Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (b. 1725)
Admiral Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, PC (25 April 1725 – 2 October 1786) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1755 to 1782. He saw action in command of various ships, including the fourth-rate Maidstone, during the War of the Austrian Succession. He went on to serve as Commodore on the North American Station and then Commander-in-Chief, Jamaica Station during the Seven Years' War. After that he served as Senior Naval Lord and then Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet.
During the American Revolutionary War Keppel came into a notorious dispute with Sir Hugh Palliser over Palliser's conduct as his second-in-command at the inconclusive Battle of Ushant in July 1778; the dispute led to Keppel being court-martialled, although he was subsequently acquitted. During the final years of the American Revolutionary War Keppel served as First Lord of the Admiralty.
1786Oct, 2
Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel
Choose Another Date
Events on 1786
- 16Jan
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson. - 1May
The Marriage of Figaro
In Vienna, Austria, Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro is performed for the first time. - 25Jun
St. George Island (Alaska)
Gavriil Pribylov discovers St. George Island of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. - 8Aug
Jacques Balmat
Mont Blanc on the French-Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard. - 11Aug
Penang
Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.