Patronage and the Royal Navy, 1775-1815
This thesis uses the Royal Navy as case study to explore the structures, values and meaning of patronage at the end of the long eighteenth century. Patronage underpinned naval promotion but it also determined where officers, seamen and dockyard workers were stationed, their access to advice and crafted their reputations. The practical need to ensure competent men received promotion reveals to us factors beyond ambition and status which shaped all eighteenth-century patronage. The physical mobility of naval men and women also meant they organised a large proportion of their patronage by letter, providing us with a wealth of epistolary evidence of its operation. The collection of Admiral John Markhamâs personal and private papers, acquired by the National Maritime Museum in 2013, forms the foundations of this study. By drilling down into Markhamâs relationships and correspondence, this thesis uncovers the explicit and implicit patronage which operated within individual presentations of sensibility, friendship and honour. It then expands the study outwards to include similar patterns of interaction found in the lower levels of society and between those who underplayed their participation. Patronage was essentially
Beck, Catherine Susan
Patronage and the Royal Navy, 1775-1815. This thesis uses the Royal Navy as case study to explore the structures, values and meaning of patronage at the end of the long eighteenth century. Patronage underpinned naval promotion but it also determined where officers, seamen and dockyard workers were stationed, their access to advice and crafted their reputations. The practical need to ensure competent men received promotion reveals to us factors beyond ambition and status which shaped all eighteenth-century patronage. The physical mobility of naval men and women also meant they organised a large proportion of their patronage by letter, providing us with a wealth of epistolary evidence of its operation. The collection of Admiral John Markhamâs personal and private papers, acquired by the National Maritime Museum in 2013, forms the foundations of this study. By drilling down into Markhamâs relationships and correspondence, this thesis uncovers the explicit and implicit patronage which operated within individual presentations of sensibility, friendship and honour. It then expands the study outwards to include similar patterns of interaction found in the lower levels of society and between those who underplayed their participation. Patronage was essentially
patronage royal_navy royal_navy case_study explore structure value mean patronage end long patronage underpin naval promotion also determine officer dockyard worker station access advice craft reputation practical need ensure competent men receive promotion reveals factor beyond ambition status shape eighteenth_century patronage physical mobility naval men_woman also mean organise large_proportion patronage letter provide wealth epistolary evidence operation collection john personal private_paper acquire national maritime museum form foundation study relationship correspondence uncovers explicit_implicit patronage operate_within individual presentation sensibility friendship honour expands study outwards include similar_pattern interaction find low_level society participation patronage essentially