Senior officer Anson was elected
Member of Parliament for
Hedon in the
East Riding of Yorkshire in 1744. He joined the
Board of Admiralty led by the
Duke of Bedford in December 1744. Promoted to
Rear-Admiral of the White on 23 April 1745 and to
vice-admiral of the blue in July 1745, he took command of the Western Squadron, with his flag in the third-rate , in July 1746. The treasure amounted to
£300,000. He was elevated to the
peerage as
Baron Anson,
of Soberton, in the County of Southampton, on 11 June 1747. In 1748, the memoir of Anson's circumnavigation—
Voyage Round the World in the Years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV—was published, having been edited from his notes and
Richard Walter's journals by
Benjamin Robins. It was a vast popular and commercial success. He was promoted to
admiral of the blue on 12 May 1748 and became
Vice-Admiral of Great Britain on 4 July 1749. He was advanced to
Senior Naval Lord on the Admiralty Board in November 1749.
First Lord of the Admiralty Anson became
First Lord of the Admiralty in the
Broad Bottom Ministry in June 1751 and continued to serve during the
first Newcastle ministry. which led him to keep a large force in the
English Channel. In 1756 he was criticised for not sending enough ships with
Admiral Byng to
relieve Minorca because he wanted to protect Britain from a threatened invasion, only to see
Byng fail to save Minorca while no invasion attempt materialised. He left the Admiralty when the Newcastle ministry fell in November 1756 and then served again as First Lord when the
Pitt–Newcastle ministry was created in June 1757. In July 1758, after
Edward Hawke had decided to strike his flag and return to port over a misunderstanding at which he took offence, Anson hoisted his own flag in the
first-rate and took over command of the Western Squadron again. As well as securing home defence, Anson co-ordinated with
William Pitt a series of British attacks on French colonies around the globe. By 1760 the British had captured
Canada,
Senegal and
Guadeloupe from the French, and followed it up by
capturing Belle Île and Dominica in 1761. In 1762 the entry of Spain into the war offered further chances for British expeditions. Anson was the architect of a plan to
seize Manila in the Philippines and, using the idea and plans of Admiral
Sir Charles Knowles to capture Havana. Anson had been concerned that the combined strength of the French and Spanish navies would overpower Britain, but he still threw himself into the task of directing these expeditions. The British also
captured Martinique and Grenada in the
French West Indies. Anson was promoted to
Admiral of the Fleet on 30 July 1761. His last service was to convey
Queen Charlotte to England. Despite his prominence, naval historian
Nicholas A. M. Rodger has described Anson as "by nature austere and withdrawn, disinclined to correspondence or even to conversation ... notoriously difficult to speak to." While happy to support promotions for junior officers when recommended by fellow admirals, he was notoriously opposed to promotions supported by civilian political figures. In Parliament he aligned himself with a faction of other naval officers which routinely supported the ministry of the day. He died at
Moor Park in
Hertfordshire on 6 June 1762 and was buried at St Michael and All Angels’ Church in
Colwich, Staffordshire. and
Anson, Maine. Eight warships of the Royal Navy have also been
named after him. ==Family==