BATTEN, SIR WILLIAM (floruit 1626-1667)

This article appears in Volume V03, Page 530 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BAR-BEC

BATTEN, SIR WILLIAM (floruit 1626-1667) , British sailor, son of Andrew Batten, master in the royal navy, first appears as taking out letters of marque in 1626, and in 1638 he obtained the post of surveyor to the navy, probably by purchase. In

March

1642 he was appointed second-in-command under the

earl

EARL

of Warwick, the parliamentary admiral who took the

fleet

FLEET

. out of the king's hands. It was Vice-Admiral Batten's.

squadron

SQUADRON

which bombarded

Scarborough

SCARBOROUGH

when Henrietta Maria landed there. He was accused (it appears unjustly) by the Royalists of directing his fire particularly on the

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

occupied by the queen, and up to the end of the First Civil War showed himself a steady partisan of the

parliament

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

. To the end of the First Civil War, Batten continued to patrol the English seas, and his action in 1647 in bringing into Portsmouth a number of Swedish ships of war and merchantmen, which had refused the customary salute to the flag, was approved by

parliament

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

. When the Second Civil War began he was distrusted by the Independents and removed from his command, though he confessed his continued willingness to serve the state. When part of the

fleet

FLEET

revolted against the parliament, and joined the prince of Wales in Holland, May 1648, Batten went with them. He was knighted by the prince, but being suspected by the Royalists, was put ashore mutinously in Holland and returned to England. He lived in retirement during the Commonwealth period. At the Restoration Sir William Batten became once more surveyor of the navy. In this office he was in constant intercourse with Pepys, whose diary frequently mentions him; but the insinuations of Pepys against him must not be taken too seriously, as there is no evidence to show that Batten in making a profit from his office fell below the standards of the time. In 1661 he became M.P. for Rochester, and in 1663 he was made. master of the Trinity

House

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

. He died in 1667.
There is no

separate

SEPARATE

life of Batten, but many notices of him will be found in Penn's Life of Sir W. Penn, and in Pepys' Diary.

End of Article: BATTEN, SIR WILLIAM (floruit 1626-1667)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/BAR_BEC/BATTEN_SIR_WILLIAM_floruit_162.html">
BATTEN, SIR WILLIAM (floruit 1626-1667)
</a>

(Previous)
BATTEN

(Next)
BATTENBERG

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email