View source for Molyneux Shuldham, 1st Baron Shuldham

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= The Lord Shuldham
|birth_date={{circa|{{birth year|1717}}}}
|death_date= 30 September {{death year and age|1798|1717}}
|birth_place= 
|death_place= 
|image=Molyneux Shuldham (c. 1717-1798).jpg
|caption=
|nickname=
|allegiance={{flag|Kingdom of Great Britain}}
|serviceyears=
|rank= [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]]
|commands= *{{HMS|Blast|1740|6}}
*{{HMS|Sheerness|1743|6}}
*{{HMS|Queenborough|1747|6}}
*{{HMS|Unicorn|1748|6}}
*{{HMS|Seaford|1754|6}}
*{{HMS|Warwick|1733|6}}
*{{HMS|Panther|1758|6}}
*{{HMS|Raisonnable|1758|6}}
*[[HMS St Michael (1669)|HMS ''Marlborough'']]
*{{HMS|Rochester|1749|6}}
*{{HMS|Foudroyant|1758|6}}
*{{HMS|Levant|1758|6}}
*{{HMS|Cornwall|1761|6}}
*{{HMS|Royal Oak|1769|6}}
*[[Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth|Plymouth Command]]
|branch=  {{navy|Kingdom of Great Britain}}
|unit=
|battles=[[War of Jenkins' Ear]]<br>[[Seven Years' War]]
|awards=
|laterwork=
}}
[[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]] '''Molyneux Shuldham, 1st Baron Shuldham''' ({{circa|1717}} &ndash; 30 September 1798) was an officer of the British [[Royal Navy]]. He served for a time as colonial governor of [[Colony of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]].

==Family and early life==
Molyneux Shuldham was born in Ireland c. 1717, and was the second son of the Reverend Lemuel Shuldham, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Molyneux of Ballymulvy, of [[County Longford]]. Molyneux entered the navy in 1732 as captain's servant on board {{HMS|Cornwall|1692|6}}, with Captain [[George Forbes, 3rd Earl of Granard|George Forbes]] (afterwards [[Earl of Granard]] and governor of County Longford). He afterwards served in {{HMS|Solebay|1711|6}} with Captain [[Charles Fanshawe]], and for upwards of four years in {{HMS|Falkland|1696|6}} with [[Fitzroy Henry Lee]]. He passed his examination on 25 January 1739, being then described on his certificate as 'near twenty-two.' According to the statement in Charnock, he was not seventeen.

On 31 August 1739 he was promoted to be lieutenant of {{HMS|Tilbury|1733|6}}, one of the ships which went out to the [[West Indies]] with Sir [[Chaloner Ogle]], and took part in the [[Battle of Cartagena de Indias|unsuccessful attack]] on [[Cartagena, Colombia|Cartagena]] in 1741. In 1742 he was first lieutenant of her when, on 21 September, she was set on fire in a drunken squabble between a marine and the purser's boy and burnt, with a large proportion of the ship's company. Shuldham, with the captain and other officers, was tried by court-martial on 15 October but was acquitted of all blame.

==Command==
He was promoted to commander of {{HMS|Blast|1740|6}} in [[Jamaica]] on 1 May 1744. On 9 November 1745 he was attacked and captured by two Spanish [[privateer]]s off the [[Black River, Jamaica|Black River]], after stiff resistance. Shuldham suffered mistreatment by privateers, but was compensated by the Spanish governor of [[Havana]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://morethannelson.com/officer/lord-molyneux-shuldham/ |title=Lord Molyneux Shuldham |last= |first= |date= |website=morethannelson.com |access-date=22 May 2022}}</ref> After finally returning to England, he was promoted to be captain of {{HMS|Sheerness|1743|6}} on 12 May 1746, then employed on the coast of Scotland; in December 1748 he was appointed to {{HMS|Queenborough|1747|6}}, and in March 1749 to {{HMS|Unicorn|1748|6}}. In October 1754 he was appointed to {{HMS|Seaford|1754|6}}, from which, in March 1755, he was moved to the 60-gun {{HMS|Warwick|1733|6}}, going out to the [[West Indies]], where, near [[Martinique]] on 11 March 1756, she fell in with a French 74-gun ship and two frigates, which overpowered and captured her.

===Seven Years' War===
War had not then been declared, but hostilities had been going on for several months, as Shuldham very well knew, and the story that he mistook the enemy's ships of war for merchantmen would be but little to his credit if there was any reason to suppose it true. He, with the crew of the ''Warwick'', was sent to France, kept a prisoner at large at [[Poitiers]] for nearly two years, and returned to England in a [[cartel]] on 16 March 1758. A court-martial acquitted him of all blame for the loss of the ship, and on 25 July 1758 he was appointed to {{HMS|Panther|1758|6}}, in which he joined Commodore [[Sir John Moore, 1st Baronet|Sir John Moore]] in the West Indies and took part in the [[Invasion of Guadeloupe (1759)|reduction of Guadeloupe]] and its dependent islands, March to May 1759 under Commodore Moore.

