Talk:Francis Austen

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Francis Austen article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Military history: Biography / Maritime / British / European / Early Modern / Napoleonic era

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	Military biography task force
	Maritime warfare task force
	British military history task force
	European military history task force
	Early Modern warfare task force (c. 1500 – c. 1800)
	Napoleonic era task force (c. 1792 – 1815)

Biography: Military

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by the military biography work group (assessed as Mid-importance).

United Kingdom Mid‑importance

	United Kingdom portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United Kingdom, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the United Kingdom on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.United KingdomWikipedia:WikiProject United KingdomTemplate:WikiProject United KingdomUnited Kingdom articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Promotion dates?[edit]

Joined the RN in 1786, Commission as Lieutenant in 1792... But the article is currently vague as to when he was promoted to Post Captain. Promotion from Captain to Admiral was purely by seniority, so the date when an individual was first commissioned as a Post Captain was extremely important.

Patrick Obrian's novels say that being appointed to command Sea Fencibles, or a (ceremonial) commission of Colonel of Marines was equivalent to being Commissioned as a Post Captain -- for the purposes of seniority. I can't remember how high a rank within the Sea Fencibles the commission had to be to count as equivalent to Post Captain. A 16-gun brig would have been a small vessel and he and its commander would have been the only commissioned officers.

The article implies that he was not on active service from the late 1790s until his appointment to the Sea Fencibles.

Novels, including those of Frederick Marryat, who had served in the RN at that time, portray appointment as heavily dependent on either nepotism, or based on notable acts, either of the officer in question, or the captain of his ship.

So, to what did Austen owe his promotion? Geo Swan (talk) 03:33, 1 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

He was promoted to captain on 13 May 1800 according to Heathcote. Dormskirk (talk) 23:11, 4 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Merge from Martha Lloyd[edit]

In my view, no more than a couple of lines should be merged in from Martha Lloyd and that would need to be well sourced. Anything more would be undue. Dormskirk (talk) 14:54, 6 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Merger complete. . Joyous! Noise! 20:00, 6 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]