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Admiral His GraceThe Duke of NorthumberlandKG PC FRS FSA FRGS FRAS
Duke of Northumberland by Francis Grant
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office 28 February 1852 – 17 December 1852
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Derby
Preceded by	Sir Francis Baring, Bt
Succeeded by	Sir James Graham, Bt
Personal details
Born	15 December 1792 (1792-12-15)
Died	12 February 1865 (1865-02-13) (aged 72)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Lady Eleanor Grosvenor (d. 1911)
Parent(s)	Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland Frances Julia Burrell
Alma mater	St John's College, Cambridge
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	Royal Navy
Years of service	1805–c.1862
Rank	Admiral
Commands	HMS Scout HMS Pelorus HMS Caledonia HMS Cossack HMS Driver
Battles/wars	Napoleonic Wars Action of 5 November 1813 War of 1812
Awards	Knight of the Order of the Garter

Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland, KG, PC, FRS, FSA, FRGS, FRAS (15 December 1792 – 12 February 1865), styled Lord Algernon Percy from birth until 1816 and known as Lord Prudhoe between 1816 and 1847, was a British naval commander, explorer and Conservative politician.

Early life

Northumberland was the second son of General Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland, and his second wife Frances Julia, daughter of Peter Burrell. He was educated at Eton and St John's College, Cambridge.

Naval career

Northumberland entered the Royal Navy in March 1805, aged 12, on board HMS Tribune and served in the Napoleonic Wars. In 1815, when only 22, he was promoted to captain, taking command of HMS Cossack in August, and commanding her until she was broken up some 10 months later. The following year, aged 23, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Prudhoe, of Prudhoe Castle in the County of Northumberland (Prudhoe being a town in Northumberland). Between 1826 and 1829 he was part of an expedition to Egypt, Nubia and The Levant. During that expedition, Prudhoe obtaining the Prudhoe Lions, a pair of Ancient Egyptian monumental sculptures which he subsequently donated to the British Museum. In 1834, he travelled to the Cape of Good Hope with John Herschel to study the southern constellations.

Northumberland was president of the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck from 1851 to 1865 (partly due to encouragement by George Palmer) during which time he undertook a reorganisation, changing its name to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in October 1854. In 1851 he offered a prize of £200 for a new design of self-righting lifeboat, won by James Beeching, which became the standard model for the new Royal National Lifeboat Institution fleet.

In 1862 he became a full admiral in the Royal Navy on the Reserved List.

Political career

Northumberland succeeded his childless elder brother in the dukedom in 1847. In 1852 he was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, with a seat in the cabinet, by the Earl of Derby, a post he held until the fall of the government in December 1852. In 1853 he was made a Knight of the Garter.

Personal life

Northumberland married, aged 49, Lady Eleanor Grosvenor, daughter of Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster, on 25 August 1842 at St George's, Hanover Square. They had no children. As a result of gout in his right hand, he died in February 1865, aged 72 at Alnwick Castle and was buried in the Northumberland Vault, within Westminster Abbey. He was succeeded in his titles by his twice first cousin, George Percy, 2nd Earl of Beverley, except for the barony of Percy, which passed through the female line to his great-nephew, John Stewart-Murray, 7th Duke of Atholl. The Duchess of Northumberland died on 4 May 1911.

He was a fellow of the Royal Society, the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Astronomical Society, president of the Royal United Services Institute and the Royal Institution, a director of the British Institution and a trustee of the British Museum.

Northumberland was a good friend of Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, and Prudhoe Bay, on the north coast of Alaska, was named after him.

See also

• O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). "Percy, Algernon" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . John Murray – via Wikisource.

References

1. ^ "Percy, Algernon (Lord Prudhoe) (PRCY835AL)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
2. ^ Sussex Advertiser, 14 February 1865, page 4
3. ^ Starkey, Paul, and Starkey, Janet. Travellers in Egypt. Chapter 9: The Journeys of Lord Prudhoe and Major Orlando Felix in Egypt, Nubia and the Levant, 1826–1829. London/New York: Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2001.
4. "Collecting and empire". The British Museum Blog. 21 August 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
5. "MP of the Month: George Palmer, a 'firm friend of the shipwrecked'". The Victorian Commons. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
6. "The Duke of Northumberland, K.G." The Lifeboat. 28 (303). Lifeboat Magazine Archive. Royal National Lifeboat Institution. September 1930. Retrieved 8 December 2020.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
7. Lewis, Richard (1874). "History of the life-boat, and its work". MacMillan & Co. pp. 14, 183–. Retrieved 7 March 2023 – via Internet Archive.
8. "No. 7267". The Edinburgh Gazette. 17 October 1862. p. 1593.
9. Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
10. "No. 21296". The London Gazette. 27 February 1852. p. 633.
11. "No. 21404". The London Gazette. 21 January 1853. p. 162.
12. "Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland – Westminster Abbey". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
13. Phillips, James W. (1973). Alaska-Yukon Place Names. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-1941890-03-5. Retrieved 17 December 2021.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Duke of Northumberland

v t e First Lords of the Admiralty
of England	The Earl of Portland The Earl of Lindsey William Juxon, Bishop of Lincoln The Earl of Northumberland The Lord Cottington Sir Henry Capell The Earl of Nottingham The Earl of Torrington The Earl of Pembroke The Lord Cornwallis The Viscount Falkland The Earl of Orford The Earl of Bridgewater The Earl of Pembroke
of Great Britain	The Earl of Orford Sir John Leake The Earl of Strafford The Earl of Orford The Earl of Berkeley The Viscount Torrington Sir Charles Wager The Earl of Winchilsea The Duke of Bedford The Earl of Sandwich The Lord Anson The Earl Temple The Earl of Winchilsea The Lord Anson The Earl of Halifax George Grenville The Earl of Sandwich The Earl of Egmont Sir Charles Saunders Sir Edward Hawke The Earl of Sandwich The Viscount Keppel The Viscount Howe The Viscount Keppel The Viscount Howe The Earl of Chatham The Earl Spencer
of the United Kingdom	The Earl of St Vincent The Viscount Melville The Lord Barham Viscount Howick Thomas Grenville The Lord Mulgrave Charles Philip Yorke The Viscount Melville The Duke of Clarence The Viscount Melville Sir James Graham, Bt The Lord Auckland The Earl de Grey The Lord Auckland The Earl of Minto The Earl of Haddington The Earl of Ellenborough The Earl of Auckland Sir Francis Baring, Bt The Duke of Northumberland Sir James Graham, Bt Sir Charles Wood, Bt Sir John Pakington, Bt The Duke of Somerset Sir John Pakington, Bt Henry Lowry-Corry Hugh Childers George Goschen George Ward Hunt William Henry Smith The Earl of Northbrook Lord George Hamilton The Marquess of Ripon Lord George Hamilton The Earl Spencer George Goschen The Earl of Selborne The Earl Cawdor The Lord Tweedmouth Reginald McKenna Winston Churchill Arthur Balfour Sir Edward Carson Sir Eric Geddes Walter Long The Viscount Lee of Fareham Wood Anderson Leo Amery The Viscount Chelmsford The Viscount Bridgeman A. V. Alexander Sir Austen Chamberlain The Viscount Monsell Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt Duff Cooper The Earl Stanhope Winston Churchill A. V. Alexander Brendan Bracken A. V. Alexander The Viscount Hall Lord Pakenham Viscount Cilcennin The Viscount Hailsham The Earl of Selkirk The Lord Carrington The Earl Jellicoe

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