In July he was moved by Moore into {{HMS|Raisonnable|1758|6}}, which was lost on a reef of rocks at [[Fort Royal]] off [[Martinique]] as she was standing in to engage a battery on 8 January 1762, when the island was attacked and reduced by Rear-Admiral [[George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney|Rodney]]. In April Rodney appointed Shuldham to [[HMS St Michael (1669)|HMS ''Marlborough'']], from which a few days later he was moved by Sir [[George Pocock]] to {{HMS|Rochester|1749|6}}, and again by Rodney after a few weeks to [[HMS Foudroyant (1758)|''Foudroyant'']]. In mid-1763 he was transferred once more to a temporary command aboard {{HMS|Levant|1758|6}}, with which he returned to England in August 1763.<ref>{{cite news|title =Extract of a Letter from Portsmouth, August 14 | work =The Caledonian Mercury | page =2 | publisher =Walter Ruddiman, John Richardson and Company|location=Edinburgh | date =20 August 1763| url =http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000045/17630820/003/0002|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription  | access-date =14 April 2017 }}</ref> Peace had been declared between England and France, and Shuldham was ashore on [[half-pay]] until December 1766, when he was appointed to {{HMS|Cornwall|1761|6}}, the [[guardship]] at [[Plymouth]]. In November 1770 he transferred to {{HMS|Royal Oak|1769|6}}, then commissioned in consequence of the expected rupture with Spain.

===Governor of Newfoundland===
On 14 February 1772 he was appointed commodore and commander-in-chief on the [[Newfoundland Station]], which office he held for three years. He was responsible for the construction of [[Fort Townshend]], which was completed in 1780. Shuldham visited [[Chateau Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador|Chateau Bay]] on the [[Labrador]] coast and sent his lieutenant, [[Roger Curtis]], to inspect the northern coast and the [[Moravian Church|Moravian]] missionaries.

==Flag rank==
On 31 March 1775 he was promoted to be [[rear-admiral of the white]]. At the general election in the following autumn he was returned to the [[House of Commons of Great Britain|House of Commons]] as member for [[Fowey (UK Parliament constituency)|Fowey]], and on 29 September, was appointed commander-in-chief on the coast of North America from the river [[St. Lawrence]] to [[Cape Florida]]. He went out with his flag in the 50-gun {{HMS|Chatham|1758|6}}, arriving at [[Boston]] on 30 December after a passage of sixty-one days, having been promoted, on 7 December while on the way out, to be [[vice-admiral of the blue]]. His work was limited to covering the operations of the troops, and preventing the colonial trade. In July 1776, he escorted Admiral Howe into New York Harbor. He was replaced by [[Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe|Lord Howe]], and on 31 July, was created a peer of Ireland by the title of '''Baron Shuldham'''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=11679 |date=29 June 1776 |page=1}}</ref> Early in 1777 he returned to England, and from 1778 to 1783 was [[Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth]]. He was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1777.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://royalsociety.org/dserve/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27shuldham%27%29| title = Library and Archive catalogue|publisher= Royal Society|access-date = 2012-08-03}}</ref> He was promoted on 24 September 1787 to be [[admiral of the blue]], and on 1 February 1793 to be [[admiral of the white]].

He died at [[Lisbon]] in the autumn of 1798.  His body was transported back to England aboard {{HMS|Colossus|1787|6}}, which was also carrying many of the antique vases collected by [[William Hamilton (diplomat)|Sir William Hamilton]]. ''Colossus'' was wrecked in a gale on the [[Isles of Scilly]], but while many of Sir William's vases were lost, Shuldham's body was recovered through 'heroic efforts'. He had married Margaret Irene, widow of John Harcourt of Ankerwycke Park but left no issue, and thus the title became extinct.<ref>{{cite book| title = A Genealogical and Heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland|first = Bernard|last = Brke}}</ref>

==References==
*{{DNB|wstitle=Shuldham, Molyneux}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.heritage.nf.ca/govhouse/governors/g24.html Biography at Government House ''The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador'']
*{{DictCanbio|ID=2167}}

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{{succession box
 | title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Fowey (UK Parliament constituency)|Fowey]]
 | years=1774–1784
 | with = [[Philip Rashleigh (1729–1811)|Philip Rashleigh]]
 | before=[[Philip Rashleigh (1729–1811)|Philip Rashleigh]]<br />[[James Modyford Heywood]]
 | after= [[Philip Rashleigh (1729–1811)|Philip Rashleigh]]<br />[[John Grant (d. 1804)|John Grant]]
}}
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{{succession box|title=[[List of governors of Newfoundland and Labrador#Commodore-Governors of Newfoundland, 1729–1825|Commodore Governor of Newfoundland]]|
                 before=[[John Byron]] |
                 after=[[Robert Duff (Royal Navy officer)|Robert Duff]] |
                 years=1772–1775}}
|-
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{{succession box | title=[[Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth]] | years=1778&ndash;1783 | before=[[John Amherst]]| after=[[Mark Milbanke]]}}
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{{s-ttl | title=[[Baron Shuldham]]| years=1776–1798}}
{{s-non | reason=Extinct}}
{{s-end}}
{{NLLG}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shuldham, Molyneux}}
[[Category:1710s births]]
[[Category:1798 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from County Longford]]
[[Category:Governors of Newfoundland Colony]]
[[Category:Barons in the Peerage of Ireland]]
[[Category:Peers of Ireland created by George III]]
[[Category:Royal Navy admirals]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall]]
[[Category:British MPs 1774–1780]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]