Early Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Admiral; second son of James Vernon; entered the navy, 1700; captain, 1706; MP, Penryn, 1722; advocated war with Spain, 1731; took the defenceless Porto Bello, 1739, but, in conjunction with Brigadier-general Wentworth, failed miserably at Cartagena, in 1741, at Santiago in Cuba, and Panama; first to issue rum diluted with water ('grog'), 1740; bought Nacton; MP, Ipswich; admiral, 1745; given command in North Sea, 1745; attacked the admiralty in anonymous pamphlets, 1745-46; cashiered, 1746.

Referencesback to top

McCormick-Goodhart 1945
L. McCormick-Goodhart, Admiral Vernon Medals, 1945.

Medina 1919
J. T. Medina, Las Medallas del Almirante Vernon, 1919.

Thicknesse 1788
Philip Thicknesse, A Sketch of the Life and Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough, 1788.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Kerslake, Early Georgian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1977, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.