Peter Warren (Royal Navy officer)

Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Warren
c. 1751, by Thomas Hudson
Member of Parliament for Westminster
In office 1747–1752
Preceded by	Charles Edwin Viscount Perceval
Succeeded by	Edward Cornwallis Viscount Trentham
Personal details
Born	10 March 1703 Warrenstown, County Meath, Ireland
Died	29 July 1751(1751-07-29) (aged 48) Dublin, Ireland
Spouse(s)	Susannah Delancey ​ ​ (m. 1731; died 1752)​
Relations	Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer (uncle) Sir William Johnson (nephew)
Children	6
Parents	Michael Warren Catherine Aylmer Plunkett
Awards	Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath
Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain
Branch/service	Royal Navy
Rank	Vice-Admiral of the Red
Commands	Western Squadron
Battles/wars	Siege of Louisbourg First Battle of Cape Finisterre

Admiral Sir Peter Warren, KB (10 March 1703 – 29 July 1752) was an Irish naval officer in the Royal Navy who commanded British forces in the 1745 attack on the French fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. He later sat as MP for Westminster.

Family[]

He was the youngest son of Michael Warren and Catherine Plunkett, née Aylmer (his mother was the first wife of Sir Nicholas Plunkett).

A brother of his mother was Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer (died 1720), admiral and commander-in-chief, who had entered the navy under the protection of the Duke of Buckingham, as a lieutenant, in 1678. Aylmer helped secure positions for the Warren sons, first Oliver Warren, Peter's older brother, and later, Peter.^[1]

Career[]

In 1716, at the age of 13 years, Warren signed on in the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman in Dublin, Ireland and he and his brother initially served together.^[2] He rapidly rose in the ranks, being promoted to captain in 1727. His ship patrolled American colonial waters to provide protection from French forces. He became involved in colonial politics and land speculation.

In 1744, he was commissioned as a commodore and commanded a 16-ship squadron off the Leeward Islands, capturing 24 ships in four months.

The Capture of the Marquise d'Antin and Louis Erasme by the English Privateers Duke and Prince Frederick, 10 July 1745

In 1745, Warren commanded a group of ships, the so called 'Royal Family squadron',^[3][4] that supported the British Massachusetts colonial forces in the capture of Louisbourg in present-day Nova Scotia. The prize system of the time allowed naval officers to profit from the capture of enemy ships. Warren's victory earned Warren a fortune, a promotion to the rank of Rear-Admiral of the Blue, and a knighthood.

From July 1747 to 3 August 1747 he was appointed to the command of the Western Squadron. He was second in command of the British fleet on the Devonshire at the Battle of Cape Finisterre. His conduct in the battle won him further fame, a promotion to Vice-Admiral of the Red,^[5] and much prize-money. While on a visit to Ireland in 1752, he died suddenly in Dublin "of a most Violent fever."^[6]

From 1747 to 1752 Warren had also sat as MP from Westminster. He was frequently at sea.

Landholdings in the British colonies[]

Warren had acquired extensive lands in the Province of New York (and later in other colonies). His lands included several thousand acres on the south side of the Mohawk River west of Schenectady, New York. This includes what is now known as the town of Florida, in Montgomery County, New York, roughly across the river from present-day Amsterdam. He recruited two nephews from Ireland, William Johnson, eventually Sir William Johnson, and Michael Tyrrell, to clear and manage the land. Tyrrell soon left, asking his uncle for support with a naval appointment. Tyrrell had a very distinguished naval career, rising to admiral. He became fatally ill while headed to London from the West Indies, and was buried at sea.^[7] Johnson stayed in New York, where he became highly influential with the nations of the Iroquois League and ultimately was appointed as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the northern colonies. He also amassed land and wealth.

