Roddam, Admiral Robert (1719-1808)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0064 ROD
Held at	: National Maritime Museum   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/ ›
Full title	: Roddam, Admiral Robert (1719-1808)
Date(s)	: [1746-1792]
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 4 1/2ft; 139cm
Name of creator(s)	: Roddam | Robert | 1719-1808 | Admiral

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Roddam entered the Navy in 1735 and after serving in the West Indies was promoted to lieutenant in 1741. His first command was the VIPER in the Channel in 1746 and he was promoted to captain in 1747, afterwards commanding the GREYHOUND in the North Sea and in North America. In 1753 Roddam commanded the Bristol guardship at Plymouth and in 1755 was appointed to the GREENWICH in the West Indies where, in 1757, she was captured by superior French forces. At his court martial he was honourably acquitted. He commanded the COLCHESTER in the Channel in 1759 and in 1760 went to St Helena to escort the homecoming East India convoy. Between 1770 and 1773 Roddam commanded the LENOX, for most of the time as guardship at Plymouth. After a period on half-pay he was appointed to the CORNWALL at Portsmouth in 1777 but in 1778 he was promoted to rear-admiral and served as Commander-in-Chief at the NORE for the remainder of the war, being promoted to vice-admiral in 1779. Roddam flew his flag in the ROYAL WILLIAM during the Spanish mobilization, 1790, but was not employed again. He became an admiral in 1793.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Robert Roddam, comprising an almost complete service record from 1746, including a log, 1759 to 1778, together with letter and order books, 1746 to 1783, 1789 to 1792, and two signal books. There is a very full administrative correspondence during the American War of Independence and the 1790 crisis. There are no personal papers in the collection.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue online at the: National Maritime Museum website .

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The papers were originally deposited on loan by the Holderness-Roddam family in 1967 and 1973, apart from one volume purchased in 1938, but were given to the Museum in 2010.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Estate and family papers are in the Northumberland Record Office.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Edited by Sarah Drewery, Sep 2011.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
2010-08-26