Francis Holburne Admiral Sir Francis Holburne ( 1704 – 15 July 1771 ) was a Royal Navy officer who also served as a Member of Parliament . Naval career . Francis entered the Navy in 1720 as a volunteer aboard , passing his examinations in 1725 . He began his career in 1727 with a promotion to lieutenant and was promoted to Captain in 1739 . Francis was appointed commodore and commander - in - chief at the Leeward Islands in 1748 . In 1749 , after the War of the Austrian Succession , he was sent to Barbados to help secure the execution of the treaty terms . Admiral Holburne was still ambitious and keen to make plans for his future . He aroused some resentment amongst his peers with Admiral Lord Boscawen describing him in a private letter to his wife as being ‘ Rich and contrived to insinuate himself into the good graces of Lord Anson ’ . Francis had known Lord Morton as an intimate family friend and may well have owed his advancement in the Navy to Archibald Campbell , Duke of Argyll who " took him by the hand in his younger days and made him a Captain . In 1757 as Vice Admiral of the Blue Holburne embarked on a command at Halifax , Nova Scotia to capture Louisbourg as part of the Louisbourg Expedition led by Lord Loudon . There were many delays , and fever had struck his fleet , causing much of it to remain in port . On the night of 24 September they were caught up in a violent storm which drove several of his ships onto the shore and dismasted most of the fleet under his command , causing further delays and difficulties requiring a major refit . Shortly after eventually returning to England he was appointed to the post of Port Admiral at Portsmouth which largely discontinued his active service at sea . He held this post more or less continuously for the unusually long term of eight years . He was appointed a member of the court - martial that was convened to try Admiral John Byng . The trial began in December 1756 and ran until March 1757 . When the Tribunal was examined before the House of Lords , " all the court martial seemed terrified . . . except old Admiral Holbourne , who cursed and swore at the bar of the House , because Byng was not shot out of the way , without giving him the trouble of coming from Portsmouth " . In July 1761 , some three years after the loss of HMS " Invincible " , the 70 - gun ran aground on the Horse Sands . Her loss caused Holborne to issue an order to all naval shipping masters , " . . . to sound out the channels , which they should do several times by way of refreshing their memories , this being the second great ship they have run ashore lately . " His orders did not have the effect he had intended as in October that year , just four months later , the 50 - gun ran aground off Ryde . In November 1764 Holburne ordered a secret investigation into an apparent plot to set fire to Portsmouth Dockyard . Politics . In 1760 Francis made political capital of his position as Port Admiral when he stood for Provost in his native lands at Inverkeithing . It is reported that he unscrupulously brought in armed press gangs to a trades meeting and with his sword drawn and by intimidation and bribery secured the return of his party . As his port commission progressed , and encouraged by his friend and patron Lord Argyll , he contested the seat of Stirling Burghs at the 1761 General Election , beginning a career in politics . He was returned as MP for Stirling and in 1768 he represented Plymouth , holding the seat until his death in 1771 . He was made a Lord of the Admiralty under the North administration , holding office until he was made Governor of Greenwich Hospital , by way of retirement , in January 1771 . He died several months later , in July 1771 at the age of 67 , and was buried at Richmond , in Surrey . Family . in 1750 he married a rich widow , Frances , the daughter of Guy Ball , a member of the Barbados Council . Frances had been made widow of Edward Lacelles , Collector of Customs at Barbados where she and Sir Francis married .