In 1741, Warren built Warren House, a mansion overlooking the Hudson River on his 300-acre (120-hectare) estate in Greenwich Village.^[8] He also owned property on Long Island (Warren's Wharf), the van Cortland estate in future Westchester County, and in South Carolina.^[9]

Eighteen months before his death, Warren purchased 151 acres along the Delaware River in what is today the Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia. The land was developed by Thomas Gordon, a wealthy Philadelphia merchant, as his Magnolia Grove estate about 1764. Later it was owned by Gordon's son-in-law, John Saltar, who married Elizabeth "Betsy" Gordon. (Saltar was of the Monmouth County, New Jersey, Saltars.) One of their daughters, Frances "Fanny" Saltar (1790-1880), wrote "Reminiscences of Colonial Days in Philadelphia" at her home, Magnolia Cottage on that property, among other letters to relatives. (It was not published until 1916.)^[10]

Personal life[]

Sir Peter Warren by John Smibert, Portsmouth Athenæum, New Hampshire

In 1731, Warren married Susannah Delancey (1707–1771), a daughter of Stephen Delancey, and sister of James Delancey, who became chief justice and lieutenant governor of the province of New York. She was also a descendant of the Schuyler and the Van Cortlandt families. Together, Warren and his wife had six children, two of whom, a daughter and their only son, died in 1744 during the smallpox epidemic in New York. He moved his wife and three surviving daughters to England in 1747. Catherine, his youngest daughter, was a few months old at the time of his death, and died at age three or four.^[11]

Interwoven colonial families[]

^{[citation needed]}

Warren's daughter Susanna married Colonel William Skinner, who was a brother of American Revolution General Cortlandt Skinner. (They were not related to Lt. General William Skinner, who became chief engineer of Great Britain.) Both brothers were grandsons of Stephanus Van Cortlandt, and thus cousins of Susannah DeLancey. This meant that William Skinner and Susannah Warren were cousins, once removed.

Warren's granddaughter, Susanna Maria Skinner, married Henry Gage, 3rd Viscount Gage, son of General Thomas Gage. As Thomas Gage's wife, Margaret Kemble, was the daughter of Susannah Delancey's cousin, Gertrude Bayard, this made Susannah Skinner and Henry Gage both second cousins, once removed (via William Skinner), and third cousins (via Susanna Warren).

Cortlandt Skinner's daughter Catherine married Sir William Henry Robinson, a son of Beverley Robinson and Philipse family heiress Susanna Philipse in New York. Beverley Robinson was a first cousin once removed of Judith Robinson, first wife of the rebel Carter Braxton).

Legacy and honors[]

The towns of Warren, Rhode Island and Warren, New Hampshire are named after him. Streets in Charleston, South Carolina; London, England (and thus Warren Street tube station); Louisbourg, Nova Scotia; and New York City were also named in his honor.^[12]

Warren family tree[]

  Sir Christopher Plunkett =Lady Plunkett (dau. of Matthew, 5th Earl of Louth)     Sir Christopher Aylmer, Baron Balrath  =Margaret     
                 
                                                          |                              |
                                                          |                              |
                                          Sir Nicholas Plunkett = Catherine Aylmer = Michael Warren of Warrenstown, Co. Meath.
                                                                                         |                                         
                                                          |                              |
                                                          |                              |
                                           Oliver  & several sons & 1 dau    Peter Warren=Susanah de Lancey
                                                                                         |
   ______________________________________________________________________________________|________________
   |                                                |                                       |
   |                                                |                                       |           
   Charlotte Warren                           Anne Warren                       Susan(na) Warren
  =Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon  =Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton    =Gen. William Skinner
   |                                                                                               |                
   |                                                                                               |                
 * Montagu Bertie, 5th Earl of Abingdon                                              Susannah Skinner
 * George FitzRoy, 2nd Baron Southampton                                = Henry Gage, 3rd Viscount Gage

References[]

Sources[]

• Gwyn, Julian (1974). The Enterprising Admiral: The Personal Fortune of Admiral Sir Peter Warren. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
•  Webb, Alfred (1878). A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: M. H. Gill & son. p. 549. Missing or empty |title= (help)
• Gwyn, Julian (1974). "Warren, Sir Peter". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. III (1741–1770) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
• National Portrait Gallery – Sir Peter Warren
• Plunkett-Aylmer genealogy
• Greenwich Village – the Gallant Career of Sir Peter Warren