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A cartoon depicting the execution of John Byng |
The ‘scapegoat’ admiral left on history’s seabed
As Britain fought for 18th-century colonial dominance, a Royal Navy admiral was executed for his failure to secure Minorca. His descendants are now fighting for a pardon, writes Dan Carrier
THE firing squad cocked their muskets and took aim.
A volley of shots rang out and in front of his comrades-in-arms and the sailors under his command, Admiral John Byng fell to the deck. The punishment had been carried out. He was dead.
Byng is the only British admiral ever to be court-martialled and killed – and now, 250 years after his death, a Hampstead woman who is one of his descendants is campaigning to have him pardoned.
Byng was a major player in the Royal Navy, and saw action during the Seven Years War, which began in 1756. The conflict had sprung from the inability of France and Britain to settle boundary disputes in the North American colonies.
Byng was in charge of the Mediterranean fleet, but he was stymied by the fact the British wanted to keep a strong Navy patrolling close to home. It left the Admiral with a weak fleet in the Mediterranean, an area where he had to contend with both a strong French and Spanish presence.
The French invaded Minorca in April 1756, hoping to bring Spain into the war and drag British ships away from other disputes. Byng attacked the fleet led by the French admiral de la Galissoniere, but the battle proved to be indecisive. After holding a council of war with his captains, Byng’s fleet sailed for Gibraltar for vital repairs.
It was this decision that was to prove his downfall. The government, needing a scapegoat for the loss of the island, rounded on Byng.
He was accused of cowardice and incompetence, despite having a rickety fleet not equipped to do the job that was expected of him, having a large dose of bad luck and being let down by captains under his command. He was court-martialled and sentenced to death.
Now his descendants are lobbying the Ministry of Defence to issue a pardon. Thane Byng, who lives in Hampstead, admits to being haunted by the death of the Admiral: John is her uncle through a number of generations, and the story of his demise has become enshrined in the family lore.
“It has always been part of my family’s legend,” she admits. “The story was told to me when I was very young, and some members of my family feel very strongly about this.”
The family have so far been given short shrift by the MoD, but the Byngs have been backed by people living in the village of Southhill, where the Admiral was born and eventually buried.
A petition is due to be handed to the MoD in March next year, on the 250th anniversary of his death. “It is a unique story in British history and I want people to know how badly he was treated,” says Thane.
“It was terrible – he was completely innocent of the charges.”
The British government has, in fact, recently revisited previous court-martials and issued pardons – the cases of many young men executed during the First World War for supposed cowardice have led to a number of decisions being overturned.
The ghost of the Admiral haunts many. And it raises wider questions about how we interpret history, and how we make amends of the failings of the past, using the benefit of hindsight.
But for Thane there is also a wider question about why we have the need to accuse people, to apportion blame.
“This is also about why we create scapegoats,” she says.
Thane uses her maiden name in her professional life instead of her married title, which is, bizarrely, that of the most famous admiral the Royal Navy has ever produced: Nelson.
It is part of her wish to make the legend of Admiral Byng reach a wider audience. “People recognise the name and ask me about it,” she says.“It’s my maiden name and I have taken it on to keep the story alive.”
Defence Minister Des Browne has refused to issue the pardon, saying the case is closed, and that it does not compare to the fate of the soldiers killed by their own side in the Great War: the government say because it is not within living memory, they will not pardon Byng.
An MoD Spokesman stated: “It was considered reasonable to provide pardons for those shot for desertion in WWI because there were still living relatives from the immediate family, and because peculiar circumstances of the pressures of frontline service in WWI were also considered a reason for exceptional treatment for this group.
“Whilst we fully recognise that people will feel that there were miscarriages of justice in the past – and whilst good arguments might be put forward for these in some cases – we do not think it sensible or, in general, practical to review decisions that are now widely accepted as being a part of history.”
Thane visited Minorca earlier this year, and met with the mayoress Irene Coll of Es Castell, who has backed the campaign.
The Byng legend lives on in Minorca, and the family are treated with great warmth. The Admiral’s father had built the island’s first hospital, a gift that the islanders still appreciate.
“Just because this happened in the past doesn’t mean it should be so hard to say sorry,” says Thane. |
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