15 Facts About Francis Laforey

Admiral Sir Francis Laforey, 2nd Baronet, KCB was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, whose distinguished service record included numerous frigate commands in Home waters and in the West Indies.

Francis Laforey is best known however for his service in command of the ship of the line Spartiate at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Five years after Trafalgar, Francis Laforey was promoted to rear-admiral and commanded the Leeward Islands squadron, before retiring in 1814.

Son of the notable and highly controversial naval officer Sir John Laforey, Francis Laforey joined the Navy at a young age and enjoyed patronage throughout his career.

Francis' father was a senior government official in Antigua at the time, and the family moved there soon afterwards, thus avoiding the American War of Independence, although the senior Laforey was heavily involved due to his naval duties.

At the outbreak of war in 1793, John Francis Laforey realised the excellent opportunity the unprepared French possessions in the Caribbean made, and so marshalled local troops and volunteers and captured the island of Tobago within days.

Francis Laforey then had to pursue a lengthy but ultimately successful lawsuit against the Admiralty for the prize money from the capture, which they had denied on very questionable technical grounds.

Recrossing the Atlantic the following year whilst transporting his dying father back to England, Francis Laforey inherited the baronetcy halfway across and was given the frigate Hydra soon afterwards, using her with much success for two years on the French coast, before returning to the Caribbean and having further success there.

When war was declared, Francis Laforey was instructed to command Spartiate, one of Nelson's spoils from the battle of the Nile.

Francis Laforey was captured and Laforey, whose ship had only suffered 23 casualties, was well placed to aid other captains during the ensuing storm.

Spartiate was amongst those ships which returned to London for Nelson's funeral, Francis Laforey being the flag bearer walking behind the coffin.

Unlike many Trafalgar officers, Francis Laforey remained with his ship, returning to the Mediterranean, where he participated in several blockades under Collingwood, before being made rear-admiral himself in 1810 and taking up his father's old post of naval commander in chief of the Leeward Islands Station in 1811.

Francis Laforey returned home in 1814 and the following year was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, living in quiet retirement at Brighton until his death in 1835 as a full Admiral.

Francis Laforey was buried in the northern extension of St Nicholas Churchyard in Brighton where his headstone remains.

Francis Laforey never married or had children, and so the baronetcy became extinct upon his death.