Gilbert Heathcote (Royal Navy officer)

Heathcote was born in 1779, the youngest son of Sir William Heathcote, 3rd Baronet and his wife, Frances.{{cite book |last=Marshall|title=Royal Naval Biography|page=165}} William Heathcote was Member of Parliament for Hampshire between 1790 and 1806, and had his seat, Hursley House, in that county. Gilbert's elder brother Henry, Sir William's fourth son, was also a naval officer, and would rise to the rank of admiral of the blue.{{cite book |last=O'Byrne|title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary|page=490}} Gilbert Heathcote joined the navy, and after some years of service, was promoted to lieutenant on 10 December 1799.{{cite book |editor=Syrett |editor2=DiNardo|title=The Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy|page=212}} A further promotion to master and commander came on 29 April 1802, and in 1803 he was appointed to command the 14-gun brig-sloop HMS Suffisante, taking over from Commander Christopher Nesham.{{cite book |last=Winfield |title=British Warships of the Age of Sail 1793–1817|page=269}} Suffisante outfitted at Plymouth between July and September 1803, after which Heathcote took her to sea. His first command was short-lived; Suffisante was caught in a heavy gale, and wrecked on Spike Island, off Queenstown on 25 December 1803. Heathcote underwent a customary court-martial for the loss, at which he was reprimanded but not punished.{{cite web|url=http://www.bmagprints.org.uk/image/935599/william-owen-portrait-of-captain-gilbert-heathcote-rn-1779-1831|title=Portrait of Captain Gilbert Heathcote|access-date=21 August 2014|archive-date=26 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826161235/http://www.bmagprints.org.uk/image/935599/william-owen-portrait-of-captain-gilbert-heathcote-rn-1779-1831|url-status=dead}}

Heathcote's career does not appear to have been unduly affected by the loss of Suffisante, and by September 1804 he was in command of {{HMS|Cyclops|1779|6}}, the guardship at Lymington.{{cite book |last=Winfield |title=British Warships of the Age of Sail 1793–1817|page=205}} He left her in January 1805 and appears to have been without a ship until he undertook a period of service in the East Indies. He was promoted to post-captain on 25 September 1806 and succeeded to the command of the 38-gun HMS Sir Edward Hughes, replacing Commander Hood Hanway Christian, who had commissioned her in 1805.{{cite book |last=Winfield |title=British Warships of the Age of Sail 1793–1817|page=161}} Heathcote's health seems to have broken down while on this situation, as he left Sir Edward Hughes later that September to return to Britain, and was reported by The Asiatic Annual Register to be "returning to Europe for the benefit of his health."{{cite book |title=The Asiatic Annual Register|page=205}} Commander Edward Ratsey, formerly of the 18-gun brig-sloop {{HMS|Harrier|1804|6}}, was appointed to replace Heathcote.{{Ref_label|A|a|none}}

Heathcote's health had improved by 1813 to allow him to return to active service with the command of the newly built 36-gun {{HMS|Scamander|1813|6}}, which he took over in October that year.{{cite book |last=Winfield |title=British Warships of the Age of Sail 1793–1817|page=170}} Heathcote was assigned to service in the English Channel, and was in command until mid-1815, when command passed to Captain John Lewis. Heathcote does not appear to have had any further active service. He married Ann Lyell at Southampton on 23 March 1809, and at some point had his portrait painted by William Owen.{{cite book |title=The Scots Magazine|page=317}}{{Ref_label|B|b|none}} He died, still at the rank of post-captain, on 22 April 1831.

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a. {{Note_label|A|a|none}} The promotion and appointment of Ratsey to command Sir Edward Hughes created a vacancy for the command of the Harrier. The commander in chief of that part of the East Indies Station, Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge, 1st Baronet, filled it by promoting his son Edward, formerly a lieutenant on his father's flagship {{HMS|Blenheim|1761|6}}, to the rank of commander, and giving him the Harrier. This proved to be a fortunate appointment for Edward, as the Blenheim disappeared in a gale the following year with the loss of Sir Thomas and her entire crew.{{cite book |last=Winfield |title=British Warships of the Age of Sail 1793–1817|page=20}}

b. {{Note_label|B|b|none}} The Scots Magazine names her as Ann, John Marshall's Royal Naval Biography instead has Anne. Both describe her as the daughter of the late Charles Lyell, of Kinnordy, Angus. She was therefore the sister of Charles Lyell the elder, the botanist.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/visitationofengl28howa#page/154/mode/2up|title=Visitation of England and Wales|last=Howard|first=Joseph Jackson|author2=Frederick Arthur Crisp|year=1907|work=Internet Archive|page=153|access-date=13 June 2015}} Owen's portrait of Heathcote is now held in the collections of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

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• {{cite web|url=http://www.bmagprints.org.uk/image/935599/william-owen-portrait-of-captain-gilbert-heathcote-rn-1779-1831|title=Portrait of Captain Gilbert Heathcote|publisher=Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery|access-date=21 August 2014|archive-date=26 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826161235/http://www.bmagprints.org.uk/image/935599/william-owen-portrait-of-captain-gilbert-heathcote-rn-1779-1831|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book|title=The Scots Magazine|location=Edinburgh|publisher=Sands, Brymer, Murray and Cochrane|year=1809|volume=71}}
• {{cite book |editor=Campbell, Lawrence Dundas |editor2=Samuel, E.|title=The Asiatic Annual Register: Or, A View of the History of Hindustan, and of the Politics, Commerce and Literature of Asia|location=London|publisher=J. Debrett|year=1809|volume=9}}
• {{cite book |first=John|last=Marshall|author-link=John Marshall (biographer)|title=Royal Naval Biography; Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-officers, Superannuated Rear-admirals, Retired-captains, Post-captains, and Commanders, Whose Names Appeared on the Admiralty List of Sea Officers at the Commencement of the Present Year, Or who Have Since Been Promoted; Illustrated by a Series of Historical and Explanatory Notes ... With Copious Addenda: Supplement|location=London|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green|year=1824|volume=2}}
• {{cite book |first=William |last=R. O'Byrne|author-link=William Richard O'Byrne|title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary: Comprising the Life and Services of Every Living Officer in Her Majesty's Navy, from the Rank of Admiral of the Fleet to that of Lieutenant, Inclusive|location=London|publisher=J. Murray|year=1849|volume=1}}
• {{cite book |first=Rif|last=Winfield|title=British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates|publisher=Seaforth|year=2007|isbn=978-1-86176-246-7}}

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Category:1779 births

Category:1831 deaths

Category:Royal Navy captains

Category:Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars

Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars

Category:Younger sons of baronets