Lord Aubrey Beauclerk

On the afternoon of one of the first days in January 1741, as the fleet was off the west end of Hispaniola, four large ships were sighted. The admiral signalled the Prince Frederick and five other ships of the line to chase. Towards dusk, the strangers hoisted French colours but did not shorten sail, and they were not overtaken till nearly ten o'clock. The Prince Frederick was the headmost ship, and Lord Aubrey hailed the ship he came up with, desiring her to heave to. As she neither did so nor answered his hail, he fired a shot across her bows; she replied with a broadside, and as the other ships came up a smart interchange of firing took place, after which they lay by till daylight. Their nationality was then apparent; they were really French ships, and the two squadrons parted with mutual apologies. The affair passed as a mistake and probably was so on the part of the English. The fleet, under Sir Chaloner Ogle, arrived at Jamaica on 7 January and joined Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon, under whose command it proceeded to Cartagena on the Spanish main.

There, in the attack on the Boca Chica during the Battle of Cartagena de Indias, Lord Aubrey was killed on 22 March 1741. A handsome monument to his memory was erected in Westminster Abbey, designed by Peter Scheemakers.^[1] A pension of £200 per annum was conferred on his widow, which she enjoyed until her death on 30 October 1755.^{[DNB 1][DNB 2][DNB 3][2]}

These references are found in the DNB article referred to above.

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