Rodney (of Stoke-Rodney), George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron c.1718-1792
English naval commander

Born in London of an old Somerset family, he joined the navy in 1732, and in 1747 took part in Admiral Edward Hawke's victory against the French off Cape Finisterre. He was Governor of Newfoundland from 1748 to 1752. In 1759 as rear admiral he destroyed the flotilla assembled at Le Havre for the invasion of England. In 1761 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the Leeward Islands station, where in 1762 he captured Martinique, St Lucia and Grenada. He became Commander-in-Chief in Jamaica (1771-74), and in the Leeward Islands (1779-82), and captured a Spanish convoy off Cape Finisterre and defeated another squadron off Cape St Vincent (1780). In 1781 he captured Dutch islands in the West Indies on which American contraband trade depended. In 1782 he gained a brilliant victory over the French off Dominica.