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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ANC-APO |
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ANSON, GEORGE ANSON, BARON (1697-1762) , British admiral, was born on the 23rd of April 1647. He was the son of William Anson of Shugborough in Staffordshire, and his wife Isabella Carrier , who was the sister-in-law of Lord Chancellor Macclesfield , a relationship which proved very useful to the future admiral. George Anson entered the navy in February 1712, and by rapid steps became lieutenant in 1716, commander
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scheme was ambitious, and was not carried out. Anson's squadron, which sailed later than had been intended, and was very ill-fitted, consisted of six ships, which were reduced by successive disasters to his flagship the Centurion." The lateness of the season forced him to round Cape Horn in very stormy weather, and the navigating instruments of the time did not allow of exact observation. Two of his vessels failed to round the Horn, another, the " Wager," was wrecked in the Golfo de Pallas on the coast of Chile. By the time Anson reached the island of Juan Fernandez in June 1741, his six ships had been reduced to three, while the strength of his crews had fallen from 961 to 335. In the absence of any effective Spanish force on the coast he was able to harass the enemy, and to capture the town of Paita on the 13th-15th of November 1741. The steady diminution of his crew by sickness, and the worn-out state of his remaining consorts, compelled him at last to collect all the survivors in the " Centurion." He rested at the island of Tinian, and then made his way to Macao in November 1742. After considerable difficulties with the Chinese, he sailed again with his one remaining vessel to cruise for one of the richly laden galleons which conducted the trade between Mexico and the Philippines. The indomitable per-severance he had shown during one of the most arduous voyages in the history of sea adventure was rewarded by the capture of an immensely rich prize, the " Nuestra Senora de Covadonga," which was met off Cape Espiritu Santo on the loth of June 1743. Anson took his prize back to Macao, sold her cargo to the Chinese, keeping the specie, and sailed for England, which he reached by the Cape of Good Hope on the 15th of June 1744. The prize-money earned by the capture of the galleon had made him a rich man for life, and under the influence of itritation caused by therefusal of the admiralty to confirm a captain's commission he had given to one of his officers, Anson refused the rank of rear-admiral, and was prepared to leave the service. His fame would stand nearly as high as it does if he had done so, but he would be a far less important figure in the history of the navy. By the world at large he is known as the commander
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Horace Walpole, and the savage attack of Smollett in The Adventures of an Atom, are animated by personal or political spite. Yet they would not have accused him of defects from which he was notoriously free. In political life he may sometimes have given too ready assent to the wishes of powerful politicians. He married the daughter of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke on the 27th of April 1748. There were no children of the marriage. His title of Baron Anson of Soberton was given him in 1747, but became extinct on his death. The title of Viscount Anson was, however, created in 18o6 in favour of his great-nephew, the grandson of his sister Janetta and Mr Sam-brook Adams, whose father had assumed the name and arms of Anson. The earldom of Lichfield was conferred on the family in the next generation. A fine portrait of the admiral by Reynolds is in the possession of the earl
A life of Lord Anson, inaccurate in ome details but valuable and interesting, was published by Sir John Barrow in 1839. The standard account of his voyage round the world is that by his chaplain Richard Walter, 1748, often reprinted. A share in the work has been claimed on dubious grounds for Benjamin Robins, the mathematician. Another and much inferior account was published in 1745 by Pascoe Thomas, the schoolmaster of the Centurion." (D. H.)ANSON, SIR WILLIAM REYNELL, BART. (1843 ), English jurist, was born on the 14th of November 1843, at Walberton, Svssex, son of the second baronet. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, he took a first class in the final classical schools in 1866, and was elected to a fellowship of All Souls in the following year. In 1869 he was called to the bar, and went the home circuit until 1873, when he succeeded to the baronetcy. In 1874 he became Vinerian reader in English law at Oxford, a post which he held until he became, in 1881, warden of All Souls College. He identified himself both with local and university interests; he became an alderman of the city of Oxford in 1892, chairman of quarter sessions for the county in 1894, was vice-chancellor of the university in 18981899, and chancellor of the diocese of Oxford in 1899. In that year he was returned, without opposition, as M.P. for the university in the Liberal Unionist interest
Contract (1884, 11th ed. 1906), and on The Law and Custom of the Constitution in two parts, " The Parliament " and " The Crown " (1886-1892, 3rd ed. 1907, pt. i.vol. ii.), are standard works.End of Article: ANSON, GEORGE ANSON, BARON (1697-1762) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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