- According to the biography by Sir John Barrow,
Anson entered the English navy in February 1712 and
quickly rose through a series of promotions, rising to
become commander of a sloop by 1722.
In 1740, Great Britain prepared to go to war against
Spain. Anson, then only 43, was named commander of
the HMS Centurion, the flagship of a force sent to attack
Spanish possessions in South America. The squadron left
England in 1740, but the lateness of the start meant they
met foul weather while rounding Cape Horn. Anson
reached his intended target, the island of Juan Fernán-
dez, in June 1741, although three of the six ships in the
squadron had been lost; of the original 961 men on the
three ships that did make it, only 335 survived. Anson
wrote in his diary that “as we did not get to land till the
middle of June, the mortality went on increasing, and
the disease extended itself so prodigously, that, after the
loss of above two hundred men, we could not at last
muster more than six foremast-men in a watch capable
of duty.” Despite being low on men—many of whom
were sick—Anson and his ships were able to wage a lim-
ited war on Spanish forces along the coast of what is
now Chile, capturing the town of Paita on 15 November
1741 after a three-day battle.
At last Anson was forced to gather all the surviv-
ing sailors onto his own remaining ship, the Centurion,
and he sailed to Macao in China. From Macao, he sailed
back across the Pacific and captured the Nuestra Señora
de Covadonga, a Spanish galleon, off Cape Espiritu Santo
on 20 June 1743. After relieving the ship of its gold,
he again sailed to Macao and sold its trade cargo for
£400,000 but kept the vast amount of gold. He then
sailed back to England via the Cape of Good Hope, re-
turning home on 15 June 1744. British historian N. A.
M. Rodger writes: “Anson’s voyage is remembered as a
classic tale of fortitude and leadership in the face of fear-
ful disasters, but to the British public of 1744 it was the
treasure of the galleon, triumphantly paraded through
the streets of London, which mattered. The war against
Spain had yielded few of the expected easy victories,
and now France had entered the war. Anson’s triumph
showed that the heirs of Drake were not altogether un-
worthy of him. The commodore himself was the hero
of the hour, and every political group was anxious to
recruit him.” However, because Anson had not had any
major victories during the voyage, the Admiralty refused
to promote him to captain. He resigned his commission
in anger.
Anson joined a group of Whigs opposed to the gov-
ernment of Prime Minister Thomas Pelham-Holles, the
first duke of Newcastle, and the lord of the Admiralty,
the earl of Winchelsea, who had passed Anson over for
a promotion. In December 1744, this group of Whigs
was brought into the government, and John Russell,
the duke of Bedford (1710–71), a friend of Anson’s,
was named to replace Winchelsea; he immediately con-
firmed Anson’s promotion. Anson was elected to the
House of Commons as a member of Parliament (MP)
from Hedon. In 1745, the duke of Bedford resigned his
office, and Anson worked with his replacement, the earl
of Sandwich.
Anson’s naval career, however, was not over. While
remaining a member of the Board of Admiralty, he was
named as commander of a fleet to fight the French and
sent to intercept French ships off the coast of Spain near
Cape Finisterre. According to historian George Bruce,
in the battle of 23 May 1747, the French, with 38 ships
under the command of Jacques-Pierre de Jonquière,
marquis de la Jonquière (1685–1752) against a fleet of
just 16 ships under Anson, were “completely defeated,”
losing 10 ships and nearly 3,000 prisoners. Jonquière
was captured and spent two years in an English prison
before being released. Anson again returned home as a
hero, and for his service in this conflict he was promoted
to vice admiral and raised to the peerage as Baron Anson
of Soberton, a title that died with him.
In 1748, Anson was promoted to full admiral, and
in 1751 he became first lord of the Admiralty. With
Bedford’s and Sandwich’s assistance, he moved on a se-
ries of reforms to improve and correct serious problems
and deficiences in the British navy, including a lack of
discipline. He pushed the passage of a revised Navy Dis-
cipline Act (1749) and advocated the creation of a corps
of marines (1755) as well as a sound system of courts-
martial. Inspections of naval dockyards and other facili-
ties were also given a high priority. Because of Anson’s
work, the British navy started to become the finest fleet
in the world. Fired by Prime Minister William Pitt in
1756, he was recalled to the Admiralty a year later and
served as first lord from 1757 until his death. In 1761, a
year before he died, he was given the title Admiral of the
Fleet, the highest rank in the British navy.
George Anson, perhaps one of the finest military
minds of the British navy, died at Moor Park in Hert-
fordshire on 6 June 1762 at age 65. Historian N. A. M.
Rodgers, summing up Anson’s career and service, writes:
AnSon, geoRge, bARon AnSon oF SobeRton
