1. Charles Wager's father had started life in the merchant service and then gained advancement in the navy of the Commonwealth.
26 Facts About Charles Wager
1. 2.
Charles Wager remarked in 1731, "On both sides I am related to the navy".
3.
Charles Wager's father commanded the Yarmouth in the fleet that brought Charles II to England and quickly proved to be a capable, trustworthy, well-liked officer of the Royal Navy.
4.
Charles Wager was apprenticed to a Quaker merchant captain of New England named John Hull of Barnstable, Massachusetts who operated a transatlantic shipping service.
5.
Charles Wager's mother was a witness when John Hull married Alice Teddeman in the London Quaker Meeting in 1684.
6.
Charles Wager was captain of the Newcastle in 1694, and in 1695, after a month in the Mary, he was reassigned to the Woolwich.
7.
Charles Wager stayed in the Greenwich until she was paid off in late 1699.
8.
Charles Wager lived at Watergate cottages, Kilminorth near West Looe on half pay whilst his ship was under repair in Plymouth.
9.
Charles Wager commanded a squadron of four of the line and two frigates that cruised between Cape Barfleur and the Isle of Batz in early 1703.
10.
In 1720 Charles Wager leased Hollybush, a stately brick house, situated at the south-east corner of Parson's Green, Fulham.
11.
Charles Wager remained on the list of admirals and advanced by seniority.
12.
Charles Wager's flag was eventually hoisted again in 1726 to take command of the large Baltic Fleet sent to the Baltic to protect Sweden and Denmark from the threat of a recently mobilized Russian fleet.
13.
Charles Wager had orders to engage and destroy the Russian fleet if it came out.
14.
The fleet helped cover the land approaches, Charles Wager ordered two frigates and a bomb-vessel to "the back of the Hill", thus ensuring re-supply for the garrison.
15.
Charles Wager was nominated and elected MP for Westminster in 1734.
16.
Besides administrative capacity, Charles Wager brought some important assets to the office.
17.
Charles Wager describe himself as a "Parliament man" to Sir Robert Walpole and in Wager Walpole proved to have a personal friend and a staunchly loyal spokesman in the House of Commons who was well liked, well informed, and widely trusted.
18.
Charles Wager was not confident, as he well knew the price of delay in that climate; his preferred strategy was to threaten the Peruvian coast from the "South Sea".
19.
Charles Wager was still popular and his presence during the polling might have prevented the surprise nomination of Edward Vernon who was in the West Indies and knew nothing about it.
20.
Charles Wager remained in parliament, having been elected for West Looe.
21.
Charles Wager was known for spreading his generosity very widely, to individuals in need as well as philanthropic organizations, for example he was patron of the Cockney's Feast held in the east end of London.
22.
When Charles Wager died Horace Walpole first observed that he had "left the fairest character", a judgement supported by all of the surviving evidence.
23.
Charles Wager had a very good understanding, great plainness of manners, and a steadiness of courage that no danger could daunt, with the same calmness in it that he shewed in the most ordinary acts of his life.
24.
Charles Wager was indeed a person of most extraordinary worth, and the world bore him a respect that was due to it.
25.
Charles Wager's father was a captain of a man of war before the restoration, and very likely after that: but dying when this son was young, and the mother marrying a Quaker, he was bred up among that people; by which he acquired the simplicity of his manners, and had much of their fashion in his speech as well as carriage.
26.
Geographical features named for Charles Wager include Wager Island, which became the location of the Wager Mutiny.