Philip Beaver (28 February 1766 – 5 April 1813) was an officer of the Royal Navy, serving during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He played a varied and active role in several notable engagements, and served under a number of the most notable figures of the Navy of the age.
Family and early life
Beaver was born in Lewknor, in Oxfordshire on 28 February 1766 to the Reverend James Beaver, curate of Lewknor. His father died when Philip was eleven, leaving the family impoverished. His mother accepted the offer of Joshua Rowley, then captain of HMS Monarch to take Philip to sea with him. Philip Beaver entered the Navy in October 1777, becoming midshipman aboard the Monarch during 1778. Whilst in this post, he witnessed the Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778. He remained with Rowley and accompanied him when Rowley took command of HMS Suffolk in December 1778 and sailed her to the West Indies. Rowley was then appointed rear-admiral and hoisted his flag in a number of ships, including HMS Conqueror, HMS Terrible and HMS Princess Royal. Beaver followed him to each one, and in doing so served as part of fleets between 1779 and 1780 at times under the command of Admirals John Byron, Sir Hyde Parker and Sir George Rodney. His ship then came under the overall command of Sir Peter Parker at Jamaica, where Beaver spent the rest of the war. He was promoted to lieutenant by his patron, Admiral Rowley, on 2 June 1783. He spent the next ten years living with his mother at Boulogne. His naval service during this period was limited to a few months in 1790 and in 1791, during the mobilizations in response to the Spanish and the Russian armaments.
Colonisation efforts
Beaver returned to a more active form of service in 1791 when he participated in a colonization scheme intended to resettle Black former slaves from the Americas on the island of Bulama off the coast of Portuguese Guinea. He departed England on 14 April 1792, but the affair quickly ran into difficulties. The settlers were described as idle and dissipated. Beaver was in command of the Hankey, a small ship with sixty-five men, twenty-four women, and thirty-one children, mostly seasick and all useless. Even after their arrival, discipline was non-existent, and the directors of the project quickly lost heart and returned to England. Beaver was left in command and spent the next eighteen months attempting to make the settlement a success. Even with the failure of the colonization project, he is considered the founder and first administrator of British Guinea. Most of the colonists died and the remainder abandoned the colony in November 1793 and made their way to Settler Town in what later became the Colony of Sierra Leone. Beaver left too, and obtained passage back to England, arriving at Plymouth on 17 May 1794. He was later to publish an account of his experiences, entitled African Memoranda in 1805, which contained his thoughts, which were anti-slavery in nature.
Rise through the ranks
By the time of his return, the French Revolutionary Wars had broken out and two months later Beaver was appointed as first lieutenant of the 64-gun HMS Stately, under Captain Billy Douglas. She set sail for the West Indies in March 1795, eventually meeting up with a squadron under Sir George Elphinstone. Elphinstone retained the Stately and used her as part of his conquest of the colony. Stately then sailed for the East Indies, and was involved in the capture of Ceylon. She was reunited with Elphinstone's force off Cape Agulhas on her return voyage. Beaver had by this time come to Elphinstone's attention, and he was impressed by Beaver's seamanship. Elphinstone subsequently moved Beaver onto his own ship, and the two returned to England in spring 1797.