Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
NameVice Admiral Billy Douglas 
[19, Marriage on 3 Dec 1780 art Chatham, Kent]
[19, Marriage on 3 Dec 1780 art Chatham, Kent]Birth1750
DeathDec 1817, Hamble, Hants
Burial8 Dec 1817, Hamble, Hants
GeneralIn 1810 was an Admiral.
Spouses
FatherJohn Weatherall (1724-1795)
MotherGrace Neale (ca1731-1808)
Marriage3 Dec 1780, Chatham, Kent [19, Marriage on 3 Dec 1780 at Chatham, Kent]
Notes for Vice Admiral Billy Douglas
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His burial:
First name(s) BILLY
Last name DOUGLAS
Age 67
Birth year 1750
Burial year 1817
Burial day 08
Burial month Dec
Parish Hamble
County Hampshire
Country England
Notes Billy Admiral of Charlton Kent
Record set Hampshire Burials
According to the Salisbury and Winchester Journal of 6th December 1717 he died ‘on Tuesday last’ at Hamble in the house of his son-in-law, Capt Bradby, RN.
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The following was found on the Douglas Archives web site: (It is to be used as a finding aid for confirmatory documents.)
Admiral William (Billy) Douglas, 1749-1817
Admiral of the Blue Squadron, Port Admiral at Yarmouth and subsequently Chatham, Kent, England. Commanded the Stately 64 in expeditions against the Cape of Good Hope in 1795 and 1796.
Promoted Captain - 1781
Promoted Admiral - 1801
I am advised that his father is Patrick Douglas, b. 18 Mar 1722, Fowlis Easter, Perthshire, Scotland.
Admiral William DOUGLAS was born on 30 Apr 1749 in Turnham Green, Chiswick, Middlesex, England. He died on 2 Dec 1817 in Hamble, Hampshire, England. He married Ann WEATHERALL.
They had the following children:
M i Commander Roddam DOUGLAS R.N. died on 3 Aug 1813.
F ii Alithea Lawless DOUGLAS was born on 4 Sep 1781. She died on 30 Jan 1853. = Captain John Millar ADYE RN on 11 Oct 1810
F iii Catherine Hodgkins DOUGLAS was born on 7 Apr 1784. She died on 17 Jun 1874. = Captain Matthew Bradby RN on 25 Nov 1808.
F iv Grace Mary DOUGLAS was born on 18 Oct 1785. She died on 17 Apr 1863. = Capt Lumley RN
M v Rear Admiral Peter John DOUGLAS R.N. was born on 30 Jun 1787. He died on 17 Dec 1858.
M vi Henry Osborne DOUGLAS was born in 1788. He died about 1821.
Lt Billy Douglas, of the sloop Antigua (12 guns), captured the American privateer, Blacksnake (12 guns, 60 men) after a very severe action, and was promoted. (possibly in 1777)
Served on:
TRIUMPH 74,Capt. Billy Douglas,
HMS Leopard 50 Rear-Admiral Billy Douglas, Captain Richard Raggett
Roebuck 44, Capt. Geo. M'Kinley, bearing the flag in Yarmouth Roads of Admiral Billy Douglas.
Commanded H.M.S.Stately 64 in the British squadron at the Cape of Good Hope in 1796; and the capture of a Dutch squadron, in Saldanha bay, Aug. 17th, 1796
Leopard, 50
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There is also a website that gives the descent of a harris family in Australia from Billy and Ann: <http://www.cocker.id.au/harris/ancestors_winifred_douglas.php>. I have not verified any of the information here.
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DNB Main notes for Vice Admiral Billy Douglas
A Biography from the MoreThanNelson website:
Billy Douglas
1749-1817. He was born on 30 April 1749 at Turnham Green, Chiswick, London.
