Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 54.djvu/427

Stopford  Archdall, 1789, iii. 121; Swift’s Works, ed. Scott 1824, index; Cat. of Dublin Graduates, p. 545; Cotton’s Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ, i. 273, 420, iv. 25, 204.]

 STOPFORD, JOSHUA (1636–1675), divine, born in Lancashire in 1636, entered Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1654, and thence migrated in 1656 to Magdalen College, where he was one of the eight clerks on the foundation. He graduated B.A. on 23 Feb. 1657–8 and M.A. and B.D. in 1670. In 1650 he was appointed morning lecturer at the Old Church, Manchester, and in 1659 he took an active part in encouraging the insurrection in Cheshire under Sir George Booth. On 12 Sept. 1660 he was ordained deacon and priest by [q. v.], bishop of Bath and Wells; and on 7 Nov. 1660 he was collated by Archbishop Frewen to the prebend of Dunnington in the church of York. In 1663 he was presented to the vicarage of Kirkby Stephen, Westmoreland; on 7 Oct. the same year he was instituted to the rectory of All Saints, York, on the presentation of the king; and on 12 Sept. 1667 he was collated by Archbishop Sterne to the vicarage of St. Martin, Coney Street, York. He died at York on 3 Nov. 1675.

His works are: 1. ‘The Ways and Method of Rome’s Advancement; or, Whereby the Pope and his Agents have endeavoured to propagate their Doctrines,’ York, 1672, 8vo. 2. ‘Pagano-Papismus; or an exact Parallel between Rome-Pagan and Rome-Christian, in their Doctrines and Ceremonies,’ London, 1675, 8vo. The copy in the British Museum has copious manuscript notes; the book was re-edited in 1844 (London, 12mo).

 STOPFORD, ROBERT (1768–1847), admiral, third son of James Stopford, second earl of Courtown (d. 1810), by his wife Mary, daughter and coheir of Richard Powys of Hintlesham Hall, Suffolk, was born on 5 Feb. 1768. He entered the navy in May 1780 on board the Prince George, the flagship of Vice-admiral [q. v.], and was in her at the relief of Gibraltar in April 1781. The Prince George afterwards went out to the West Indies, and took part in the action of 12 April 1782. In December Stopford was moved into the Aigle, and afterwards into the Atalanta and Hermione. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 15 July 1785, and, after serving on the Newfoundland station and in the Mediterranean, was made commander on 2 June 1789. On 12 Aug. 1790 he was posted to the Fame, from which he was, a few months later, moved to the Lowestoft, and from her to the Aquilon, in which he remained for three years, and was present in the action of 1 June 1794; during the engagement he took in tow the Marlborough when disabled and in a critical situation. From July 1794 to July 1799 he commanded the Phaeton, of 38 guns, which played an important part in the celebrated retreat of Admiral [q. v.] on 16 and 17 June 1795, and was declared by the admiral to have done the work of three frigates. The Phaeton continued to be employed in the Bay of Biscay, where she captured a great number of the enemy’s privateers and small vessels of war, till July 1799, when Stopford was appointed to the Excellent, forming part of the grand fleet under Lord Gardner; in 1802 he was sent to the West Indies under the orders of Rear-admiral Totty; after Totty’s return he was left there, as senior officer, to deliver up the French and Dutch settlements in accordance with the terms of the treaty of Amiens.

Early in 1803 Stopford was obliged by ill-health to return to England. Some months later he was appointed to the Spencer, which through 1804 was one of the fleet off Brest or detached off Ferrol, and, having joined Nelson in the Mediterranean, took part in the celebrated chase to the West Indies. The Spencer was afterwards one of the fleet with Nelson off Cadiz, but was detached with Rear-admiral [q. v.] a few days before the battle of Trafalgar. She then went to the West Indies with Sir [q. v.], and took a brilliant part in the battle of San Domingo on 6 Feb. 1806, for which Stopford received the gold medal. Shortly after this he returned to England. Still in the Spencer in November he went out to the Rio de la Plata with Rear-admiral Charles Stirling [see under ], and on his return to England in July 1807 joined the expedition against Copenhagen under the command of Admiral James (afterwards Lord) [q. v.], when, with other senior captains, he entered a protest against a junior being appointed over his head to the responsible post of captain of the fleet [see ]. On 28 April 1808 he was promoted to be rear-admiral and appointed to command the blockading squadron off Rochefort with his flag in the Spencer and afterwards in the Cæsar. While on this