Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/119

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LESTOCK, RICHARD (1679?–1746), admiral, was the second son of Richard Lestock, captain in the navy and magistrate for the county of Middlesex. It is said that the father belonged to the family of Lestocq, formerly owning large estates in Picardy (information from M. Witasse of Amiens), but the exact relationship is doubtful; the arms on his monument, which are not recognised by Burke (General Armoury), are not those of Lestocq (Nobiliaire de Picardie), and the circumstances of his family's settlement in England are unknown. It seems more probable that he was ‘of an obscure family in the parish of Stepney’ (Notes and Queries, 7th ser. vi. 453). As early as 1667 the elder Lestock commanded the Gabriel fireship (, i. 294). He afterwards had employment in the mercantile marine, and with other commanders of merchant ships was called before the board of admiralty on 26 Dec. 1690, and, declaring himself willing to serve in the navy, was appointed on 6 Jan. 1690–1 to be captain of the Cambridge, and took post from that day (Admiralty Minute-book). He died at Ashton in Northamptonshire, in his seventy-first year, in May 1713 (, Hist. of Northampton, ii. 128).

The younger Richard is said (Add. MS. 24436, f. 52 b) to have been born on 22 Feb. 1679; it is more probable that he was born some years earlier. There is no record of his earliest service in the navy. In April 1701 he was appointed third lieutenant of the Cambridge, in November lieutenant of the Solebay, in January 1701–2 of the Exeter, in February 1703–4 of the Barfleur, flagship of Sir Clowdisley Shovell [q. v.] in the battle of Malaga. In the following year he was again with Shovell in the Britannia, and was promoted to command the Fowey on 29 April 1706, from which date he took post. After the capture of Alicante [see ] he was sent home with despatches, and returning to the Mediterranean was employed with good success against the enemy's privateers in the Straits of Gibraltar; but on 14 April 1709, on her passage from Alicante to Lisbon, the Fowey fell in with two of the enemy's 40-gun frigates, and was captured after a running fight of several hours. Lestock was shortly afterwards exchanged, and on his return to England was tried by court-martial for the loss of his ship and fully acquitted 31 Aug. 1709 (Minutes of the Court-martial). In 1710 he commanded the Weymouth in the West Indies with Commodore James Littleton [q. v.]; in 1717 he commanded the Panther in the Baltic with Sir George Byng [q. v.]; and in 1718 he was second captain of the Barfleur, Sir George Byng's flagship, in the battle off Cape Passaro, and in the subsequent operations in Sicilian waters. In 1728 he was appointed to the Princess Amelia, and in 1729 to the Royal Oak, in the fleet under Sir Charles Wager [q. v.] On 21 Feb. 1732 he was moved into the Kingston, to go out to the West Indies as commander-in-chief at Jamaica. On 6 April he received his instructions and an order to wear a red broad pennant. He was directed to sail at once, but touching at Plymouth, contrary winds detained him there till the end of the month; he did not sail till the 29th. But on 19 May Sir Chaloner Ogle (d. 1750) [q. v.] was appointed ‘commander-in-chief of the ships at Jamaica, in the room of Commodore Lestock’ (Admiralty Minute-book). On 15 June a letter was written to Lestock by the lords themselves, ordering him to strike his flag and return to England. In this, the only official letter on the subject, no reason is assigned; but Lestock, writing from Port Royal on 21 Nov., reporting the arrangements he had made for his passage, adds: ‘My affair being without precedent I cannot say much, but such a fate as I have met with is far worse than death, many particulars of which I doubt not will be heard from me when I shall be able to present myself to my lords of the admiralty’ (Captains' Letters, L. vol. vii.) Without any further official explanation or investigation he was appointed on 22 Feb. 1733–4 to be captain of the Somerset, one of twenty-nine ships commissioned on the same day as a precautionary measure, on account of the war of the Polish succession (, i. 23, iii. 8; Admiralty Minute-book).

The Somerset was stationed as guardship at Chatham and in the Medway, and in her Lestock continued till April 1738, when he was turned over to the Grafton, employed on the same service. In August 1739 he was moved to the Boyne, one of the ships which in the following year went out to the West Indies with Sir Chaloner Ogle. As a captain, Lestock was senior to the Earl of Granard and four others, including Nicholas Haddock [q. v.] and Ogle, who were all promoted to flag rank before him; Granard and Haddock in May 1734. The date suggests that Lestock was passed over for the same mysterious reasons which led to his recall from Jamaica. Charnock (Biog. Nav.