Douglas was commissioned lieutenant on 10 August 1776, and by July 1777 he was in command of the brig Antigua 12 at Jamaica, with which he captured the rebel privateer Blacksnake 12 in a ferocious duel. He was promoted commander on 18 July 1778, and after being appointed to the sloop Snake 12 he served in the Leeward Islands. Prior to the Battle of St. Lucia on 15 December his sloop was part of a small squadron sent to patrol the coast and prevent word of the British invasion reaching the French. Seeing duty thereafter in North American waters, the Snake was present at the siege of Savannah. After returning to England his crew were transferred to the Ardent 64, Captain Phillip Botelaar, which vessel was promptly captured by the enemy during the Channel fleet’s retreat of August 1779. Meanwhile Douglas joined the Fly 14 in October 1779..
640px-Bataille_de_Sainte_Lucie_entre_d_Estaing_et_Barrington_1778 (1)
The Battle of St.Lucia 1778 [picture]
He was posted captain on 15 August 1781, joining the Princess Amelia 80 in succession to the late Captain John Macartney who had been killed at the Battle of the Doggersbank, and he served in the Channel fleet until July of the following year.
In March 1794, after a long period of unemployment, Douglas commissioned the Nonsuch 64 for service in the Channel, removing shortly afterwards to the Stately 64. He put to sea from St. Helen’s on 2 May with Admiral Lord Howe’s Channel fleet, and at the appropriate latitude was detached with the East India convoy and the Suffolk 74, Commodore Peter Rainier for the onward voyage south. One of his officers at this time was the esteemed Phillip Beaver.
Douglas commanded the Stately in Rear-Admiral Sir George Keith Elphinstone’s expedition to the Cape on 16 September 1795, and was present at the reduction of Ceylon. Not long afterwards the Stately fell in with Elphinstone again off Cape Agulhas at the very southern tip of Africa where Beaver was instrumental in preventing her from foundering. She later captured the privateer Milanie on 7 July 1796 and on 17 August was present at the surrender of the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay. Douglas left her shortly afterwards, and he returned to England towards the end of the following year in command of the Dutch prize Tromp 54. Whilst she was converted into a troopship he spent the next three years with the Sandwich 98 in the Medway.
Douglas was advanced to flag rank on 1 January 1801, and during 1805 he flew his flag aboard the Leopard 50, Captain Richard Raggett, in the Downs and occasionally off Boulogne. On one occasion he recalled an attack by Commodore Edward Owen, much to that officer’s evident disgust, after he had surprised six prams of the enemy’s flotilla including one flying a rear-admiral’s flag.
He was promoted vice-admiral on 9 November 1805, and held the command of the Great Yarmouth station with his flag aboard the Roebuck 44, initially commanded by George M’Kinley, and from January 1806 Richard Curry. He remained in this position until 1810, and during this period he sat on the court martial on Admiral Lord Gambier following the Basque Roads fiasco of 11 April 1809.
Douglas was promoted admiral on 4 December 1813, and died at Hamble in Hampshire on 2 December 1817.
He married Ann Weatherall and had three sons and three daughters. He was the father of Commander Roddam Douglas who from 1807-08 was held as a prisoner of war at Verdun, and who died at Halifax in 1813, and of Admiral Peter John Douglas. His oldest daughter Alithea married Captain John Millar Adye whilst his second daughter, Catherine, married Captain Matthew Barton Bradby, the son of Rear-Admiral James Bradby, who died in the company of Admiral Sir Joseph Sidney Yorke in May 1831 when their yacht sank in Stokes Bay near Portsmouth. A third daughter, Grace, married Captain John Richard Lumley. who died in the East Indies in July 1821 whilst commanding the Topaze 46. Douglas’ address in his will was given as Charlton, Kent.
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Billy Douglas
1749-1817. He was born on 30 April 1749 at Turnham Green, Chiswick, London.
Douglas was commissioned lieutenant on 10 August 1776, and by July 1777 he was in command of the brig Antigua 12 at Jamaica, with which he captured the rebel privateer Blacksnake 12 in a ferocious duel. He was promoted commander on 18 July 1778, and after being appointed to the sloop Snake 12 he served in the Leeward Islands. Prior to the Battle of St. Lucia on 15 December his sloop was part of a small squadron sent to patrol the coast and prevent word of the British invasion reaching the French. Seeing duty thereafter in North American waters, the Snake was present at the siege of Savannah. After returning to England his crew were transferred to the Ardent 64, Captain Phillip Botelaar, which vessel was promptly captured by the enemy during the Channel fleet’s retreat of August 1779. Meanwhile Douglas joined the Fly 14 in October 1779..
