JOHN SURMAN CARDEN, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1806.]
This officer is the eldest son of the late Major Carden, a member of the Templemore family in Ireland, by Miss Surman, of Treddington, near Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, at which place he was born on the 15th Aug. 1771.
At the commencement of the dispute with our colonies, Mr. Carden, senior, (then a Lieutenant in the army) proceeded to America, where his services on many occasions were so conspicuous as to obtain him the rank of Major in a provincial regiment, “The Prince of Wales’s Royal Americans.” During his absence, her late Majesty, Queen Charlotte, attending to the recommendation of General Rooke, commanded Mrs. Carden to return from Ireland, and take charge of one of the royal progeny, as nurse; at the same time nominating her son, the subject of this memoir, a page to the King, and procuring him an ensigncy in his father’s regiment. Unfortunately, however, Mrs. Carden declined accepting the proffered situation until she could receive her husband’s consent a refusal which put an end to the youngster’s prospects of advancement, either at court or in the army; his name being immediately erased from the list of pages, and subsequently struck off the strength of his regiment, which extreme youth had prevented him from joining, although repeatedly ordered to do so. Mrs. Carden shortly after departed this life, at the age of 26 years; and was soon followed by the Major, who died of wounds received in action with the enemy, leaving two sons and two daughters.
Mr. John Surman Carden having ultimately determined to become a sailor, and obtained an introduction from the late Duke of Beaufort to Captain Charles Thompson of the Edgar 74, was received as a Midshipman on board that ship, in 1788. In the following year we find him proceeding to the East Indies in the Perseverance frigate, Captain Isaac Smith, with whom he returned to England at the commencement of the French revolutionary war; when he joined the Marlborough 74, commanded by the Hon. George C. Berkeley, under whom he continued to serve until his promotion to
