Quick Facts
Biography
Admiral Sir Henry Trollope, GCB (20 April 1756 – 2 November 1839) was an officer of the British Royal Navy.
Early career
He entered the navy at the age of 14. In the American Revolutionary War he served aboard HMS Captain and HMS Asia. He fought at the battles of Lexington (19 April 1775) and Bunker Hill (17 June 1775) and the Siege of Boston (1775–1776). He served with John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore during the latter's campaigns in Virginia and Rhode Island.
In 1777 he was appointed third lieutenant to the fourth-rate Bristol and took part in attacks on Fort Montgomery, Fort Clinton, Philadelphia and Mud Island.
Post Captain
He was promoted to Post Captain in 1781. Following the peace of 1783 between Britain and the United States of America, he lived in Wales before returning to sea in 1790 as the captain of the 38-gun fifth rate Prudente.
Trollope, described as "carronade-crazy" in Gardiner's Warships of the Napoleonic Era, commanded two ships armed entirely with carronades: Rainbow, a 44-gun frigate with which he stunned the French frigate Hébé (1782) into surrendering without resistance; and Glatton, with which he routed a French squadron of four frigates, two corvettes, a brig and a cutter, and drove them into Flushing.
The Nore Mutiny
In March–April 1797, Trollope kept Glatton's crew from joining the Nore mutiny. By threatening to fire on the 64-gun Overyssel and the 40-gun Beaulieu, which were in open mutiny, he convinced their crews to return to duty.
The battle of Camperdown
Later in 1797 he commanded the 74-gun Russell at the Battle of Camperdown. For his part in this victory he was made a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath and elevated as a Knight Grand Cross in 1831.
Retirement
He was promoted to Rear Admiral on 1 January 1801 and to Admiral in 1812, but did not serve in an active role. He committed suicide at Freshford, near Bath on 2 November 1839.
Legacy
The Captain-class frigate HMS Trollope was named for him.