportunity to marry Grace Treacher Whorwood, the widow of Henry Whorwood of Headington House, Oxfordshire, on 12 January 1808 at St. George’s, Hanover Square. During 1809 it would appear that he served for a short period as the regulating captain at Liverpool, and he spent some time in his native Yorkshire before he and his wife apparently settled on the east Kent coast.
In February 1811 it was announced that Horton had been appointed to the Standard 64 which was with the fleet off Cadiz, but before he could take passage out to join her, he exchanged with Captain Hon. Charles Elphinstone Fleeming into the Bulwark 74, which was undergoing quarantine at Portsmouth having returned from the Mediterranean. Once released, the Bulwark sailed to Plymouth for a refit, only to be put out of commission after she was found to be defective (despite being only four years old). Instead, her crew were sent around to the Downs to man ships destined for the Baltic and Horton returned once more to the beach.
In August 1811 Horton was appointed to the Alfred 74 which was serving off Cadiz, and he took passage aboard the schooner Arrow from Plymouth to join her. A year later the Alfred departed Cadiz for the Downs with two Spanish ships {Spain now being an ally) under convoy, and in mid-September 1812 she sailed from Portsmouth with troop ships for Lisbon. Returning to the Hampshire port on 2 December with prisoners and wounded officers, she was paid off into the Ordinary later that month, and Horton did not see any further service during the Napoleonic Wars.
After attending a levee in February 1813, Horton settled into domesticity at Walmer in Kent, and he later sent some time at Tours in France, where he was reported to be residing or visiting in 1818 and 1820.
In May 1825, following thirteen years on the beach, he was appointed to the guardship Gloucester 74 at Sheerness, and in April 1826 he was instructed to prepare the ship to carry the sixth Duke of Devonshire to St. Petersburg as ambassador extraordinary to the Russian Empire. During her passage up the Baltic the Gloucester visited Copenhagen where Horton and his officers were introduced to the King of Denmark and his family. At Cronstadt in Russia under Horton’s calm direction British sailors helped extinguish a fire and move ships to safety from the mole-head. He was rewarded with a ring (valued at 150 guineas) from the Tsar, and his officers and men also received gifts in appreciation of their efforts. On 24 July the Gloucester arrived back at the Nore with the returning ambassador, Viscount Strangford.
Horton attended a levee in November 1826; a month later the Gloucester, with other ships, took the Grenadier Guards out to Lisbon from Portsmouth, following a request from the Portuguese Regency for British aid. By early February 1827 the Gloucester was back at Sheerness, and Horton spent some time ashore in the next few months, with visits to London, Hampton Court and Cheltenham. In February 1828 the Gloucester returned to Lisbon with a squadron of British and Portuguese ships, where for unknown reasons he reportedly refused to embark notables fleeing the Marquis de Chaves’ rebel army which was approaching the capital . In April the Gloucester anchored at Spithead, and by June she was back in the Medway where she was paid off.
Horton did not see any further employment, though in due course he was advanced to flag rank on 22 July 1830 in his 62nd year. By August 1832 he was living at Rocky Hill House in Maidstone, Kent, and in October 1835 he was listed among other Britons as a ‘fashionable arrival’ at Boulogne. It is not clear whether he had undertaken the foreign trip for his health, but a month later, on 24 November, he died in Boulogne, aged 67.
His wife outlived him by ten years; their younger son William entered the Navy and reached the rank of rear-admiral. They also had an elder son, Sidney, and a daughter, Mary Emily.
Horton was strongly interested in the education of prospective officers. He encouraged author Darcy Lever to publish ‘The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor’, an influential guide for young men entering the service, and the author dedicated the second edition to Captain Horton. He also took pains to educate the young gentlemen on his quarterdeck: the mother of one of his midshipmen described his approach. ‘Youngsters never keep watch in Capt. Horton’s ship; their schoolroom is a perfect Academy, and their books are constantly shown up to the captain himself, who looks into every article of their diet, dress and behaviour, keeping them strict to the manners of a well-born Gentleman.’