Vice-Admiral of the BlueCharles Cornewall (1669 – 7 October 1718) was aRoyal Navy officer andWhig politician who representedBewdley andWeobley in theHouse of Commons of Great Britain between 1709 and 1718.

Charles Cornewall
Born	1669 Eye, Herefordshire
Died	7 October 1718(1718-10-07) (aged 49) Lisbon, Portugal
Buried	Westminster Abbey
Allegiance	England  Great Britain
Service/ branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1683–1718
Rank	Vice-Admiral of the Blue
Commands	HMS Portsmouth HMS Adventure HMS Plymouth HMS Kent HMS Shrewsbury HMS Exeter HMS Orford HMS Dreadnought Mediterranean Fleet
Battles / wars	Nine Years' War War of the Spanish Succession War of the Quadruple Alliance

Cornewall was born in 1669, eldest of the eleven children ofRobert Cornewall and Edith Cornwallis, and was baptised atEye, Herefordshire, on 5 August 1669.^[1]

Cornewall joined the navy in 1683 and was given his first command, theSloopHMS Portsmouth, on 19 September 1692. The following year he was given command of the 44-gunHMS Adventure and sailed under the command of AdmiralEdward Russell to theMediterranean, where he would remain until 1696.^[2]

On 27 January 1695,Adventure was one of a squadron of sixfrigates under the command ofCommodore James Killegrew aboardHMS Plymouth. The flotilla was spotted by two French warships, the 60-gunContent and the 52-gunTrident, who closed on them believing them to bemerchant ships. They retreated on discovering their mistake and were pursued by the British ships, the ensuing firefight lasting through the night and into the next morning before the French ships were compelled tosurrender.^[3] Killigrew was killed in the action, and Cornewall was appointed to command thePlymouth in his place.^[2]

Cornewall was given command ofHMS Kent in 1697,^[4] but left the navy after theTreaty of Ryswick.^[5] In1701 he stood for parliament inWeobley against his cousinHenry Cornewall, but was defeated having gained just four votes.^[6] Returning to sea in March that year, he was given command ofHMS Shrewsbury but had to resign a few months later due to the sudden death of his father whose concerns, he wrote on 25 September 1701, "are like to prove more troublesome and tedious than I expected, though when settled may prove of very considerable advantage to my children."^[2] These affairs having been settled, he was appointed to commandHMS Exeter but rejected it when it became clear that he would effectively be a second captain underJohn Leake inNewfoundland, protesting that "their sending a private captain to command … me in my own ship [was] a modest way of terming me a blockhead."^[5]

This record of resigning from commands, combined with an uneasy political relationship withRobert Harley, made it difficult for him to gain a new command, and it was not until 1705 that he was appointed toHMS Orford.^[5] In that ship he returned to the Mediterranean where he served for the next two years, first underClowdesley Shovell and then underThomas Dilkes. In the autumn of 1707 he commanded a detachedsquadron operating off the coast ofNaples, returning to England in March the following year.^[2]

In 1709 Cornewall changed his name to Cornwall, in an effort to distinguish between the different branches of his family, and stood once more for parliament. This time he was successful, being elected member forBewdley on 2 March 1709.^[7] He did not spend much time in the house, being busy commanding squadrons inthe Downs and offDunkirk. In October 1710 he led a convoy toSmyrna aboardHMS Dreadnought, but hisWhig politics made it impossible to gain a further command on his return, and he languished onhalf-pay for some years.^[5]

The accession ofGeorge I in 1714 brought about a dramatic improvement in Cornwall's prospects, with him being appointedController of Storekeepers Accounts at theNavy Board. In 1715 he returned to parliament as member for Weobley.^[8] He was promoted to the rank ofrear admiral on 16 June 1716, and appointedCommander-in-chief in the Mediterranean in October the following year.^[2]

Sailing with his flag aboardHMS Argyll, he took up his post inGibraltar. His first task was to open negotiations withIsmail Ibn Sharif, emperor ofMorocco to "demand satisfaction for the depredations of theSalé corsairs and procure the release of all His Majesty's subjects now captive in Barbary." When Ismail refused to release any of his slaves Cornwall established ablockade of his ports, but the measure had no effect on Ismail's policy despite the capture of several corsair vessels.^[9] During this time he engaged in a bitter dispute with theGovernor, who refused to admit the admiral's authority even in matters relating to the ships in the port. Cornwall eventually resolved to put the matter before the King or theSpeaker of the House of Commons, but was prevented from doing so by being once more engaged in active service.^[2]

Cornwall was promoted tovice admiral in March 1718, and became second-in-command toGeorge Byng on the latter's arrival in the Mediterranean in June of that year, hoisting his flag aboardHMS Shrewsbury. Cruising with a combined force of nineteenships of the line, two frigates and agalley offSyracuse they attacked a Spanish fleet in thebattle of Cape Passaro on 31 July 1718. Attempting to avoid capture, the Spanish split into eight groups which the British chased down individually. Cornwall's part of the fleet was charged with the pursuit of the Marquis De Mari, who led a force of six ships of the line, nine frigates and a number of smaller vessels aboard his flagshipEl Real. Cornwall capturedEl Real and three other warships, with the Spanish burning seven more to avoid their capture.^[10]

After the battle, Cornwall transferred his flag back to HMSArgyll and convoyed the captured Spanish prizes toPort Mahon, from where he set sail for England. However, his health had been poor for some time, and on putting in atLisbon on the homeward journey he died there on 7 October 1718.^[2] His body was conveyed home and buried in the south aisle ofWestminster Abbey.^[11]

Cornwall's career had been illustrious without being spectacular, as John Charnock put it: "We have at least a very extraordinary, if not unequalled instance in this gentleman, of its being possible for an officer to serve, with the most irreproachable character, and to attain a very high rank in the service, without ever having it in his power to increase his reputation, by any of those brilliant exploits which fortune throws in the way of her greater favourites."^[12]

Cornwall married twice, but no details of his first marriage survives. His second wife was Dorothy Hanmer daughter ofThomas Hanmer,^[7] with whom he had fourteen children:^[1]

• Henry Cornewall (b. 1698)
• Thomas Cornewall (b. & d. 1699)
• Sir Robert de Cornwall (1700–56), MP forLeominster
• Henrietta Cornewall (1701–28)
• Cyriac Cornewall (1702–1703)
• Charles Cornewall (b. & d. 1704)
• Job Cornewall (1705–28)
• Theophila Cornewall (1706–21)
• Jane Cornewall (b. 1708)
• Jacobs Cornewall (1709–38), father ofCharles Wolfran Cornwall
• Emma Cornwall (1712–77), marriedThomas Vernon
• Edith Cornwall (b. & d. 1712)
• Annabella Cornwall (1713–82)
• Mary Cornwall (b. 1714)

His estate atBerrington was inherited on his death by Sir Robert.