Mark Milbanke

Notes on Officer

MILBANKE, MARK (1725?–1805), admiral, was the third son of Sir Ralph Milbanke, fourth baronet, of Halnaby, Yorkshire, by his second wife, Anne, daughter of Edward Delavall of South Dissington in Northumberland. Sir Ralph's grandfather, Sir Mark Milbanke (d. 1680), had been created a baronet by a patent, dated 7 Aug. 1661, as a reward for the seasonable loans furnished to Charles II when at Breda by his father, Mark (1603–1677), mayor of Newcastle in 1658 and 1672, and a prosperous merchant there. The family, emigrants from Scotland in the reign of Elizabeth, were distinguished locally in Northumberland during the eighteenth century (notes kindly supplied by Miss Bertha Porter). Mark's eldest brother, Ralph, fifth bart. (d. 1798), was grandfather of Anne Isabella Milbanke, who in 1815 married Lord Byron the poet.

Milbanke entered the navy in February 1736–7 as a scholar in the academy at Portsmouth, where he remained nearly three years. He afterwards served in the Tilbury, in the Romney with Captain Thomas Grenville [q. v.], and in the Princess Mary with Captain Thomas Smith [q. v.] On 22 March 1743–4 he passed his examination, being apparently, according to his certificate, more than twenty. As his father's first wife died in October 1721 (Add. MS. 24121, f. 94), and Mark was the third son of the second wife, he can scarcely have been much above eighteen at the time. On 20 April 1744 he was promoted to be lieutenant of the Anglesea, and in December was appointed to the Royal Sovereign. On 13 Sept. 1746 he was promoted to the command of the Serpent sloop, and on 21 May 1748 was posted to the Inverness frigate. It was for rank only, and during the peace he was on half-pay.

In 1755 he commanded the Romney, and in July 1756 was appointed to the Guernsey of 50 guns, in which in 1758 he went out to the Mediterranean. In the summer of 1759 he was sent on a mission to the emperor of Morocco, the Guernsey being left under the command of the first lieutenant. He was thus absent from his ship in the action off Lagos on 20 Aug. He continued in the Guernsey till the peace in 1763, and then went on half-pay. In 1775–6 he commanded the Barfleur, guard-ship at Portsmouth; in 1777–8 the Princess Royal, and afterwards the Namur, till his promotion to the rank of rear-admiral of the white on 19 March 1779; one of his last important duties as captain was to sit on the court-martial on Admiral Keppel. During the following years he occasionally acted as commander-in-chief at Plymouth, in the room of Lord Shuldham (Charnock, v. 508, vi. 82; Barrow, Life of Earl Howe, p. 139). On 26 Sept. 1780 he was advanced to be vice-admiral of the blue, and in the spring of 1782 was appointed to a command in the grand fleet under Lord Howe, with whom he took part in the demonstration in the North Sea, and afterwards in the relief of Gibraltar, and the rencounter off Cape Spartel [see Howe, Richard, Earl]. From 1783 to 1786 he was port-admiral at Plymouth, and during the years 1790–1–2 was commander-in-chief at Newfoundland. On 1 Feb. 1793 he was promoted to the rank of admiral, but had no active command during the war. From 14 Sept. 1799 to 24 March 1803 he was commander-in-chief at Portsmouth. He died on 10 June 1805. He married Miss Mary Webber, and by her had a son Ralph, a captain in the navy, who retired from the active list in 1804, and died 21 Nov. 1823, and two daughters, of whom the youngest married William Huskisson.