Admiral John Byng (baptised 29 October 1704 – 14 March 1757)[1] was a Royal Navy officer, politician and colonial administrator who was court-martialled and executed by firing squad.

George Byng was a highly skilled naval commander, had won distinction in a series of battles, and was held in esteem by the monarchs whom he served.

[3] John Byng entered the Royal Navy in March 1718,[1] aged 13, when his father was a well-established admiral at the peak of a uniformly successful career.

[5] Having purchased a large estate in Hertfordshire, in 1754 Byng commissioned the building within it of Wrotham Park, a Palladian mansion (sited within the present-day bounds of Potters Bar).

On the approach of the Seven Years' War, numerous British diplomats based in the Mediterranean raised the alarm that Minorca was threatened by a French naval attack from Toulon.

[10] Lord George Anson, head of the Admiralty, chose to focus instead on preventing a French invasion, keeping warships close to Britain.

[12] Byng's orders were multiplex, his first target being the alleged new French fleet at Toulon, while the British garrison of Fort St Philip at Port Mahon was a secondary concern.

[15] By 6 April, still short of over 800 men, Byng set sail from Portsmouth using Colonel Robert Bertie's fusiliers in place of sailors.

While he was en route, the French Toulon fleet, on 17 April 1756, escorted over 1,000 tartanes and transport ships landing 15,000 troops under the command of General Richelieu at Ciutadella, on the far west end of Minorca.

Byng called for a lasking manoeuvre, meaning that all his ships would turn in unison and, with the wind behind them, sail straight toward the enemy bow first.

This delay cost Byng the element of surprise, and it also allowed the French to make the rest of the battle a "running fight", as Captain Augustus Hervey later called it.

On 24 May, he called a war council of his own where, by unanimous voting, Byng's fleet would return to Gibraltar for repairs, succour, sailors and more marines for the garrison.

Indeed, in the wake of publication of the battle, George II was flooded with petitions and addresses to investigate the government's poor handling of a whole host of issues.

[23] When news of the Battle of Minorca did arrive, it was via a Spanish diplomat, who carried a dispatch from the French admiral, Byng's counterpart, Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière.

[citation needed] On 26 June 1756, the government newspaper, The London Gazette, printed an edited version of Byng's report removing passages and rewording others to make the admiral appear a coward.

[24]Even prior to the battle, George Bubb Dodington informed Henry Fox that ministers had already chosen a scapegoat in case events in the Mediterranean went astray.

[citation needed] Byng's perceived failure to relieve the garrison at Minorca caused public outrage among fellow officers and the country at large.

[26][27] Byng was brought home to be tried by court-martial for breach of the Articles of War which had been revised eleven years prior to mandate capital punishment for officers who did not do their utmost against the enemy, either in battle or pursuit.

[28] The revision followed an event in 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession, when a young lieutenant named Baker Phillips had been court-martialled and shot after his ship was captured by the French.

[28] Byng's court-martial was convened on 28 December 1756 aboard the elderly 96-gun vessel HMS St George, which was anchored in Portsmouth Harbour.

[31] The verdict was delivered four weeks later on 27 January 1757, in the form of a series of resolutions describing the course of Byng's expedition to Minorca and an interpretation of his actions.

[27] However, its principal findings were that Byng had failed to keep his fleet together while engaging the French; that his flagship had opened fire at too great a distance to have any effect; and that he should have proceeded to the immediate relief of Minorca rather than returning to Gibraltar.

In accordance with those Articles the court condemned Byng to death, but unanimously recommended that the Lords of the Admiralty ask King George II to exercise his royal prerogative of mercy.

[33] Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder was aware that the Admiralty was at least partly to blame for the loss at Minorca due to the poor manning and repair of the fleet.

The Duke of Newcastle, the politician responsible, had by now joined the Prime Minister in an uneasy political coalition and this made it difficult for Pitt to contest the court-martial's verdict as strongly as he would have liked.

[33] The severity of the penalty, combined with suspicion that the Admiralty had sought to protect themselves from public anger over the defeat by throwing all the blame on the admiral, led to a reaction in favour of Byng in both the Navy and the country, which had previously demanded retribution.

(His eldest surviving nephew, George Byng, 4th Viscount Torrington, had already inherited the grand paternal mansion and estate at Southill Park.)

In Portsmouth, Candide witnesses the execution of an officer by firing squad and is told that "in this country, it is good to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others" (Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres).