Arthur French, Privateer.

[DBCoup]

Couldn't decide the best forum for this query, so here it is.
Arthur French was baptised 10 December 1717, Townstall, Dartmouth. He married Judith Palmer, 1 May 1739, in Townstal or St Clement, Dartmouth.
There are several references to Arthur French which indicate that he was a privateer.
The Family of Twysden and Twisden by Sir John Ramskill Twisden, bart, and completed by C H Dudley Ward, DSO, MC; pub. by John Murray in 1939. Page 316 -
"... Captain French, a Devonshire man who made a fortune by privateering - he also traded with Newfoundland, but this was not so profitable. He was a careful man and did not dissipate his profits but invested them in land at Dartmouth, and other places in South Devon."
In an unidentified source (ie to be relocated and checked - shame on my note-taking)
"It further appears by a letter received from Dartmouth, that the brig Success, a letter of marque, Arthur French master, had on her voyage to Newfoundland retaken a brig called the Falmouth, from Greenock ....."

Scourge of the Seas Buccaneers, Pirates and Privateers by Angus Konstam has as an illustration a snippet from the Exeter Flying Post, April 1781
"For Sale by the Candle. At the London Tavern, Foxhole-street, Plymouth, on Wednesday the 9th of May 1781, at Ten o'clock in the Forenoon precisely, the good ship Twee Gebroeders, Dutch built, round stern'd, Burthen 600 tons, more or less, almost new, and is a real good ship, well found in stores , and is fit for the East Country, or Norway Trade, a Dutch prize, taken on her passage from Alicant to Amsterdam, by the British Lion Private Ship of War, Arthur French, Esq. Commander, now lying at Plymouth, and there to be delivered."
Whether this is Arthur French (born 1717) or his son Arthur French (born 1747) is not known.

I know what a Letter of Marque is so my question is :- how do I locate a copy or record of any Letters of Marque issued to Arthur French?

[Geoffers]

how do I locate a copy or record of any Letters of Marque issued to Arthur French?

From New Zealand - with difficulty.

Registers of Letters of Marque issued to ships will be held at The National Archives at Kew in a number of different classes. This is the result of a general seach of the catalogue on 'Letters of Marque with a year range 1770-1785 (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/searchresults.asp?SearchInit=0&txtsearchterm=letters+of+marque&txtfirstdate=1770&txtlastdate=1785&txtrestriction=&hdnsorttype=Reference&image1.x=27&image1.y=9)

There an an awful lot of them.

You might try these reseach guides to see if they give any help in narrowing down a search difficult with a name like FRENCH, (bearing in mind the number of wars against France).

Navy Operational Records 1660-1914 (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/rdleaflet.asp?sLeafletID=8)

High Court of Admiralty (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/rdleaflet.asp?sLeafletID=383)

[Geoffers]

Further to my last - do any these PCC wills relate to your family?

Arthur FRENCH (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/search-results.asp?searchtype=browserefine&query=first_name%3darthur%7clast_name%3dfrench&first_date=17100101&last_date=18201231&catid=6&pagenumber=1&querytype=1&mediaarray=*)

[DBCoup]

The two in 1786 are father and son. I have both wills. Thanks.

[DBCoup]

You might try these reseach guides to see if they give any help in narrowing down a search difficult with a name like FRENCH, (bearing in mind the number of wars against France).

Oh so true .... but then try googling my surname ...... mostly get "coup d’état" or, in its abbreviated form, "coup" :(

[Geoffers]

Oh so true .... but then try googling my surname ...... mostly get "coup d’état" or, in its abbreviated form, "coup"

As has been suggested elsewhere, try putting the following into a search engine

"Coup" surname

and you should just get results limited to the name. Although sites which don't include the word 'surname' will obviously be missed.

[Gules]

Hi - you can find examples of the type of info available at http://www.1812privateers.org/GB/GreatBritain.htm
and http://www.1812privateers.org/Privateers/Captain%20John%20Lennon%20of%20the%20Hibernia.pdf contains a declaration for your period - the letter of marque its self wont be there it went with the vessel - all you'll see is a name in the register much more informative is the declaration -good luck

[Gules]

If you are still looking - I'm working on Letters of Marque against the American colonies and have
Arthur French jnr. master of the British Lyon of 200 tons out of Dartmouth dated May 1780 is that's of any help.

[DBCoup]

If you are still looking - I'm working on Letters of Marque against the American colonies and have
Arthur French jnr. master of the British Lyon of 200 tons out of Dartmouth dated May 1780 is that's of any help.

Yes I am still looking. Thanks. Is there any other detail available? Definitely MY Arthur French
daryl

[helachau]

"A letter from Dartmouth, dated August 14th, says that a Brig, called La Marie, from Dunkirk had arrived that day, laden with salt, bound to America, being a prize to the Success Letter of Marque, Arthur French Commander. She was taken the 8th inst".

Manchester Mercury, Tue, 25th Aug 1778

[Gules]

Yes I am still looking. Thanks. Is there any other detail available? Definitely MY Arthur French
daryl
There will be in the declaration however these are on microfilm at Kew - I had the microfilm made into pdf but the results apart from the register were unreadable - now whether it was a bad job or the film itself is that bad I don't know - as you are in NZ you might prevail upon Kew to make a copy of the original as you can quote the reference. However you won't get much more info - though they are nice to have.
I've put the pdf online there are two of 300 and 500 mb but it crashed my acrobat so often I gave up - but you may be able to find it with perseverance but again in may be unreadable.
http://www.1812privateers.org/ADM7-317.pdf and ADM7-318.pdf
I'll see if I've any more on Arthur

[Gules]

Lloyd's List Tuesday 13th February 1781 page 2 col. 1
The British Lion Privateer, Capt. French, arrived at Dartmouth, has taken and sent into Torbay a Dutch ship from Alicant for Amsterdam, laden with Barilla, Salt, Saffron etc. valued at £15,000

There is one book essential to this subject -British Privateering enterprise in the eighteenth century by David J. Starkey Pub. University of Exeter Press - gives an excellent guide to the subject sources etc. with plenty of practical examples

[Gules]

There will be in the declaration however these are on microfilm at Kew - I had the microfilm made into pdf but the results apart from the register were unreadable - now whether it was a bad job or the film itself is that bad I don't know - as you are in NZ you might prevail upon Kew to make a copy of the original as you can quote the reference. However you won't get much more info - though they are nice to have.
I've put the pdf online there are two of 300 and 500 mb but it crashed my acrobat so often I gave up - but you may be able to find it with perseverance but again in may be unreadable.
http://www.1812privateers.org/ADM7-317.pdf and ADM7-318.pdf
I'll see if I've any more on Arthur
Very sorry those links are to the register I transcribed NOT the declarations - I'll remove them from the net.

[Gules]

As an example of the Declarations for this period I've put online HCA 26/60
http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/HCA%2026-60.pdf it's large 300mb
Also there is an index http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/HCA%2026-60%20INDEX.pdf
Arthur French's ship Success can be found in the index at page 80

However it appears that not every Declaration is given in full rather it appears to use "same as"

see http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/ArthurFrench.jpg