Rear-Admiral Lord Adolphus FitzClarence (18 February 1802 – 17 May 1856) was a British Royal Navy officer and illegitimate son of Prince William, the future William IV, and his mistress Dorothea Jordan. FitzClarence joined the navy in 1813. In the following year he joined a fourth rate which saw service in the War of 1812, including in the unsuccessful blockade and chase of USS Constitution. FitzClarence saw frequent service in the Mediterranean Sea. Coming under the patronage of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Fremantle, FitzClarence received further naval education from Commander William Henry Smyth and served in the Ionian Islands upholding British neutrality in the Greek War of Independence.
FitzClarence was promoted to commander in 1823 and in quick succession commanded two brig-sloops in the North Sea, before being promoted to captain at the end of the year. His rapid rise through the ranks was brought about by the influence of his father. After another period serving in the Mediterranean, FitzClarence was employed escorting dignitaries, such as George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, to and from their posts abroad. He spent time in India, Canada, and off Lisbon, the latter in response to the outbreak of the Liberal Wars.
In 1830 FitzClarence's father was crowned king. In quick succession FitzClarence was given command of the royal yacht , created a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order, and appointed Groom of the Robes. He was only occasionally called to captain Royal George. When his father died in 1837, FitzClarence's cousin Victoria took the throne and, to his surprise, allowed FitzClarence to continue in command of the royal yacht, which was replaced with . He commanded the new yacht on trips for Victoria and her family, including fleet reviews and diplomatic visits to France. FitzClarence retired from the Royal Navy upon being promoted to rear-admiral in 1853 and died, unmarried, three years later.
Early life Adolphus FitzClarence was born at Bushy Park, Middlesex, now Greater London, on 18 February 1802. He was the seventh illegitimate child of Prince William, Duke of Clarence and his mistress, the actress Dorothea Jordan. Clarence named most of his children after his siblings. FitzClarence was named for Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. FitzClarence was especially close with his mother, from whom he inherited a love of the theatre. In 1808 she described him as:
Clarence discarded Jordan in 1811 when put under pressure to marry a foreign princess and produce a legitimate heir. FitzClarence attended a boarding school in Sunbury-on-Thames and then in 1813, with the Napoleonic Wars ongoing, joined the Royal Navy.
Military career War of 1812
As a first-class volunteer, FitzClarence joined the 98-gun ship of the line on 26 May 1814. Impregnable was part of the escort charged with taking the monarchs allied to Britain, Alexander I of Russia and Frederick William III of Prussia, from Calais to Dover for peace celebrations. FitzClarence's father, as admiral of the fleet, commanded the escort with Impregnable as his flagship. The process was completed on 6 June. While Clarence stayed in Impregnable to organise the return of Alexander and Frederick to France, FitzClarence transferred to serve on board the 50-gun fourth rate on 15 June.
With the War of 1812 ongoing, Newcastle sailed from Spithead on 23 June as escort to a convoy travelling to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ship captured an American privateer en route and arrived on 17 September, after which she joined the blockade of the 44-gun frigate USS Constitution in Boston. During this, FitzClarence was promoted to midshipman on 14 October. Constitution escaped the blockade in December, and Newcastle was one of three ships to chase her to the Cape Verde Islands, from where the ship escaped the British and returned to Boston after a brief skirmish on 11 March 1815. Newcastle spent time at Barbados, Halifax, and Quebec before returning to Britain on 26 September.
Mediterranean service Newcastle was paid off and after two months of leave, FitzClarence joined the 38-gun frigate on 27 November. He became lifelong friends with Midshipman Charles Fremantle, a future admiral, who joined Tagus at the same time. Tagus joined the Mediterranean Fleet in early 1816, where talks were ongoing with Algiers to stop the Barbary States' practice of Christian slavery. As part of this process Tagus sailed to Constantinople, carrying Algerian diplomats in May. Tagus was refused permission to pass through the Dardanelles and waited for the return of the diplomats at the Tavşan Islands. Perceiving that they would be heavily delayed, Tagus returned to the Mediterranean Fleet in August, but only arrived at Malta on 31 August, missing the bombardment of Algiers by four days.
The majority of the Mediterranean Fleet returned to Britain in the wake of the bombardment, but Tagus and FitzClarence stayed in the Mediterranean, based on the Ionian Islands for much of 1817 to ensure that the plague there did not spread to the mainland. For three months during the summer FitzClarence left Tagus to serve in the flagship in the Mediterranean, . During this period he visited Palermo, Naples, Livorno, and Malta. FitzClarence then returned to Tagus, which in April 1818 sailed to Alexandria, escorting two sons of Slimane of Morocco to Tangier.
Joining the ship for the journey was FitzClarence's brother Captain George FitzClarence, taking British Army dispatches from India to Britain. George remarked on the surprising ability of the FitzClarence brothers to coincidentally meet each other, Adolphus and George having very briefly crossed paths before during the chase of Constitution. Tagus arrived at Malta on 15 May and remained in the Mediterranean until November, when she returned to Britain to be paid off.
