Dr. Laurence Pocock, Rector of Brightwalton in Berkshire,[1] and his ancestors had long been resident at adjoining Chieveley in the same county.

George Pocock entered the navy in 1718, serving aboard HMS Superb under the patronage of his maternal uncle, Captain Streynsham Master (1682–1724).

War being now in progress between France and England the French sent a naval force from their islands in the Indian Ocean into the Bay of Bengal to the assistance of Pondicherry.

[2] After a second and more severe engagement on 3 August, the French admiral returned to Mauritius, and when the monsoon set in Pocock went round to Bombay.

He was back early in spring, relieving the Siege of Madras, but the French admiral did not return to the Bay of Bengal until September.

Again Pocock was unable to prevent his opponent from reaching Pondicherry, and a well-contested battle between them on 10 September 1759 proved again indecisive.

On his return to England Pocock is said to have been disappointed because another officer, Sir Charles Saunders, was chosen in preference to himself as a member of the Admiralty Board, and to have resigned in consequence.