Boscawen, Edward

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Boscawen, Edward (1711–61). Boscawen was a younger son of Viscount Falmouth. He went to sea at 14 and was given his first command in 1741. Wounded in the action off Cape Finisterre in 1747, he was promoted admiral—the youngest in the navy—and sent in charge of an expedition to India. From 1742 until his death he was MP for Truro, and from 1751 a lord of the Admiralty. In 1758 he commanded the naval force sent to take Louisbourg, and the following year was dispatched to the Mediterranean to prevent a French squadron at Toulon joining a Channel invasion fleet. In August he pursued the squadron of seven ships under de la Clue into Lagos Bay in Portugal and destroyed it. Boscawen was a determined and pugnacious sailor and, though a stern disciplinarian, was noted for the attention he paid to the health of his men.

J. A. Cannon

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Edward Boscawen

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