Maurice Suckling

Maurice Suckling
Portrait by Thomas Bardwell, 1764
Born	(1726-05-04)4 May 1726 Barsham, Suffolk, England
Died	14 July 1778(1778-07-14) (aged 52) Navy Office, London, England
Buried	Barsham Church
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1739–1778
Rank	Captain
Commands held	HMS Baltimore HMS Lys HMS Dreadnought HMS Nassau HMS Lancaster HMS Raisonnable HMS Triumph Comptroller of the Navy
Battles/wars	War of the Austrian Succession Seven Years' War Battle of Cap-Français Falklands Crisis of 1770 American Revolutionary War
Relations	Catherine Suckling (sister) Horatio Nelson (nephew)
Member of Parliament for Portsmouth
In office 1776–1778

Captain Maurice Suckling (4 May 1726 – 14 July 1778) was a British Royal Navy officer of the eighteenth century, most notable for starting the naval career of his nephew Horatio Nelson and for serving as Comptroller of the Navy from 1775 until his death. Suckling joined the Royal Navy in 1739 and saw service in the English Channel and Mediterranean Sea during the War of the Austrian Succession. With the support of relatives including Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, Suckling was promoted quickly and received his first command in 1754. At the start of the Seven Years' War in 1756 he was promoted to captain and given a command on the Jamaica Station. There he played a major part in the Battle of Cap-Français in 1757 and fought an inconclusive skirmish against the French ship Palmier in 1758 before returning to Britain in 1760.

Suckling was employed in the aftermath of the Capture of Belle Île in 1761 destroying French fortifications on the Île-d'Aix and went on half pay at the end of the war in 1763. He was given his next command during the Falklands Crisis of 1770, and took his nephew Nelson with him. Despite having misgivings over Nelson's suitability for the navy, Suckling supported him and saw him translated into several more active ships in order to further his naval education when Suckling himself moved to command a guard ship. Suckling left his ship in 1773 and was initially rebuffed in his attempts to gain fresh employment with the navy because of the ongoing peace, but in 1775 First Lord of the Admiralty John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, appointed him Comptroller of the Navy.

Suckling was competent in his new role and oversaw the Royal Navy's mobilisation when the American Revolutionary War began. In 1776 he was also elected Member of Parliament for Portsmouth. Suckling was able to use his powerful position to again assist Nelson, forming part of the board that passed him for promotion to lieutenant in 1777. Suckling continued throughout the period to assiduously attend meetings of the Navy Board, but was increasingly hampered by a long-term illness that caused him considerable pain. He died unexpectedly on 14 July 1778.