Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 14.djvu/409

 eight critical years to the general satisfaction. He did not reach the rank of captain till 1775, nor that of major in the army till March 1783. He was gazetted lieutenant-colonel 1 March 1794, and full colonel on 1 March 1798. He resigned the governorship of Prince Edward's Island in 1813, and retired to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he died in 1824 at the age of one hundred and two.

Adapting the works of Holland, De Brahm, and others to nautical purposes, he published a number of charts and plans, including the Atlantic Neptune, published for the use of the royal navy, 4 vols. atlas fol. 1777, the most splendid collection of charts, plans, and views ever published (, Biblioth. Amer. i. 249); general chart of the Atlantic or Western Ocean, 1804; Carte particulière du Havre de Boston, 1780; charts of the coasts and harbour of New England [1776], fol.: Halifax Harbour [Catch Harbour 1780?], Port Hood 1779, Port Jackson 1781, Port Mills, Port Mansfield, and Gambier Harbour 1776; a chart of Nova Scotia, 1775; the South-east Coast of Nova Scotia [2 sheets], [1780?]; the South-west Coast of the Peninsula of Nova Scotia [1780?]; Cape Breton, Lond. 8vo. 1804, a book privately printed and suppressed. His letters to Captain Boquet and General Haldimand are among the Addit. MSS. in the British Museum.

[Desbarres' Statement respecting his Services from 1755, fol. 1795; Campbell's History of Prince Edward's Island; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Royal Mil. Cat.; Univ. Dict. of Biog.; Knox's Campaigns in North America, 4to, 1769.] 

DESBOROUGH, DESBOROW, or DISBROWE, JOHN (1608–1680), major-general, second son of James Desborough of Eltisley, Cambridgeshire, by his wife Elizabeth Hatley of Over, in the same county (Egerton MS. 2519, f. 1), was baptised on 13 Nov. 1608. He was bred an attorney, but paid more attention to the cultivation of his farm, worth at that time between 60l. and 70l. a year. On 23 June 1636 he married at Eltisley Jane, sixth daughter of Robert Cromwell of Huntingdon, and sister of the future lord protector. In 1642–3 he had become a captain in the regiment of horse raised by his brother-in-law, and he distinguished himself by his bravery and effective handling of troops on several occasions during the civil war. As major he took part in the action near Langport on 10 July 1645 (Cromwelliana, p. 19;, Memorials, p. 158), in the affray at Hambleton Hill, near Shaftesbury, on the following 4 Aug. (, p. 165), and at the storming of Bristol on 10 Sept. in the same year, where he commanded the horse (Cromwelliana, p. 23). Three months later (8 Dec.) he was sent by Fairfax to assist Colonel Whalley in ‘straitning’ Oxford, and in the ensuing April he was acting as one of the committee to agree on articles for the surrender of Woodstock. As such he brought up the report to the parliament on the 26th of that month, when he was called in and received the thanks of the house and 100l. (, pp. 182, 202). On 15 Sept. 1648, being colonel, he was given the command of the forces at Great Yarmouth (ib. p. 337). Although perfectly willing to approve of the deposition of the king, he took good care to avoid sharing in the trial. In June 1649 he was engaged in the West of England in putting down the royalist risings, in enlisting recruits for the Irish campaign, and in the general work of organisation (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1649–1650, 1650, 1651, passim;, pp. 435, 439, 465). As major-general Desborough fought at Worcester (Cromwelliana, p. 115). In his flight Charles II encountered him near Salisbury, but just managed to escape recognition (, History, 1849, bk. xiii. par. 103). During the Commonwealth Desborough was preferred by Cromwell's favour to many places of power and profit. On 17 Jan. 1651–2 he was appointed a member of the committee for law reform (Commons' Journals, vii. 74;, p. 520), received a seat on Cromwell's council of state in 1653 (Cromwelliana, pp. 129, 130; , p. 560; Commons' Journals, vii. 344), was made a commissioner of the treasury also in 1653 (, Memoirs, 1751, ii. 39), and was chosen one of the four generals of the fleet in commission with Blake, Monck, and Penn, and a commissioner of the admiralty and navy in December the same year (Commons' Journals, vii. 361, 362; , p. 570). On 24 April 1654 he was made constable of St. Briavell's Castle, Forest of Dean (, Catal. Codd. MSS. Bibl. Bodl. pars v. fasc. ii. p. 676). The next year (12 March) he received his commission as major-general in charge of Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall, in which capacity he proved himself an able administrator (, State Papers, iii. 221, 486). He sat for Cambridgeshire in Cromwell's parliament of 1654 (Commons' Journals, vii. 372), and for Somersetshire in that of 1656 (ib. vii. 428). In July of the following year he entered Cromwell's privy council (Cromwelliana, p. 167), and shortly afterwards was joined in commission with Blake and Montagu for managing maritime affairs at home (, ii. 145). Despite his relationship to the Protector, Desborough