William Lukin Vice - Admiral William Lukin , later William Lukin Windham ( 20 September 1768 – 12 January 1833 ) was a Royal Navy officer who rose to the rank of Vice Admiral and served with great distinction through the Napoleonic Wars . Eventually he inherited the house and estates of William Windham . Early life . William Lukin was born in the village of Felbrigg , Norfolk on 20 September 1768 . He was the son of the Rev . George Lukin and Susan Katherine Doughty . His father was the rector of Felbrigg and Aylmerton . The Rev . George Lukin was the half brother of William Windham . who was the local squire of Felbrigg Hall and one time member of parliament for Norwich and Secretary of War in the Cabinet . Windham had a special affection for all the children of the Rev . Lukin and in particular William Lukin who would eventually become his heir . The young William Lukin went to sea probably around 1781 at the age of 13 . He appears to have been a keen seaman and a fast learner and survived the harsh life in the navy , and by 1786 he had become a midshipman . Promotion through the ranks . In 1793 Lukin had become a Lieutenant , and by 1795 he had been given command of , a 16 - gun sloop . Soon after this appointment he was given the rank of Captain and with this promotion he was given , a vessel of 32 guns , which had been re - captured on 8 June 1796 from the French who had initially captured the ship in 1793 . As Britain faced war with France , Lukin ’ s career began to rise steadily in the Royal Navy especially with a powerful patron like William Windham . Windham did all he could to assist Lukin ’ s rapid advancement within the Navy through his great friendship with Lord George Spencer , who was the First Lord of the Admiralty . Spithead mutiny . In April 1792 Captain William Lukin found himself embroiled in the Spithead mutiny . Sixteen ships of the line of the Channel fleet refused to sail and mounted a collective mutiny at Spithead . Their demands were concerned with improved pay and conditions , and better treatment in general . Some officers considered to ill - treat their crews were sent ashore and their permanent removal demanded . Lukin was recorded as performing well in quelling the discontent and as a result helped the mutiny at Spithead to be resolved in a peaceful and organised manner and within a few weeks the seamans ' demands had been met and a Royal Pardon granted . It was noted Captain Lukin ’ s vessel , HMS " Thames " was the first to be ready to resume its duties within the Royal Navy . War between Britain and France . On 18 May 1803 Britain declared war with France and one response to these events was that the Secretary at War , Charles Yorke introduced a bill in Parliament to increase the armed forces by creating reserve army of 30 , 000 men . At the behest of William Windham , Lukin was given the task of establishing a local militia in North East Norfolk . This role he embraced with great gusto and was successful in the task . Back to sea . Now the war with France had started , William Lukin was given command of various warships with the most notable being the 74 - gun third - rate ship of the line . Rochefort , Bay of Biscay . Lukin took the Mars into Action of 25 September 1806 in the naval battle fought off the French Biscay port of Rochefort . A French convoy of five frigates and two corvettes , sailing to the French West Indies with supplies and reinforcements , under the command of Commodore Eleonore - Jean - Nicolas Soleil , was intercepted by a British squadron of six ships of the line that was keeping a close blockade of the port as part of the Atlantic campaign of 1806 . The British ships , under the command of Commodore Sir Samuel Hood , spotted the French convoy early in the morning of 25 September , just a few hours after the French had left port , and immediately gave chase . Although the French ships tried to escape , they were heavily laden and the strong winds favoured the larger ships of the line , which caught the French convoy after a five hour pursuit , although they had become separated from one another during the chase . Soleil had ordered his ships to split . One of the French ships , the " Infatigable " , a 40 - gun Valeureuse class frigate , was heading north . Lukin took HMS " Mars " out of the British line and went in pursuit of " Infatigable " . Failing to outrun HMS " Mars " , Captain Lukin forced the " Infatigable " to surrender after a brief cannonade . Later in the action , Commodore Eleonore - Jean - Nicolas Soleil ’ s flagship , the 44 - gun frigate " Gloire " , which by now had sustained damaged , could not distance herself from the British flagship sufficiently before support arrived in the form of HMS " Mars " . With his ship undamaged , Lukin was able to easily catch the fleeing frigate and opened fire at 14 : 30pm , combat continuing for half an hour before Soleil surrendered his badly damaged frigate . These deeds brought with them a considerable sum in prize money to captain William Lukin . Bombardment of Copenhagen . HMS " Mars " and Captain Lukin participated in the bombardment , which took place between the 16 August and the 5 September known as the Second Battle of Copenhagen ( or the Bombardment of Copenhagen ) , which was a British preemptive attack on Copenhagen , targeting the civilian population in order to seize the Dano - Norwegian fleet . This action was taken because there was concern in Britain that Napoleon might try to force Denmark to close the Baltic Sea to British ships , perhaps by marching French troops into Zealand . The British believed that access to the Baltic was " vitally important to Britain " for trade as well as a major source of necessary raw materials for building and maintaining warships , and that it gave the Royal Navy access to help Britain ' s allies , Sweden and ( before Tilsit ) Russia , against France . After the Danes rejected British demands to surrender , the British fleet under Admiral Gambier bombarded the city from 2 to 5 September 1807 . Captain Lukin and HMS " Mars " which had joined the fleet on 8 August , participated in this bombardment which resulted in Danish General Peymann surrendering both the city and the fleet on 7 September 1807 . Final command . William Lukin ’ s final command in the service of the Royal Navy was as captain of the 50 - gun fourth rate ship of the line . This new command brought to a close the navel career of Lukin . He had served his country with reliability and efficiency throughout the Napoleonic wars with one or two outstanding actions . Lukin effectively left the navy in 1814 with the rank of vice admiral of the blue , just a year away from the end of the war ; he saw no further active service . Felbrigg Hall . William Windham died on 4 June 1810 , and was last of his line . His death effectively ended the hereditary succession of the Felbrigg estates which had run uninterrupted for 350 years . The Felbrigg estate was left to Windham ’ s wife Cecilia Windham in the first instance for the remainder of her life . Thereafter , William Windham ’ s heir was Vice Admiral William Lukin . Lukin was related to Windham as he was the grandson of William Windham ’ s mother by her first marriage . After his retirement from the Navy , Lukin settled back to north Norfolk , to a small estate farm at Metton which was close to Felbrigg . Lukin and his wife Anne settled into family life with their 12 children . With six sons and six daughters to raise the Lukins soon found finances were stretched and as a consequence in 1820 Lukin moved to Brussels with his family to save money . On 5 May 1824 , Cecilia Windham died and William Lukin inherited Felbrigg . At the same time he changed his name , assuming the name Windham along with the family coat of arms . The estate and house were finally woken from fourteen years of slumber . William Lukin Windham , as he was now called , employed architect W . J . Donthorne to remodel , extend , and alter the house and stable block . The Admiral remained at the Hall and led a quiet life until his death in 1833 . His sons William Howe Windham ( the eldest ) and Charles Ashe Windham both represented East Norfolk in Parliament ; the latter fought in the Crimean War and rose to the rank of General .