Howe, Richard

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Howe, Richard

HOWE, RICHARD. (1726–1799). First Earl Howe and British admiral. The brother of George and William Howe, Richard went to sea very young, serving from 1735 in a merchant ship, the Thames. His naval service began on 16 July 1739 on HMS Pear. On 24 May 1744 he passed for lieutenant and was promoted to post-captain on 10 April 1746. He distinguished himself with Boscawen in 1755, at Rochefort (September 1757), and at Quiberon Bay (20 November 1759). On 23 May 1757 he was elected member of Parliament for Dartmouth, a seat he held until his elevation to the British peerage in 1782. (His Irish title of Viscount Howe, inherited from George in 1758, did not debar him from the Commons). In 1762 he took up his parliamentary seat and turned to politics. He was a lord of admiralty (1763–1765) and later treasurer to the navy. During the 1770 Falkland Islands crisis he was rear admiral commanding the Mediterranean fleet.

Howe's period as naval commander in chief and (with his brother William) joint peace commissioner in America is still controversial. The Howes had longstanding contacts with America and Richard Howe met Benjamin Franklin in London in 1774. Howe himself insisted on having political as well as military powers to end the rebellion and was (rightly) dissatisfied with the very limited commission he and William were actually given. His orders to blockade the entire American coastline to intercept military supplies from France were impossible to execute properly, partly because first lord of the admiralty John Montagu, earl of Sandwich, insisted on keeping the bulk of the navy at home. In addition he had to support his brother's military operations, and, on balance, Lord Howe tended to give priority to the latter. Even so, shortages of shipping and supplies, combined with difficult strategic and navigational constraints, gave these operations the appearance of unwonted slowness. These circumstances have been used to argue that the Howes were both incompetent and bent on peace at almost any cost, and that their slowness effectively lost the war for Britain.

When Richard arrived off Staten Island on 12 July 1776, William's army was too small and ill-equipped to attack New York. The brothers had to wait but were not inactive. Between 12 and 18 July Richard pushed a small force high up the Hudson to Tappan Sea, deep in Washington's rear. On 14 July the Howes, knowing they had too little to offer, began negotiations that soon proved futile. But once William was satisfied that his army was ready for a campaign, Richard landed him on Long Island on 22 August. William's victory on 27 August pinned Washington against the water. However, William was reluctant to make a frontal attack on the American earthworks, and contrary winds prevented Richard from getting ships into the East River in time to intercept Washington's escape on 29-30 August. It was now up to Richard Howe to mass boats, transports, and covering warships in the East River ready for the proposed landing at Kip's Bay, Manhattan. That required very precise conditions of wind, tide, and darkness and another inevitable delay. During the pause the Howes again tried negotiations, which duly broke down on 11 September. Within days Richard Howe was able to run vessels into the East River, and the troops landed at Kip's Bay on 15 September. The pattern suggests that, for the Howes, negotiation was a complement to military action, not a substitute.

In 1777 Lord Howe's main preoccupation was the safe conveyance of William's troops to Philadelphia. Once again the Howes faced intractable delays: the late arrival of sufficient shipping from Britain, the need to watch Washington's movements before choosing a landing place, and the consequent decision to disembark in Chesapeake Bay. Philadelphia was occupied on 26 September, but not until 23 November was Lord Howe able to force the Delaware. Both brothers were dissatisfied by the narrowness of their diplomatic powers and by the level of support they received from home. William had already offered his resignation, and Lord Howe followed suit early in 1778. He stayed to confront D'Estaing until 26 September, when he judged it safe to sail for home.

Howe refused to serve again under Sandwich and attacked the government in Parliament. He was given the Channel Fleet by the Rockingham ministry on 2 April 1782, and on 20 April he was raised to the British peerage as Viscount Howe. In October he successfully relieved Gibraltar. Howe was first lord of the admiralty until 1788, when he became Earl Howe. On 1 June 1794, again commanding the Channel Fleet, he won "the Glorious First of June" by piercing the French line. On 12 March 1796 he briefly became admiral of the fleet and the following year personally negotiated an end to the Spithead mutiny. He died in London on 5 August 1799.