Temple Hardy | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1765-01-14)14 January 1765 London |
| Died | 29 March 1814(1814-03-29) (aged 49) Exeter |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Navy |
| Rank | Captain |
| Battles / wars | |
| Relations | AdmiralCharles Hardy, father |
CaptainTemple Hardy (14 January 1765 – 29 March 1814) was anEnglish naval officer active during theFrench Revolutionary Wars. He commanded a battalion of sailors during theinvasion of the Cape Colony in 1795.
He was born on 14 January 1765, and christened "Charles Temple Hardy" on 11 February, at Westminster.[1] He was a son of AdmiralCharles Hardy, from whom he inherited a house at Rawlins, inOxfordshire, and £3,000, on his father's death in 1780.[2] He was possibly named after his maternal grandfather, the historianTemple Stanyan.
Like his father, he entered theRoyal Navy; he was appointed to the rank of Lieutenant on 4 November 1790, and to Commander on 1 June 1794.[3] He commissioned the 16-gunfloating batteryFirm, staying with her only until September.
In 1795, he commanded the sloopHMSEcho in the expedition to captureCape Town. He commanded a battalion of sailors from the fleet at theBattle of Muizenberg, withEcho being commanded by a lieutenant fromMonarch.[4] He was mentioned in both theArmy and Navy despatches:
A DutchIndiaman, theWillemstadt en Boetzlaar, which was captured inTable Bay after the engagement was taken into British service asHMSPrincess, and as mentioned above briefly commanded by Hardy.[7] He was promoted to Captain on 24 November 1795;[3] this was the day before the despatches were in the London press, with the Admiralty presumably confirming Elphinstone's appointment on receipt.
In April 1797 he was in command ofHMSSquirrel, which convoyed a party of British commissioners to theUnited States of America to settle claims arising from theTreaty of London.[8] On 12 May 1799 he was given command of theThunderer, a 74-gun third-rate, atJamaica, and left the ship on 28 July 1800.[9] He married Elizabeth Lucy Warre[10] on 9 December 1800, in the parish ofWestminster St James.[11] In 1801, when his mother died, he was still resident at Rawlins and her only surviving son.[12] By 1804 he and his wife were resident inEastley End House inThorpe, Surrey.[13][14]
In May 1805 he was not assigned any command,[15] and in April 1806 was in command of the third-rateRuby, where he took three Prussian merchantmen as prizes.[16] He commanded theEuryalus for parts of 1806, in an acting capacity.[9] In November 1806, he had to turn down command of the third-rateDefence through illness.[17] In February 1810 he was appointed to command of the third-rateResolution,[18] which saw service escorting convoys in theDanish straits.[19] He remained in command when theResolution was put in ordinary at Portsmouth in 1811.[20] He was given command ofSwiftsure on 20 August 1811, but in May 1812, in the Mediterranean, he was taken ill. He was removed from command, and discharged intoPort Mahon hospital on 17 June.[9]
He died on 29 March 1814, at Exeter,[21] He was buried atExeter Cathedral, and a monument to him was erected in the cathedral's South Transept.[22]
His will was proven in London on 9 June 1814. The will, dated 11 September 1811, left his possessions to his wife and to his two unmarried sisters, Clare and Rachael Emilia; minor valuables, and any outstandingprize money were left to his family, his executors, and CaptainsBlackwood andOtway. The executors, along with his wife, were the Rev. Francis Annesley, of Eydon in Northamptonshire; CaptainJohn William Spranger; and William Groom of Lincoln's Inn Fields.[23] Elizabeth outlived him by twenty years, dying on 2 April 1835, aged 71.[24] The naval officers in his will all became Rear-Admirals through seniority on 4 June 1814, shortly after his death; if he had survived a few months longer, he would likely have attained this rank before his death.
Note that it is difficult to trace Hardy's career in the Navy. He was serving at the same time as his far more renowned compatriotSir Thomas Hardy, and contemporary records usually mentioned no more than "Captain Hardy" or "Captain T. Hardy", making it possible that many references to the one may have been confused with the other; see, for example, the entry in theVictoria County History.