The Colerain Volunteers were part of the larger Irish Volunteer movement that emerged in 18th-century Ireland. They were local militia units raised in Colerain in 1778 to defend against potential invasion and maintain law and order. This movement was a response to the British government’s weakening of the Irish military and its perceived inability to maintain stability.
Admiral Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, PC (25 April 1725 – 2 October 1786) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1755 to 1782. He saw action in command of various ships, including the fourth-rate Maidstone, during the War of the Austrian Succession. He went on to serve as Commodore on the North American Station and then Commander-in-Chief, Jamaica Station during the Seven Years’ War. After that he served as Senior Naval Lord and then Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet. During the American Revolutionary War Keppel came into a notorious dispute with Sir Hugh Palliserover Palliser’s conduct as his second-in-command at the inconclusive Battle of Ushant in July 1778; the dispute led to Keppel and Palliser facing courts martial, which acquitted both of them. During the final years of the American Revolutionary War Keppel served as First Lord of the Admiralty.
Provenance: Born Collection
Marked “Wedgwood” lower case to the base.
Height: 7 ¾”
Condition: minute chip to the spout