THE RIGHT HON.

ADMIRAL ALAN GARDNER,

BARON GARDNER,

ETC. ETC. ETC.

ALAN GARDNER, the possessor of a name which will ever rank highly among those that have contributed to raise the British flag to its unrivalled splendour, was born at Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, on the 12th of April, 1742. He was the son of Colonel William Gardner, of the 11th Dragoons, and Elizabeth, daughter of Valentine ffarington, of Preston, in Lancashire; and at the gallant defence of Londonderry, his grandfather commanded a small corps.

On the 1st of May, 1755, Mr. Gardner entered the Navy, in the Medway, of sixty guns, Captain Peter Dennis, and was on board of that ship when, in company with the Eagle, she captured the Duc d'Aquitaine. In May, 1758, he was on board the Dorsetshire, of seventy guns, Captain Dennis, when she captured the Raisonable, of sixty guns, and also on the 20th of November, 1759, when Sir Edward Hawke defeated the French fleet, under Marshal Conflans, off Belle Isle. The Dorsetshire particularly distinguished herself on this occasion; and Captain Dennis received the highest encomiums from Sir Edward Hawke, in person, who, with energetic warmth, swore that "Captain Dennis and Captain Spcke (of the Resolution) behaved like angels."

On the 17th of March, 1760, Mr. Gardner was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and appointed to the Bellona, of seventy