View source for Mariot Arbuthnot

{{Short description|Royal Navy Admiral of the Blue (1711–1794)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix = [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]]
|name         = Mariot Arbuthnot
|birth_date   = {{birth date text|1711}}
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1794|01|31|1711|df=y}}
|image        = Adm marriot.jpg
|image_size   =
|caption      = 
|birth_place  = [[Weymouth, Dorset]]
|death_place  = [[London]], England
|nickname     = 
|allegiance   = [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]
|serviceyears = 
|rank         = [[Admiral of the Blue]]
|branch       = [[Royal Navy]]
|commands     = 
|unit         = 
|battles      = [[Battle of Cape Henry]]
|awards       = 
|relations    = [[John Arbuthnot]] (uncle)
}}

[[Admiral of the Blue]] '''Mariot Arbuthnot''' (1711 – 31 January 1794) was a [[Royal Navy]] officer who served in the [[American War of Independence]].

==Early life==
A native of [[Weymouth, Dorset|Weymouth]], Dorset, in  England, Arbuthnot was the son of Robert Arbuthnot and Sarah, née Bury.  Robert's father was the son of the Rev. Robert Arbuthnot, Presbyterian minister of Crichton & Cranston.  Mariot Arbuthnot entered the Royal Navy in the late 1720s, became a lieutenant in 1739, and commander in 1746. In 1746 he was commander of the sloop {{HMS|Jamaica|1744|6}}, which captured two French privateers while employed as a cruiser in the channel. He was appointed [[post captain]] in 1747. On 22 June 1747 Arbuthnot became captain of the [[frigate]] {{HMS|Surprize|1746|6}}. Shortly afterwards he became captain of the {{HMS|Triton|1740|2}}.

==Seven Years' War==
{{Main|Great Britain in the Seven Years' War}}
In 1757 he became chief officer of the {{HMS|Garland|1748|2}}. In 1759, during the [[Seven Years' War]], he commanded the {{HMS|Portland|1744|2}}, one of the ships employed under [[Robert Duff (Royal Navy officer)|Commodore Robert Duff]] in the blockade of [[Battle of Quiberon Bay|Quiberon Bay]], and was present at the total defeat of the French on 20 November. Towards the end of the war he commanded {{HMS|Oxford|1674|6}}. In 1770 he was made captain of {{HMS|Terrible|1762|6}}.

==American War of Independence==
[[File:Governor's House, Halifax, Nova Scotia (inset) by Dominic Serres, c. 1765.jpg|thumb|Governor Arbuthnot's residence (built 1749).  (Located on the site of [[Province House (Nova Scotia)|Province House]], which still is furnished with his [[Nova Scotia Council]] table)]]
From 1775 to 1778, he was [[Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax#Administration of the dockyard and other key officials|Resident Commissioner of the Navy, Halifax Nova Scotia]].<ref>{{London Gazette
|issue= 11583
|date=29 July 1775
|page=1
}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette
|issue= 11850
|date=17 February 1778
|page=2
}}</ref>  He was [[Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia]], 1776–78. He was replaced in this role by [[Richard Hughes (lieutenant governor)|Richard Hughes]]. It may have been about then that an armed [[schooner]] was named ''[[Arbuthnot (schooner)|Arbuthnot]]'' after him. On 19 March 1779, he was made [[Vice-Admiral of the Blue]],<ref name=gazette_3>{{London Gazette
|issue= 11962
|date=16 March 1779
|page=2
}}</ref> and on 2 May 1779 took command of {{HMS|Europa|1765|6}}. That same year he took up his appointment as [[commander-in-chief]] on the [[North America and West Indies Station|North American Station]].<ref>{{cite DCB |title=Arbuthnot, Mariot |first=Donald F. |last=Chard |volume=4 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/arbuthnot_mariot_4E.html}}</ref>  Soon after arriving at his destination, he was blockaded in [[New York City]] harbour by the French fleet under [[Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing|Count d'Estaing]].

In December 1779, Arbuthnot conveyed the troops of Sir [[Henry Clinton (1730–1795)|Henry Clinton]] to [[Charleston, South Carolina]], and cooperated with him in [[Siege of Charleston|laying siege to that city]]. The surrender document signed by prominent citizens was addressed to him and Clinton.<ref>{{London Gazette
|issue= 12098
|date=4 July 1780
|page=5
}}</ref>  On 26 September 1780 he was promoted to [[Vice-admiral of the White|Vice-Admiral of the White]].<ref name=gazette_4>{{London Gazette
|issue= 12122
|date=26 September 1780
|page=4
}}</ref> On 13 March 1781, he fought the French Newport squadron, at the [[Battle of Cape Henry]],<ref name=gazette_1>{{London Gazette
|issue= 12181
|date=21 April 1781
|pages=1–3

}} (Arbuthnot's account of the battle of Cape Henry)</ref> before returning to England.

==Later life==
He advanced by seniority to become, on 1 February 1793, [[Admiral of the Blue]].<ref name=gazette_2>{{London Gazette
|issue= 13499
|date=2 February 1793
|page=99
}}</ref> He died in London the following year, leaving two sons, John and Charles.

That he was ignorant of the discipline of his profession was proved by his altercation with [[George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney|Sir George Rodney]]; that he was destitute of even a rudimentary knowledge of [[Naval tactics in the Age of Sail|naval tactics]] was shown by his absurd conduct of the [[Battle of Cape Henry]]; and, for the rest, he appears in contemporary stories (cf. ''Morning Chronicle'', 18 May 1781) as a coarse, blustering, foul-mouthed bully, and, in history, as a sample of the extremity to which the maladministration of [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich|Lord Sandwich]] had reduced the British Navy.<ref name=dnb>{{DNB|wstitle=Arbuthnot, Marriot|volume=2|first=John Knox |last=Laughton|author-link=John Knox Laughton|pages=65-66|inline=1}}</ref>

Admiral Arbuthnot was the nephew of Dr. [[John Arbuthnot]],  the satirist and mathematician.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20210512140049/http://kittybrewster.com/b.htm Family tree]}}
* {{cite book |last= Arbuthnot |first= Mrs P S-M |title= Memories of the Arbuthnots |url= https://archive.org/details/memoriesofarbuth00arbu |publisher= George [[Allen & Unwin]] |year= 1920 }}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=lplpCki_GOgC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=arbuthnot+triton The Georgian Era]
* {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Arbuthnot, Marriot|year=1900 }}
* {{cite NIE|wstitle=Arbuthnot, Marriot }}

{{S-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef |before=[[Michael Francklin]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia]] |years=1776–1778
|under=[[Francis Legge]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Richard Hughes (lieutenant governor)|Sir Richard Hughes]]}}
|-
{{s-mil}}
{{succession box|title=[[North America and West Indies Station|Commander-in-Chief, North American Station]]|before=[[John Byron]]|after=[[Thomas Graves, 1st Baron Graves|Sir Thomas Graves]]|years=1779–1781}}
{{S-end}}

{{NSLG}}
{{Arbuthnot family}}
{{American Revolutionary War|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbuthnot, Mariot}}
[[Category:Arbuthnot family|Mariot Arbuthnot]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War]]
[[Category:Governors of the Colony of Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:English people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:People from Weymouth, Dorset]]
[[Category:Royal Navy admirals]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Seven Years' War]]
[[Category:1711 births]]
[[Category:1794 deaths]]