Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet
Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet (1762 – 24 December 1814), of 37 Lower Wimpole Street, London, was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served as a Member of Parliament for Westminster in 1806. He is not to be confused with his father's first cousin Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (1724–1816) who sponsored both him and his elder brother Captain Alexander Hood (1758–1798) into the Royal Navy. Origins. He was born on 27 November 1762, the 3rd son of Samuel Hood (1715–1805), a purser in the Royal Navy, of Kingsland in the  parish of Netherbury in Dorset, by his wife Anne Bere, a daughter of James Bere of Westbury in Wiltshire. His father's first cousins were the famous brothers Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (1724–1816) and Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport (1726–1814), sons of Rev. Samuel Hood (1691/2-1777), Vicar of Butleigh and prebendary of Wells Cathedral both in Somerset and Vicar of Thorncombe in Devon. The 1st Baronet's two elder brothers were also naval officers, like Samuel all "gallant Dorset sailors" (as the latter's 1914 monument in Netherbury Church records), namely Captain Arthur Hood (1755–1775) (drowned  while serving in the West Indies on board ) and Captain Alexander Hood (1758–1798) (killed in the hour of victory while commanding in her famous duel with the French ship 'Hercule'). The mural monument in Butleigh Church to the 1st Baronet and his brothers is inscribed with verse by the poet Robert Southey, including the lines referring to their early lives and kinsmen: <poem> </poem> Naval career. He entered the Royal Navy in 1776 at the start of the American War of Independence. His first engagement was the First Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778, and , soon afterwards transferred to the West Indies, he was present, under the command of his cousin, at all the actions which culminated in Admiral George Rodney's victory of 12 April 1782 in the Battle of the Saintes. After the peace, like many other British naval officers, Hood spent some time in France, and on his return to England was given the command of a sloop, from which he proceeded in succession to various frigates. In the 32-gun fifth-rate frigate "Juno" his gallant rescue of some shipwrecked seamen won him a vote of thanks and a sword of  honour from the Jamaica assembly. French Revolutionary Wars. Early in 1793, after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, Hood went to the Mediterranean in "Juno" under his cousin Lord Hood, and distinguished himself by an audacious feat of coolness and seamanship in extricating his vessel from the harbour of Toulon, which he had entered in ignorance of Lord Hood's withdrawal. In 1795, in "Aigle", he was put in command of a squadron for the protection of Levantine commerce, and in early 1797 he was given command of the 74-gun ship of the line "Zealous", in which he  was present at Admiral Horatio Nelson's unsuccessful attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Captain Hood conducted the negotiations which relieved the squadron from the consequences of its failure. Napoleonic Wars. "Zealous" played an important part at the Battle of the Nile. Her first opponent was put out of action in twelve minutes. Hood immediately engaged other ships, the "Guerriere" being left powerless to fire a shot. When Nelson left the coast of Egypt, Hood commanded the blockading force off Alexandria and Rosetta. Later he rejoined Nelson on the coast of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, receiving for his  services the order of St Ferdinand. In the 74-gun third-rate "Venerable" Hood was present at the Battle of Algeciras on 8 July 1801 and the action in the Straits of Gibraltar that followed. In the Straits his ship suffered heavily, losing 130 officers and men. In 1802, Hood was employed in Trinidad as a commissioner, and, upon the death of the flag officer commanding the Leeward Islands Station, he succeeded him as commodore. Island after island fell to him, and soon, outside Martinique, the French had scarcely a foothold in the West Indies. Amongst other measures Hood took  one may mention the garrisoning of Diamond Rock, which he commissioned as a sloop-of-war to blockade the approaches of Martinique. For these successes he was, amongst other rewards, appointed a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath (KB). In command next of the squadron blockading Rochefort, Sir Samuel Hood lost an arm during the action of 25 September 1806 against a French frigate squadron. Promoted to Rear Admiral a few days after this action, Hood was in 1807 entrusted with the operations against Madeira, which he brought to a successful conclusion. In 1808 Hood sailed to the  Baltic Sea, with his flag in the 74-gun "Centaur", to take part in the Russo-Swedish war. In one of the actions of this war "Centaur" and "Implacable", while unsupported by the Swedish ships (which lay to leeward), cut out the Russian 50-gun ship "Sevolod" from the enemy's line and, after a desperate fight, forced her to strike. King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden rewarded Admiral Hood with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword. He became a baronet on 1 April 1809. Later career. Having been present in the roads of A Coruña at  the re-embarkation of the army of Sir John Moore after the Battle of A Coruña, Hood thence returned to the Mediterranean, where for two years he commanded a division of the British fleet. In 1811 he became vice admiral. In his last command, that of the East Indies Station, he carried out many salutary reforms, especially in matters of discipline and victualling. Marriage. He married Mary Elizabeth Frederica Mackenzie, eldest daughter and heiress of Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth, but left no issue. Death, burial and succession. He died in 1814 at Madras in India, without issue, and was  buried at St. Mary's Church, Madras, where survives his mural monument. The heir to his baronetcy, under special remainder, was his nephew Sir Alexander Hood, 2nd Baronet (1793–1851), son of his elder brother Captain Alexander Hood (1758–1798) by his wife Elizabeth Periam, daughter and sole heiress of John Periam (1714–1788) of Wootton House (alias "Butleigh Wootton") in the parish of Butleigh, Somerset. Monuments. A lofty column, the Admiral Hood Monument, was raised to his memory on a hill on the Wootton House estate, 3/4 of a mile (1.2 km) to the south-west of Wootton House, Butleigh, Somerset, inherited  by his nephew and heir Sir Alexander Hood, 2nd Baronet (1793–1851) from his mother Elizabeth Periam. The Butleigh connection started with Sir Samuel Hood's great uncle (and the father of his two famous Admiral cousins) Rev. Samuel Hood (1689–1777) who was Vicar of Butleigh and of Thorncombe in Somerset and was a Prebendary of Wells Cathedral. The south face of its base is inscribed: Other monuments survive in Butleigh Church (with an inscription written by the poet Robert Southey) and in St. Mary's Church, Madras. The Hoods Tower Museum in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, gains its name from the  fire control tower named after him at Fort Ostenburg.