Admiral Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington (c. 1648 – 13 April 1716) was an English naval officer and politician. Dismissed by James II of England in 1688 for refusing to vote to repeal the Test Act, which prevented Catholics from holding public office in England, he brought the Invitation to William to William of Orange at The Hague, disguised as a simple sailor. As a reward William made him the nominal commander of Dutch fleet which landed at Torbay, Devon on 5 November 1688, which initiated the Glorious Revolution.
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Early life
Born the son of Sir Edward Herbert and Margaret Smith, daughter of Thomas Smith, Herbert joined the Royal Navy in 1663. He was appointed a lieutenant in the third-rate HMS Defiance and saw action at the St. James's Day Battle in July 1666 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
Promoted to post-captain in 1666, he was given command of the fifth-rate HMS Pembroke in April 1667, of the fourth-rate HMS Constant Warwick in September 1668 and of the fourth-rate HMS Dragon in May 1672.
He went on to captain the third-rate HMS Dreadnought in spring 1672 and commanded her at the Battle of Solebay in May 1672 during the Franco-Dutch War. After that he took command of the third-rate HMS Cambridge in October 1673 and was severely injured while commanding her at the Battle of Schooneveld in June 1673.
He commissioned the third-rate HMS Rupert in February 1678, serving under John Narborough with the British fleet in the Mediterranean. In April 1679, Narborough returned to England, leaving Herbert in command of a squadron to continue the task of defending British interests in the Mediterranean in general and the colony of Tangier in particular. In July 1680, the Admiralty promoted Herbert to Admiral. Herbert was more successful than his predecessor, with a smaller force. In 1682, he negotiated a peace with Algiers that endured until 1816. His practice of convoying British merchant vessels showed much better protection of trade interests. Since Tangier was not well sited for action against the Barbary pirate ports of Algiers, Salé, Tripoli, and Tunis, Herbert made use of Gibraltar as a base for the fleet (arranging access with the Spanish in a local informal arrangement). Herbert's command in the Mediterranean continued until June 1683.
Flag officer
Herbert was appointed Rear-Admiral of England in 1683 and Master of the Robes in 1685. These employments brought him in £4,000 a year. However, when James II of England required him to promise that he would vote for the repeal of the Test Act, which prevented Roman Catholics from holding public office, his answer was "that his honour and conscience would not permit him to give any such pledge". The King replied: "Nobody doubts your honour, but a man who lives as you do ought not to talk about his conscience". To this reproach (which came from a bad grace from the lover of Catherine Sedley) Herbert replied: "I have my faults, sir; but I could name people who talk much more about conscience than I am in the habit of doing, and yet lead lives as loose as mine." The King immediately dismissed him from all his offices.
Disguised as a common sailor, Herbert went to the Dutch Republic in June 1688, carrying the Invitation to William, a letter written by seven prominent Englishmen requesting William, Prince of Orange overthrow James II. In The Hague, Herbert met with William and delivered the letter, offering his services to the Prince. William accepted Herbert's offer and allowed him to play a role in the Prince's planned invasion of England to overthrow James II, promoting him to lieutenant-admiral general of the Dutch States Navy. In an effort to dissuade the Royal Navy from attacking his invasion fleet, William appointed Herbert as the fleet's commander, although the Prince decreed that until the moment it made contact with the English navy Herbert was to share command with Lieutenant-admiral Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and consult with him on all significant matters. The invasion fleet landed in England on 6 October after having made no contact with the Royal Navy.
Following the Glorious Revolution, Herbert became Lord High Admiral and then, when the post of Lord High Admiral had been put into commission, he became First Lord of the Admiralty and Senior Naval Lord on the Board of Admiralty in March 1689. He was raised to the peerage by the new King William III as Earl of Torrington and Baron Herbert of Torbay in May 1689, following on his command of the English squadron at the Battle of Bantry Bay. He was credited with being the first to use the expression, "fleet in being". He proposed avoiding a set battle, except under very favourable conditions, until the arrival of reinforcements: by maintaining his fleet in being, he would force the French to remain in the area and prevent them from undertaking other operations.
Marriages
Torrington married twice, but had no issue by either wife:
Firstly to Anne Hadley, from whom he later separated;
Secondly to the twice widowed Anne (dowager Lady Crew), daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Armine, 2nd Baronet.