Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 24.djvu/370

Hardy nearly 500l. for ransoming captives from slavery. He remained at Poole till 1682, when a royal commission was appointed to deal with his case. Three bishops were placed on the commission, but they declined to act lest it should prejudice the authority of their own courts. On 23 Aug. 1682 Hardy was ejected for not wearing the surplice and omitting the cross in baptism. He removed to Baddesley, Hampshire, and there remained more than two years; but his nonconformity led him into trouble, and he ceased to officiate in public. In 1685-7 he was chaplain in the Heal family at Abury Hatch, Essex. He retired to Newbury, Berkshire, in 1688, and died there on 6 March 1691, in his fifty-fourth year, according to Calamy, but 1636 is given as the date of his birth by Palmer, on the authority of Hutchins.

He published, with his initials: 1. 'The Guide to Heaven;' second part, with title 'The Second Guide to Heaven,' 1687, 8vo. Calamy speaks of it as 'suppos'd to be his,' and says it originally bore the title 'News from the Dead,' meaning 'the civilly dead nonconformists;' he questions' whether any one book has been oftner printed or done more good than that little homely book.' 2. 'Advice to Scattered Flocks,' 8vo.

[Wood's Athenæ Oxon., ed. Bliss, iv. 264-5; Calamy's Account, 1713, pp. 281 sq.; Calamy's Continuation, 1727, i. 436 sq.; Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial, 1802, ii. 145 sq.]  HARDY, THOMAS (1666–1732), vice-admiral, grandson of John Le Hardy (1606-1667), solicitor-general of Jersey, son of John Le Hardy (d. 1682), also solicitor-general of Jersey, and thus first cousin of Sir Charles Hardy the elder [q. v.], was born in Jersey on 13 Sept. 1666. He is said to have entered the navy under the patronage of Captain George Churchill [q. v.], and he certainly served with him as first lieutenant of the St. Andrew in the battle of Barfleur. Early in 1693 he was promoted to the command of the Charles fireship, from which he was speedily transferred to the Swallow Prize, stationed among the Channel islands for the protection of trade. In September 1695 he was appointed to the Pendennis of 48 guns, which he commanded till the peace. In May 1698 he was appointed to the Deal Castle, in April 1701 to the Coventry, and in January 1701-2 to the Pembroke, which formed part of the fleet on the coast of Spain under the command of Sir George Rooke [q. v.] After t he failure of the attempt on Cadiz the Pembroke was one of a small squadron under Captain James Wishart [q. v.] in the Eagle, which put into Lagos for water, and there the chaplain of the Pembroke, also a native of Jersey, and apparently passing on shore as a Frenchman, learned that the combined French-Spanish fleet from the West Indies had put into Vigo. The news was taken off" to Hardy, who at once communicated it to Wishart, and was sent on by him to carry it to Sir George Rooke. Acting on this intelligence, Rooke proceeded to Vigo,,and there, on 12 Oct. 1702, captured or destroyed the whole of the enemy s fleet. Hardy was sent home with the news, and,' in consideration of his good services,' was knighted by the qneen and presented with 1,000l. In the following January he was appointed to the Bedford of 70 guns, in which he served under Sir Clowdisley Shovell in the Mediterranean during the season of 1703, and with Sir George Rooke in 1704, taking part in the battle of Malaga, where the Bedford had a loss of seventy-four men, killed or wounded. On his return to England Hardy was appointed, 13 Dec. 1704, to the Kent, and during the following summer was again in the Mediterranean with Sir John Leake [q. v.] and Sir Clowdisley Shovell. In the summer of 1706 he was attached to the squadron under Sir Stafford Fairborne [q. v.] in the Bay of Biscay and at the reduction of Ostend; and in November was appointed to command a small squadron cruising in the Soundings for the protection of trade, a service which extended well into the summer of 1707. In July he was ordered to escort the outward-bound trade for Lisbon, about two hundred sail, clear of the Channel. Meeting with contrary winds they were only ninety-three leagues from the Lizard on 27 Aug. when they saw right in the wind's eye a squadron of six French ships. Finding it useless to chase these, Hardy contented himself with keeping his convoy well together, and escorting it to the prescribed distance of 120 leagues, after which the merchantmen proceeded on their way, and arrived safely at Lisbon. On his return to England Hardy was charged with neglect of duty in not having chased the French squadron; he was tried by court-martial at Portsmouth on 10 Oct., and fully acquitted, the court finding that he had ' complied with the lord high admiral's orders, both with regard to chasing the enemy and also the protecting the trade.' Sir John Leake, who was president of this court-martial, further showed his entire approval of Hardy's conduct by selecting him as first captain of the Albemarle, going ont to the Mediterranean as his flagship. He returned to England in October 1708, and in December was appointed to the Royal Sovereign, from which in the following May 