page_title: John Leveson-Gower (Royal Navy officer)
section_title: Family and early life
hierarchical_section_title: John Leveson-Gower (Royal Navy officer) / Family and early life
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Vue générale de la première partie de la bataille de Lagos, le 18 août 1759 au large des côtes portugaises. Guerre de Sept Ans.
context_page_description: Rear-Admiral John Leveson-Gower was a Royal Navy officer and politician from the Leveson-Gower family. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Lagos in August 1759 during the Seven Years' War. As captain of HMS Valiant he was present at the Battle of Ushant on 17 July 1778 during the American War of Independence. He went on to be a junior Lord of the Admiralty and then First Naval Lord. He also sat as Member of Parliament for several constituencies.
context_section_description: John was born on 11 July 1740, the second son of John, first earl Gower, by his third wife Lady Mary Tufton, daughter of Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet and widow of Anthony Grey, earl Harold. His half-brother, Granville Leveson-Gower, inherited his father's earldom and would use his political influence to help John's career. John was privately educated and then entered the navy, receiving his lieutenant's commission in 1758. His first command was the fireship HMS Salamander, in which he saw action at the Battle of Lagos on 18 August 1759, serving under Admiral Edward Boscawen. Leveson-Gower was advanced to the rank of post captain on 30 June 1760 and took the 32-gun HMS Quebec to the Mediterranean to serve under Sir Charles Saunders. While commanding Quebec he captured the 18-gun French privateer Phoenix in December 1760 off Cape Palos.
  Leveson-Gower then commanded the 64-gun HMS Africa, sailing her to Guinea and the West Indies in 1765. Later he commanded the frigates HMS Aeolus and HMS Pearl, and finally the guardship HMS Albion at Plymouth in 1774. He was appointed to command the 74-gun HMS Valiant in the English Channel in 1775, where he captured several American ships. He was present at the Battle of Ushant on 17 July 1778, where he strongly supported Admiral Augustus Keppel, Valiant sustaining casualties of six killed and twenty-six wounded. He gave evidence at Keppel's subsequent court martial, defending his admiral's actions, and resigned his command afterwards.
caption: The Battle of Lagos in 1759 off Portugal - painting by Thomas Luny
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