Portrait of Admiral Holburne and his son Francis, later Sir Francis Holburne, 4th Baronet By Joshua Reynolds (1723-92), oil on canvas, 1756 Royal Museums Greenwich, BHC2767
Admiral Francis Holburne

Admiral Francis Holburne (1704-71)

Francis was the third son of Sir James Holburne, 1st Baronet. He joined the navy in 1720 and was made a Captain in 1739. He served on ships in the Channel, Bay of Biscay, North Sea and West Indies. He commanded the Tavistock and was dispatched to the West Indies in 1748, returning in 1752. There he was Commodore and Commander-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands, he negotiated the de-fortification of Martinique and he married Frances Lascelles in Barbados in 1749. He was appointed Rear Admiral of the Blue Squadron in 1755 and he was dispatched in the Terrible (the ship commanded by his brother Captain William) with reinforcements to meet Vice-Admiral Boscawen off Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. The blockade of Louisbourg was abandoned by the English ships.

The following year he served off Brest and in the Bay of Biscay. Early in 1757 he participated in the well-publicised court martial of Admiral Byng, who had been sent to relieve the garrison at Port Mahon on Minorca, under siege from the French, but had been unsuccessful. He was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Blue Squadron and was sent (in the Newark, captained by his brother William) with a fleet to Louisbourg,
which proved an unsuccessful mission; his ships were damaged in a storm and he returned home. He never went to sea again.

He was Port Admiral at Portsmouth from 1758-66, responsible for the running of the port. He became MP for Stirling in 1761 and Plymouth in 1768. Francis received his final promotion in the Navy in 1770, becoming Admiral of the White and Rear Admiral of Great Britain. He retired and was made Governor of Greenwich Hospital in 1771, where he died. His portrait by Reynolds of 1757 was bequeathed by Sir William Holburne to Greenwich and remains there today (it currently hangs in the Queen’s House).