Admiral Sir William Penn – date and artist unknown )
William Penn Sr was born in 1621 and went to sea on merchant ships at an early age. He served his apprenticeship with his father, a merchant ( Wikipedia (no date) William Penn (Royal Navy officer) [49] ) He married Margaret Jasper Van der Schuren June 6, 1643 (McNeill [15] ) and they had three children.
William Jr was the oldest. A bout with smallpox at the age of four caused him to lose his hair and he wore wigs for much of his life. (NPS ) He had a sister Margaret (Peg) (1645-1718) and a brother Richard (1648-1673). [Note – we found almost no mention of his siblings in our research.]
Penn joined the Royal Navy and at age 22 was made Captain (McNeill, Jim 9/9/2022 ) and rose to the rank of Rear Admiral by 1645 (he was 24 years old). In 1644, when he was promoted again, the couple were living in a house owned by Charles II where William Jr was born. William Sr rose through the ranks becoming vice admiral of Ireland, admiral of the Streights, vice admiral of England, and in 1653 was made a general during the first war with the Dutch. (Swarthmore )
Admiral Penn and Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper 1656
The period of 1639-1660 was quite turbulent in England. Under Oliver Cromwell the monarchy was abolished and King Charles I was executed in 1649. Admiral Penn was, at heart, a Royalist but also pretty pragmatic and supported Cromwell as needed. (McNeill (14) ) Cromwell had ended the War of Three Kingdoms with the Battle of Worcester in 1651 and was now in charge of England, Ireland and Scotland. (Wikipedia – no date (16) )
Restitution of Irish Estates
In 1654, the Admiral petitioned Cromwell for restitution of the great losses that his wife’s estates suffered in the rebellion in Ireland. Mrs Penn’s family had lands near Shannon which were forfeited due to the Irish Rebellion. in recompense, Cromwell granted them land near Cork. This was approved on September 1, 1654, (Pierre, Clara – 1989 )(McNeill (15) ) [Note: Most sources attribute the estates in Ireland as a reward to the Admiral but this does not appear to be true.]
Royalist
At about the same time, in 1654 and despite the help of Cromwell in restoring the Irish estates, he offered his services and fleet to Charles II, then in exile. Charles advised him to wait for a better time so Penn maintained his public loyalty to Cromwell. (McNeill (14) )
Cromwell’s Western Design – Defeat at Hispaniola
Cromwell’s Western Design was a plan to end Spanish Dominance in the America.(Vennings (no date) )
In October 1654 Cromwell appointed Penn to take command of an expedition to capture the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic). The fleet consisted of 30-60 ships and 4,000 soldiers. They took on more, albeit unwilling, troops at Barbados and other Leeward Islands. Many were Scottish Royalists who were exiled or had been transported and refused to fight for Cromwell. (Vennings ) The English were defeated badly by the Spanish with over 1,000 killed either in battle or from disease. Penn quit Hispaniola and then captured the island of Jamaica which was poorly defended. Those left to occupy Jamaica did not do well though. They were attacked by freed slaves (known as the Maroons) and suffered from disease and starvation. When they returned to England Cromwell dismissed Penn and land-general Venables and sent them to the Tower of London as punishment.(McNeill [14] ) source does not say how long they were imprisoned )
Owner of Slaves
Penn returned from the West Indies with a slave named Sampson for whom he had traded his personal servant, Anthony, He was known to have at least one other slave named Jack. (McNeill (14) )
Ireland and William Jr’s Introduction to Quakers
Following his release the family moved to theur castle near Cork,in Ireland,called “Macroom”. (Pierre ) This would have been when William Jr first encountered the Quaker Thomas Loe. (Penn 1677 )
Restoration
Cromwell died in 1658 and at some point Admiral Penn regained his status. Charles II was restored to the throne. William attended the coronation with his father who was recognized by the King for his service (Fantel, Hans 1974 – p29 ) and in 1660 the Admiral was knighted. He served as captain commander under the King in 1664 and was made Admiral of the Navy by Charles II during the second war with the Dutch. (Swarthmore ) William Jr sailed with his father along with the Duke of York but was sent back with dispatches for the King without seeing any action. (Quinn )
After the restoration of Charles II, the Admiral exchanged the estate at Macroom for that of Shangarry along the Atlantic coast south of Cork. On October 30, 1660 he was made Governor and Captain of Kinsale (Buckley, Eila p82 )
When Penn retired to the castle and estates of Macroom {Note: the Admiral did not return to Ireland following his retirement (Buckley, Eila p87 )] he wrote a code of naval tactics which was later incorporated by the Duke of York into his ‘Sailing and Fighting Instructions’; which became the standard text for British naval expansionist tactics for some centuries. (McNeill (14) )
Reconciliation and Death of Admiral Penn
Admiral Penn had retired from the Navy in 1669 then died on September 16, 1670 at Wanstead, Essex. William and he had reconciled the year before. He left his son a annual income of £1500,(Quinn )
William was still imprisoned and requested that his father not pay his fine, but he did and the two were able to see each other before he died. The Admiral had come to respect his son and told him Let nothing in this world tempt you to wrong your conscience (Fantel p126 )
The Admiral also knew that his rank and relationship with the King had probably offered some protection to his son and was afraid this would not continue upon his death. He wrote to the Duke and King asking for their protection. Out of respect for the Admiral’s service to the Crown they agreed to protect William and make him a royal counselor. (Fantel p127 )