Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p1.djvu/129

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CHARLES EDMUND NUGENT, ESQ.
99

Parker. In the following year he was chosen representative in Parliament for the town of Buckingham. When the war commenced against the French Republic[1], he was appointed to the Veteran of 64 guns; and towards the latter end of the same year, accompanied the expedition sent against the French West India islands[2]. Immediately after the surrender of Guadaloupe, where Captain Nugent particularly distinguished himself in the command of a naval battalion landed to co-operate with the army, he was sent home with the despatches relative to the conquests that had been effected by the British arms. In the letter from Sir John Jervis, he is thus mentioned:– “Captain Nugent, who carries this despatch, will recite many parts of the detail, which, in the various operations I had to concert, have escaped my memory. He served with the naval battalions at Martinique, St. Lucia, and Guadaloupe, and was present at many of the most important strokes.” Captain Nugent also received the thanks of the military Commander-in-Chief, Sir Charles Grey, in public orders.

From the spring of 1795, until his promotion to the rank of Rear-Admiral, which took place Feb. 20, 1797, our officer commanded the Caesar, of 80 guns, and was employed principally in the Channel Fleet. On the 1st Jan. 1801, he became a Viee-Admiral; and in the summer of 1805, when the late gallant Cornwallis assumed the chief command off Brest, he was selected by that officer to serve as his first Captain.

At the public funeral of the hero of Trafalgar, Vice-Admiral Nugent assisted in the procession. He was advanced to the rank of full Admiral, April 28, 1808. His only child married, in 1822, G. Bankes, Esq. M.P.

Residence.– Southampton.