640px-Bataille_de_Sainte_Lucie_entre_d_Estaing_et_Barrington_1778 (1)
The Battle of St.Lucia 1778 [picture]
He was posted captain on 15 August 1781, joining the Princess Amelia 80 in succession to the late Captain John Macartney who had been killed at the Battle of the Doggersbank, and he served in the Channel fleet until July of the following year.
In March 1794, after a long period of unemployment, Douglas commissioned the Nonsuch 64 for service in the Channel, removing shortly afterwards to the Stately 64. He put to sea from St. Helen’s on 2 May with Admiral Lord Howe’s Channel fleet, and at the appropriate latitude was detached with the East India convoy and the Suffolk 74, Commodore Peter Rainier for the onward voyage south. One of his officers at this time was the esteemed Phillip Beaver.
Douglas commanded the Stately in Rear-Admiral Sir George Keith Elphinstone’s expedition to the Cape on 16 September 1795, and was present at the reduction of Ceylon. Not long afterwards the Stately fell in with Elphinstone again off Cape Agulhas at the very southern tip of Africa where Beaver was instrumental in preventing her from foundering. She later captured the privateer Milanie on 7 July 1796 and on 17 August was present at the surrender of the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay. Douglas left her shortly afterwards, and he returned to England towards the end of the following year in command of the Dutch prize Tromp 54. Whilst she was converted into a troopship he spent the next three years with the Sandwich 98 in the Medway.
Douglas was advanced to flag rank on 1 January 1801, and during 1805 he flew his flag aboard the Leopard 50, Captain Richard Raggett, in the Downs and occasionally off Boulogne. On one occasion he recalled an attack by Commodore Edward Owen, much to that officer’s evident disgust, after he had surprised six prams of the enemy’s flotilla including one flying a rear-admiral’s flag.
He was promoted vice-admiral on 9 November 1805, and held the command of the Great Yarmouth station with his flag aboard the Roebuck 44, initially commanded by George M’Kinley, and from January 1806 Richard Curry. He remained in this position until 1810, and during this period he sat on the court martial on Admiral Lord Gambier following the Basque Roads fiasco of 11 April 1809.
Douglas was promoted admiral on 4 December 1813, and died at Hamble in Hampshire on 2 December 1817.
He married Ann Weatherall and had three sons and three daughters. He was the father of Commander Roddam Douglas who from 1807-08 was held as a prisoner of war at Verdun, and who died at Halifax in 1813, and of Admiral Peter John Douglas. His oldest daughter Alithea married Captain John Millar Adye whilst his second daughter, Catherine, married Captain Matthew Barton Bradby, the son of Rear-Admiral James Bradby, who died in the company of Admiral Sir Joseph Sidney Yorke in May 1831 when their yacht sank in Stokes Bay near Portsmouth. A third daughter, Grace, married Captain John Richard Lumley. who died in the East Indies in July 1821 whilst commanding the Topaze 46. Douglas’ address in his will was given as Charlton, Kent.
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Notes for Billy & Ann (Family)
Their marriage transcription:
First name(s) Ann
Last name Weatherall
Role Bride
Marriage year 1780
Marriage date 03 Dec 1780
Place Chatham
Spouse's first name(s) Billy
Spouse's last name Douglas
Banns or licence L
County Kent
Country England
Supplier Kent Family History Society
Record source West Kent Marriage Index, Chatham marriages 1568-1812
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First name(s) Ann
Last name Weatherall
Role Bride
Marriage year 1780
Marriage date 03 Dec 1780
Place Chatham
Spouse's first name(s) Billy
Spouse's last name Douglas
Banns or licence L
County Kent
Country England
Supplier Kent Family History Society
Record source West Kent Marriage Index, Chatham marriages 1568-1812
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