Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, KB (2 December 17262 May 1814) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Origins

thumb|Arms of Hood: Azure, a fret argent on a chief or three crescents sable, as sculpted on his monument in Cricket St Thomas Church

He was a younger son of the Rev. Samuel Hood (1691/2 – 1777), Vicar of Butleigh and prebendary of Wells Cathedral (both in Somerset) and Vicar of Thorncombe in Devon (whose monument survives in St Leonard's Church, Butleigh), by his wife Mary Hoskins, a daughter of Richard Hoskins, Esquire, of Beaminster, Dorset.

His elder brother was Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (1724–1816). The sons of his first cousin Samuel Hood (1715–1805), a purser in the Royal Navy included Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet (1762–1814), Captain Alexander Hood (1758–1798) and Captain Arthur Hood (1754–1776).

Career

The story of his entry into the navy is recounted by Edmund Lodge (1756–1839) (a personal acquaintance of Lord Bridport) in his Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain:

Alexander entered the navy in January 1741 and was appointed lieutenant in in 1746. He was promoted to commander in 1756 and served as flag captain for Rear Admiral Sir Charles Saunders, first in in the Mediterranean Sea (the flagship of Rear-Admiral Saunders, under whom Hood had served as a lieutenant), then in the frigate .

Seven Years' War

thumb|upright|[[Portrait of Alexander Hood by Joshua Reynolds, 1763. Minerva is shown in the background recapturing Warwick.]]

In the Seven Years' War Hood fought at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759, and in 1761 Minerva recaptured after a long struggle, the 60-gun of equal force, which had been captured by the French in 1756. For the remainder of the war, from 1761 to 1763, he was captain of in the Mediterranean.

In 1780 Hood was promoted to Rear Admiral of the White, and succeeded Kempenfeldt as one of Howe's flag officers.

Henceforth Hood was practically in independent command. On 23 June 1795, with his flag in Royal George, he fought the inconclusive Battle of Groix against the French under Rear Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse off the Île de Groix and captured three ships. Georgian manor house, known as "Cricket House", to the designs of his friend the architect Sir John Soane (1753–1837). The Admiral had purchased the estate in 1775 from Richard Hippisley Coxe. It is unknown whether the new house incorporated elements of the earlier 14th century house or whether it was completely new. Soane completed further alterations in 1801–1807. The Georgian orangery attached to the house was later turned into a parrot house.

Marriages

He married twice, but failed to produce any issue:

  • Firstly in 1758 to Maria West (c.1726-1786), known as "Molly", a daughter of the Reverend Richard West, Prebendary of Winchester, by his wife Mary Temple, a daughter of Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet, of Stowe, Buckinghamshire, and sister of Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham. Her modest mural monument designed by Sir John Soane (1753–1837) (who in 1786 rebuilt Cricket House for her husband) survives in Cricket St Thomas Church, comprising an urn capped by a segmental pediment surmounting a tablet inscribed as follows:

<blockquote>Sacred to the Memory of Mary Wife of Rear Admiral Alexander Hood, who died 12 September 1786, After a short illness. She was Daughter of the Reverend Doctor West And Niece to Lord Viscount Cobham of Stow in Buckinghamshire Whose Eldest Sister her Father Married. From the purest sentiments of esteem And in just testimony of her pious benevolence And most amiable disposition, Her affectionate Husband, has caused this humble Monument to be Erected. 1787.</blockquote>

  • Secondly in 1788 to Mary Sophia Bray (d. 1831), only daughter and heiress of Thomas Bray of Edmonton, Middlesex.

Death and succession

thumb|Monument to Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, Cricket St Thomas Church, Somerset, designed by Sir [[John Soane (1753–1837). Displaying the arms of Hood, West and Bray, with quarterings, topped by the Hood crest of A Cornish Chough resting on an anchor]]

He died without issue on 2 May 1814 when the Viscountcy in the Peerage of the United Kingdom became extinct. His Irish barony passed

Burial and monument

He was buried in Cricket St Thomas Church, where survives his monument designed by his friend Sir John Soane (1753–1837), who in 1786 rebuilt Cricket House for him.