Quicksilver Captain; The Improbable life of Sir Home Popham
Jacqueline Reiter
Helion Books (From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 Series No. 135) 2024
ISBN 9781804514412
356 pages
60 B&W images and 10 maps
No one can question the thoroughness of Jacqueline Reiter’s research; and with an easy writing style, whilst being copiously annotated with references/learned footnotes, this book is a veritable tour de force. Sir Home Popham was one amongst many maverick naval officers thrown up by the Napoleonic wars, ranking alongside Cochrane, Hoste & Sir Sidney Smith amongst others, but like them he also had a number of mirky secrets which dogged much of his career. Indeed, Reiter appears to have a penchant for such questionable heroes; this book following on from her previous work on John Pitt, the Earl of Chatham, of Walcheren infamy.
Over 19 chapters, Jacqueline Reiter ably describes Home Popham’s life and very unusual rise through the ranks of the Navy, whilst only rarely commanding a ship. An ambitious man, with an expertise in hydrography and a penchant for ‘blue water’ thinking; an inveterate gambler, who always sailed far outside his remit, he was certainly not an easy man to control; but certainly, convinced a series of eminent politicians to back him and his irregular schemes, many of which ended in abject failure, but occasionally saw incredible success.
Indeed, outside of the major fleet actions of the Napoleonic wars, in which Popham was never involved; it is hard to find another far-flung expedition or hair-brained scheme that he did not have his fingers in, from Flanders, to the Red Sea, the Cape of Good Hope, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Walcheren and Northern Spain. When not concocting new schemes, Popham also published his ‘Signal-Code’ which became the established code for the Navy and went through a number of expansions.
Home Popham was at the same time, an arch-schemer, always looking to enhance his fame, whilst schmoosing the press; but not averse to making a tidy sum on the side, not always legally! Indeed the ‘Etrusco’ affair and his Court Martial following the Buenos Ayres debacle dogged his professional career and he was certainly not averse to bending the truth. Many other naval officers refused to work with him and his few periods acting as commanding officer of a ship were fraught with unrest within his crews; but at the same time the public and press saw a charismatic leader and fully believed in following his ‘star’.
Popham’s career was certainly fantastic but true, and I suspect Jacqueline Reiter has struggled to cover every aspect of his multifarious career within the constraints and limitations of a single volume, but she has done an excellent job. I however must bring up a few minor quibbles; the maps produced are good, but it is frustrating when places mentioned in the text are not shown on the corresponding map; I also think – perhaps because of space constraints – that the private life of Home Popham often becomes lost in his professional career, with occasional mentions of his family, but no real sense of the domestic side of his life and the lives of his wife and numerous children.
My other little perennial dislike – is the decision by Helion to continue producing such excellent books, of real worth, in such flimsy card covers; I cannot believe that the reader will ever be happy with a curled up, creased cover after very little use, instead of paying a little more for a hard cover that lasts and truly protects the book.
Overall, however, this is a fantastic biography, of a larger-than-life character who had an immense impact on the Napoleonic wars – who always chased fame and fortune but was never far from nefarious dealings and ignominy.
Love him or hate him -the author majestically sits on this fence throughout, honestly describing his successes and failures with an even hand – he certainly was a mercurial character and well deserves such a proficient biographer to bring his story fully to light. I cannot recommend this book enough.
Gareth Glover
November 2024