DUCKWORTH, SIR JOHN THOMAS British admiral, was born at Leatherhead, Surrey, on Feb. 28, 1748, and entered the navy in 1759. He shared in the three days' naval engagement in which the Brest fleet was defeated (June I, 1794), and received a gold medal and the thanks of parliament. In March 18oi he was the naval commander of the combined force which reduced the islands of St. Bartholomew and St. Martin, a service for which he was rewarded with the Order of the Bath and a pension of £i,000 a year. Promoted to be vice admiral of the blue, he was appointed in 1804 to the Jamaica station. Two years later, while cruising off Cadiz with Lord Collingwood, he was detached with his squadron to pursue a French fleet that had been sent to the relief of Santo Domingo. He came up with the enemy on Feb. 6, 18o6, and, after two hours' fighting, inflicted a signal defeat, capturing three of their five vessels and stranding the other two. In 1807 he was again sent to the Mediterranean to watch the movements of the Turks. In command of the "Royal George" he forced the passage of the Dardanelles, but sustained considerable loss on his return. In 1815 he was appointed to the chief command at Plymouth, which he held until his death on April 14, 1817.
See Naval Chronicle, xviii.; Ralfe's Naval Biography, ii.