HOWE, RICHARD, Earl (1725-99). A British admiral. He was the second son of Emanuel Scrope, second Viscount Howe of the Irish peer age. He left school at Eton when only fourteen, and went with Anson on the Severn to attempt a voyage around the world. Ile commanded the Baltimore, which, with the Greyhound and Terror, fought two large French frigates off the west coast of Scotland, in 1746. The English squadron wa.s beaten. and Howe was severely wounded. In 1755 his ship, the Dunkirk, captured the Alcide off Newfoundland. His next service was under Sir E. Hawke. in the expedition against. Roehefort. Or dered to attack the fort on the Isle of Aix with his ship, the Magnanime, he compelled it to surrender, and achieved the only material success which at tended the expedition. He was commodore of the squadron which sailed in 1758 for Saint-Malo. The troops were landed and reembarked without loss, after destroying all the magazines and shipping in the port. In the same year he took Cherbourg and destroyed the magazines and cannon. A sec ond attack upon Saint-Malo was repulsed with great loss of life. In 1758, after his brother. a brigadier-general. was killed at Ticonderoga. Howe succeeded In the Irish title of viscount and to the family estate. He continued his distin guished naval service to the end of the Seven Years' War.
In 1760 he was made colonel of the Chatham division of marines, and afterwards a Lord of the Admiralty and Treasurer of the Navy. In 1776 he was placed in command of the fleet on American coast. In 1778 lie held his own against a superior naval force under D'Estaing. Ile was made a viscount of Great Britain in 1782. In that year he set out with a fleet to relieve Gibraltar. He succeeded in disembarking troops. ammunition.
and supplies, and then offered battle to the eom billed fleets of France and Spain. which declined an engagement. This achievement gave Howe a brilliant reputation. lie was made First Lord of the Admiralty in 1783, and received an English varldom in 1788. When the war with France broke out in 1793, be took the command of the Channel fleet, and next year gained the victory known as that of 'the glorious first of ,Tune.' The French fleet consisted of twenty-six ships of the line, and the English of twenty-five. Howe. in his flagship, the Queen Charlotte, engaged,. off Ushant. the French admiral, who in less than an hour crowded all the sail he could carry, followed by as many of his ships as could get away. The English captured two ships of 80 guns. and four 74's; another 74 sank immediately after she was taken possession of. London was illuminated three nights in honor of the victory; the thanks of Parliament were voted to Ilowe, and George Ill. gave him a sword and made him a Knight of the Garter. His last service was in bringing back the mu tinous seamen at Portsmouth to their duty in 1797. Consult: Barrow, Life of Richard. Earl Rowe (London, lti3ti) ; Bentron. Nara/ and Mili tary Mcmoirs of Gnat Militia (London, BM); Chevalier, Hisloirc de la marine ironcoise ( Paris, 1900) ; BritiAli Magazine and lecriite (June, 17s31: trIkirn•. .1 Candid and impartial ar flair, of the Transai lions of the Eli-,f Under ti,' of Lord Bowe icoin the .Irriral of (hi Toulon Nquftdrun, etc. (London. 1780) ; Poggi, Norratire of the Proceedings of Ilis Majesty's Fleet from the 2d of May to lhe of June, 1791 (London, 1796).