Samuel Hood 1st Viscount Hood

Home > People > History > British and Irish History: Biographies

Hoare, Samuel, 1st Viscount Templewood (1880–1959). Hoare came from a Norfolk family and was educated at Harrow and New College, Oxford. He entered Parliament in 1910 as a Conservative and sat for Chelsea until given his peerage in 1944. He took office under Bonar Law in 1922 as secretary of state for air and held the same office under Baldwin. In 1931 he became secretary of state for India in the National Government and carried the Government of India Bill, advancing towards self-government. Baldwin, in 1935, moved him to the Foreign Office. ‘Your stay at the Foreign Office will be memorable,’ wrote Beaverbrook in congratulation. It was. Hoare was plunged straight into the crisis over Italy's designs on Abyssinia. In December 1935 he drew up with Pierre Laval, French foreign minister, a plan which would have dismembered Abyssinia. The public outcry forced his resignation, though Hoare defended his deal as the best he could do for Abyssinia unless governments were prepared to fight Mussolini. Though he was brought back as a minister in 1936, and served as 1st lord of the Admiralty, home secretary, lord privy seal, and secretary of state for air, his career limped. After resigning with Chamberlain in 1940, he served for four years as ambassador to Spain, at a very critical juncture. Hoare had held high public office almost continuously for more than twenty years. He was unlucky about the Hoare–Laval pact. He was ill at the time and much of the abuse he suffered for ‘betraying the League of Nations’ was from people who would never have supported war. But there is no reason to believe that the episode brought down a future prime minister.

J. A. Cannon

Hood, Samuel (1724–1816). Admiral. Born of Dorset clerical stock, Hood and his brother Alexander entered the navy at the same time and prospered under the patronage of the Lyttelton family and its relatives the Grenvilles and Pitts. Given a commission in 1746, Hood served throughout the Seven Years War and was present at Quiberon Bay in 1759. In 1767, still a captain, he was appointed commander-in-chief in North America; subsequently from 1771 to 1780 he was stationed at Portsmouth, where, in 1778, George III entrusted to him the naval grounding of the future William IV. A baronet (1778) and rear-admiral (1780), Hood was Rodney's second at the battle of the Saints (April 1782), and was severely critical of Rodney's failure to pursue the French. An Irish peer in 1782, he was returned to Parliament in 1784 for Westminster after a celebrated and fierce contest. Ten years later he conducted, with considerable address, the combined operations which led to the capture of Toulon. Raised to a British viscountcy in 1796, Samuel Hood stood high in the navy's esteem and was outspoken about the primitive conditions under which the lower deck served.

David Denis Aldridge

Hoare, Samuel, 1st Viscount Templewood (1880–1959). Educated at Harrow and New College, Oxford, Hoare entered Parliament in 1910 as a Conservative and sat for Chelsea until given his peerage in 1944. He took office under Bonar Law in 1922 as secretary of state for air and again under Baldwin. In 1931 he became secretary of state for India in the National Government and carried the Government of India Bill, advancing towards self‐government.Baldwin, in 1935, moved him to the Foreign Office. Hoare was plunged straight into the crisis over Italy's designs on Abyssinia. In December 1935 he drew up with Pierre Laval, French foreign minister, a plan which would have dismembered Abyssinia. The public outcry forced his resignation. Though he was brought back as a minister in 1936, and served as 1st lord of the Admiralty, home secretary, lord privy seal, and secretary of state for air, his career limped. After resigning with Chamberlain in 1940, he served for four years as ambassador to Spain, at a very critical juncture.

Hood, Samuel, 1st Viscount (1724–1816) British admiral. He served in the Seven Years War, the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary wars. He entered the navy in 1741, was promoted post-captain in 1756, and in 1759 captured a French frigate after a fierce action. In 1780, with the rank of rear-admiral, he went to the West Indies as second-in-command to Lord RODNEY. There he displayed masterly tactical skills and took a prominent part in the defeat of the French fleet near Dominica two years later. During the French Revolutionary wars he commanded the British fleet in the Mediterranean.

Samuel Hood Hood, 1st Viscount 1724–1816, British admiral. Entering the navy in 1741, he served with distinction in the Seven Years War. In 1781 he was sent to the West Indies as second in command to Lord Rodney . He fought in many engagements in the American Revolution, including the victory (1782) over the French fleet under the comte de Grasse (who had earlier defeated Hood) off Dominica. As commander in chief in the Mediterranean he captured Toulon (1793) and Corsica (1794). He was created viscount in 1796.