FitzClarence left Tagus on 26 December and soon after joined the 74-gun ship of the line . Also serving in Rochfort was another of FitzClarence's brothers, Midshipman Augustus FitzClarence. Rochfort was designated as the new flagship for the Mediterranean under Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Fremantle, the father of FitzClarence's friend Charles, who would soon also join the ship. FitzClarence's previous captain on Tagus reported to the elder Fremantle that FitzClarence was "promising, but his eye (the most necessary appendage of a Seaman) prevents his being so quick as he should be."
FitzClarence likely had a damaged eye. The politician Sir William Fraser recorded that FitzClarence "was a man of peculiar appearance. Having one eyelid drooping, he held his head at a particular angle." Rochfort arrived in the Mediterranean on 3 March 1819, and in April Fremantle had his son and FitzClarence transferred to the 10-gun sloop . The ship was employed on surveying duties in the Ionian Islands and Adriatic Sea under Commander William Henry Smyth, who Fremantle thought to be a "remarkable good astronomer, draughtsman and surveyor". It was the admiral's hope that by posting the two to Smyth they would improve their navigational skills. FitzClarence returned to Rochfort in July, subsequently visiting Algiers and Tunis as part of Anglo-French efforts to stop Barbary piracy through diplomatic means. In early December Fremantle reported to Clarence that he was "quite satisfied" with both FitzClarence brothers on Rochfort.
Two weeks later the admiral died in Naples. Rochfort returned home with Fremantle's family in February 1820, but FitzClarence stayed in the Mediterranean by transferring to the 40-gun frigate , whose captain became commander-in-chief in the wake of Fremantle's death. Glasgow initially served off the Ionian Islands before being stationed off Naples when it was thought that Austria might invade the nation. The ship paid off at Portsmouth in March 1821.
Lieutenant FitzClarence was promoted to lieutenant on 23 April. His first posting as a lieutenant came in November when he was sent to the 42-gun frigate , initially at Spithead but expected to sail for the Mediterranean. Before this happened, Clarence visited to inspect the ship on 29 January 1822, spending three hours on board. Euryalus left for the Mediterranean soon afterwards and was stationed in the Ionian Islands as part of the British response to the Greek War of Independence. Both Britain and the Ionians were neutral parties in the conflict, but with close ties between the islands and Greece, Euryalus was employed ensuring that no assistance was given to the Greeks, and to defeat any marauding Greek corsairs.
Euryalus was subsequently sent on several diplomatic missions, first visiting Naples in November to give a portrait as a gift to Pope Pius VII, and then travelling to Tunis for further anti-piracy talks in June 1823. FitzClarence continued in Euryalus until 13 July when, at Zante, he learned of his promotion to commander which had taken place on 17 May. He returned to Britain via Malta soon afterwards.
First commands FitzClarence's first command came on 9 January 1824 when he joined the 10-gun brig-sloop , whose previous commander had drowned at Sheerness two weeks earlier. He commanded Brisk on the North Sea Station until 28 February, when he was transferred to command the 18-gun brig-sloop , also in the North Sea. His first service in Redwing was to escort Clarence, sailing in HMY Royal Sovereign, from the Thames to Plymouth and back again. FitzClarence met his father again at Spithead in October when Clarence inspected the fleet there, including a half-hour visit to Redwing. As Clarence passed back and forth around the fleet, Redwing was forced to fire seven 21-gun salutes in three hours. The ship was subsequently posted to Newcastle-upon-Tyne to help put down unrest among the merchant seamen there at the request of the mayor.
Still only twenty-two years old, FitzClarence was promoted to captain on 24 December. This quick promotion came about because of the strong influence of his father Clarence, and was equalled in the service only by the rise of Richard Saunders Dundas, whose father was First Lord of the Admiralty. FitzClarence left Redwing in January 1825 and spent a year on half pay, before on 9 February 1826 he was appointed to command the 20-gun post ship . This was another occasion in which FitzClarence replaced a captain in unusual circumstances, the previous commander of Ariadne having been dismissed for purchasing a slave at Zanzibar to use as a prostitute.
Return to the Mediterranean FitzClarence sailed Ariadne to the Mediterranean in June, carrying money for the treasuries of Gibraltar, Malta, and Corfu. Having completed this duty FitzClarence returned to the Ionian Islands, where he again served to preserve neutrality in the ongoing Greek War of Independence. He most likely met another of his brothers, Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick FitzClarence, while the latter served with his British Army unit on Corfu. In November the Governor of Malta, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings, died in the Bay of Naples. Ariadne, at the time at Naples, was sent to return his body to Malta. In early 1827 the ship then carried the replacement governor, Sir Frederick Ponsonby, from Corfu to Malta. While at Corfu FitzClarence learned that his father's elder brother Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, had died, leaving Clarence heir to the throne.