Anson, Lord George

Anson, Lord George (1697-1762), admiral, b. Shugborough Park, Staffordshire, England.

Anson joined the Royal Navy at the age of thirteen.

In 1740 he was a commodore and he set out with a squadron of seven ships to 'annoy, and distress the Spaniards' in their colonies in the Pacific Ocean.

The squadron sailed by way of Cape Horn and only three ships reached the Pacific. One of these soon had to be scrapped but, with the remaining two, Centurion and Gloucester, Anson captured a dozen ships and sacked a town, collecting treasure worth £40,000.

Then he set out to find the Manila Galleon. This ship sailed once a year from the Philippine Islands, carrying treasure to America on the way to Spain. The Gloucester fell to pieces but Anson continued the search with only the Centurion. He found the Manila Galleon and captured it after a short fight. Then he sailed on homewards.

He completed a voyage round the world and arrived back in 1746 with treasure worth over half a million pounds.

A year later, he routed a French fleet in a sea battle off Cape Finisterre, France.

He was made a baron and in 1751 he became First Lord of the Admiralty.

He was in charge of the Royal Navy for most of the Seven Years' War (1756-63) which was won by England mainly because of her naval strength.

See FRANK KNIGHT Captain Anson and the Treasure of Spain