Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/95

 Princess Elizabeth, Mansell and the lord admiral commanded the opposing sides. In June 1613, however, he was committed to the Marshalsea for 'animating the lord admiral' against a commission to reform abuses in the navy. His real offence was questioning and taking counsel's opinion as to the validity of the commission, which was held to be questioning the prerogative [cf. ]. Notwithstanding his readiness to make submission, he was kept in confinement for a fortnight. In May 1618 he sold his office of treasurer of the' navy, consequent, it would seem, on his being appointed vice-admiral of England, a title newly created for Sir Richard Leveson, and which had been in abeyance since his death. The administration of the navy was notoriously corrupt during James I's reign, but there seems no ground for charging Mansell while treasurer with any gross dishonesty. He made no large fortune in office (, 'The Royal Navy under James I,' in English Hist. Rev. July 1892).

On 20 July 1620 Mansell was appointed to the command of an expedition against the Algerine pirates. Sir [q. v.] was the vice-admiral, and Sir [q. v.] rear-admiral. The fleet, consisting of six of the king's ships, with ten merchantmen and two pinnaces, finally sailed from Plymouth on 12 Oct., and after touching at Cadiz, Gibraltar, Malaga, and Alicante, anchored before Algiers on 27 Nov. After some negotiation forty English captives were given up. These, it was maintained, were all that they had; but though Mansell was well aware that this was false, he was in no condition to use force. His ships were sickly and short of supplies. He drew back to Majorca and the Spanish ports. It was 21 May 1621 before he again anchored off Algiers. On the 24th he sent in five or six fireships, which he had prepared to burn the shipping in the Mole, hey were, however, feebly supported—the ships stationed for the purpose were short of powder and could do nothing. The Algerines repelled the attack without difficulty and without loss, and, realising their danger, threw a boom across the mouth of the harbour, which effectually prevented a repetition of the attempt. Mansell drew back to Alicante, whence eight of his ships were sent to England. Before the end of July he was recalled with the remainder.

Some antagonism between him and the Duke of Buckingham prevented his being offered any further command at sea; and though he continued to be consulted as to the organisation and equipment of the navy, his attention was more and more devoted to his private interests in the manufacture of glass, in the monopoly of which he first obtained a share in 1615 (ib. iv. 9). As involving a new process for using sea-coal instead of wood, the monopoly was to a great extent of the nature of a legitimate patent; but it had to be defended equally against those who wished to infringe the patent, and against those who wished to break down the monopoly. He was M.P. for King's Lynn in 1601, Carmarthen in 1603, Carmarthenshire in 1614, Glamorganshire in 1623 and 1625, Lostwithiel in 1626, and Glamorganshire in 1627-8. In 1642 it was suggested to the king that the fleet should be secured by giving the command of it to Mansell, a man of experience and known loyalty. The king, however, judged him too old for so arduous a duty. He died in 1656, his will being administered by his widow on 20 June 1666. He was twice married, first, before 1600, to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir [q. v.] the lord keeper. In his correspondence in 1600 with Sir Bassingbourne Gawdy (d. 1606), who had married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Nicholas Bacon of Redgrave, Suffolk, son of the lord keeper, he signs himself 'your most assured loving frend and affection at unckle.' Gawdy was a magistrate for Norfolk, and, though many years older than his 'unckle,' gave him valuable support in the matter of the duel. He married secondly, in 1617, Anne, daughter of Sir John Roper, and one of the queen's maids of honour (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 18 Nov. 1616, 15 March 1617). She died in 1663. By neither wife had he any children. His portrait is preserved at Penrice, the seat of the Mansells in Gower. It has not been engraved.

Mansell in his youth wrote his name Mansfeeld. It is so spelt in the letters to Gawdy (Eg. MS. 2714 u. s.) In later life he assumed or resumed the spelling Mansell. The present baronet, descended from his brother, spells it Mansel. Other branches of the family have adopted Maunsell or Maunsel (Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. ii. 430, 490). 

MANSELL, THOMAS (1777–1858), rear-admiral, son of Thomas Mansell of Guernsey, was born 9 Feb. 1777. He entered the navy in January 1793, on board the Cres-