Jacket Blurbs

AT 12 MR BYNG WAS SHOT

Admiral the Hon John Byng was shot by Marine firing squad on the quarterdeck of HMS Monarch on March 14th, 1757, and was immortalised by Voltaire in Candide: 'In this country it is thought well to kill an Admiral from time to time to encourage the others.' For many months in 1755-56 our spies had warned the government of French plans for the invasion of Minorca, warnings which were steadily ignored. Too late, the government sent out a small fleet under Admiral Byng, who had to fight under the 'Fighting Instructions' — an antiquated set of rules for battle more than fifty years out of date. Byng's force, ill- equipped and commanded by inefficient captains, was outgunned and, on the strength of a garbled French report that he was defeated, he was arrested and accused of 'not doing his utmost'. The court, while clearing Byng of cowardice, misunderstood the wording of the charge and sentenced him to death for an error of judgment, which was no offence. Byng died bravely, giving the signal to the firing squad for his own execution. His death saved the guilty men, but the inhibiting effect on British admirals of the treatment meted out to him lasted until the Nelson era. Byng was one of the bravest scapegoats ever, and his case is a terrifying example of a whole government conspiring to 'frame' a Commander-in Chief to save its own reputation. Dudley Pope, who in his researches found a mass of hitherto unpublished material, has done full justice to the remarkable story of one of the most cold-blooded judicial murders in history.
Jacket designed by Francis Russell Flint

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