Admiral Samuel Graves (17 April 1713 – 8 March 1787) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the Seven Years' War and American War of Independence.
Ancestry
He is thought to have been born in Castledawson, Ireland. His grandfather, Captain James Graves (1654–1689), was murdered in his bed and robbed of his regiment's wages. Samuel Graves was born the youngest son and presumably the second youngest child of Captain Graves' son Samuel Graves (1674–1727) and his wife Jane Moore. He had three older brothers and a sister.
By joining the Royal Navy, he followed in the footsteps of his uncle Thomas Graves, whose son Thomas Graves is most well known for having commanded the British fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake during the American War of Independence. Another Thomas Graves, a nephew of Samuel Graves, was knighted following the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, where he had served as Horatio Nelson's second-in-command. Many Graveses served in the Royal Navy during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Military career
Graves joined the Royal Navy in 1732. Made lieutenant in 1739,
American Revolutionary War
In October 1770 Graves rose to vice admiral,
Graves' position in Boston was tenuous; his relationship with General Gage was characterised by a strong mutual dislike which at the time was rumoured to at least partially result from a dispute between their wives Margaret Graves and Margaret Kemble Gage, who reportedly had fallen out over the question whether dancing should be allowed at a card-party or not. The trifling nature of their dispute aside, both women were staunch partisans of their husbands to the point that contemporaries mused both were "led", and thus presumably influenced in their capacities as military commanders, by their wives.
Shortly before the Burning of Falmouth, in August 1775, Graves was involved in a public fistfight with Commissioner of Customs Benjamin Hallowell, the climax of an ongoing dispute between the two concerning the hay to be harvested on a small island off Boston. There are at least two accounts of the affair, one written by Hallowell himself addressed to General Gage and one by an anonymous eyewitness, published in a British newspaper. According to the eyewitness' account, Hallowell confronted Graves on the street, demanding to know why the latter had not replied to his letters. From there, the situation escalated fairly quickly. Despite being a good deal older than Hallowell, Graves apparently beat Hallowell so badly, bystanders interceded to separate the two men to prevent any more serious harm from being done. This episode supported Graves' image as "somewhat severe, of few words, and rough in his manner", inspired satirical poetry and brought him into further disrepute as some of his nephews took it upon themselves to punish Hallowell for having assailed their uncle by subjecting him to a beating and challenging him to a duel.
On 27 January 1776, Molyneux Shuldham succeeded Graves as commander-in-chief of the North American station. Graves returned to England without a command.
Family
Graves settled at Hembury Fort House in Devon. His first marriage was to Elizabeth Sedgwick (1729–1767), daughter of John Sedgwick of Staindrop in County Durham on 19 June 1750 in the parish of St. George, Hanover Square.
Two years after Elizabeth's death in 1767, he married Margaret Spinckes (1728-1808) in All Saints' Church in Aldwincle, Northamptonshire on 14 June 1769.
Both marriages remained childless. Through his second wife however, he became involved in raising the latter's orphaned niece Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim, who became like his own daughter to him.
Graves showed particular interest in two of his nephews, Richard (his godson) and Thomas Graves. He also played an influential part in the life of another godson, John Graves Simcoe. When Simcoe, who had fought in the American War of Independence, was invalided back to England on account of his precarious health, Graves offered his godson to convalesce at Hembury Fort House for a while where he met Graves' ward Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim. The young couple married on 30 December 1782 in St. Mary and St. Giles Church, Buckerell with Samuel and Margaret Graves (godfather to the groom and godmother to the bride respectively) as witnesses.
A monument sculpted by John Bacon but designed by a "Miss Burgess" was erected in Buckerell in his memory. "Miss Burgess" was most likely Mary Anne Burges, best friend to Samuel Graves' ward Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim, who was close with her friends' aunt and uncle through being a frequent visitor to Hembury Fort House. The epitaph inscribed on the aforementioned monument also refers to Graves' charitable efforts, which awarded him the local epithet "The Poor Man's Friend".