Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport

Arms of Hood: Azure, a fret argent on a chief or three crescents sable,[1] as sculpted on his monument in Cricket St Thomas Church

He was a younger son of the Rev. Samuel Hood (1691/2-1777),[2] Vicar of Butleigh and prebendary of Wells Cathedral (both in Somerset) and Vicar of Thorncombe in Devon (whose monument survives in St Leonard's Church, Butleigh[3]), by his wife Mary Hoskins, a daughter of Richard Hoskins, Esquire, of Beaminster, Dorset.[4]

His elder brother was Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (1724-1816). The sons of his first cousin Samuel Hood (1715-1805), a purser in the Royal Navy,[5][6][7] included Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet (1762-1814), Captain Alexander Hood (1758-1798)[8] and Captain Arthur Hood (1754-1776).

The story of his entry into the navy is recounted by Edmund Lodge (1756-1839) (a personal acquaintance of Lord Bridport) in his Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain:

To the breaking down of a carriage our naval history owes two of its most illustrious ornaments, and the offspring of a retired country clergyman two seats in the upper House of Parliament. The mischance occurred to Thomas Smith, afterwards a Vice-Admiral, a commander whose memory is still highly celebrated and cherished by the profession, in travelling through Mr. Hood's village of Butleigh, which afforded neither the means of repairing the damage, so as to enable the stranger for many hours to pursue his journey, nor any public place of accomodation in which he might pass the night. The vicar, however, presently appeared, with a hearty invitation to the parsonage, which was gladly accepted, and there entertained his unexpected guest with his best hospitalities. In the morning, when Mr. Smith was about to take his leave, he said, "Mr. Hood, you have two sons; would either of them like to go with me to sea?" It was first proposed to Samuel, the elder, who declined; but Alexander with cheerful eagerness accepted it, and, shortly after, joined his new patron. Returning for a time, about twelve months after, his brother Samuel was so well pleased with his report, that he also became desirous of entering the service, as he presently did, under the same favourable auspices; and it thus happened that, though the elder brother, he became, in after life, the younger Admiral.

Alexander entered the navy in January 1741 and was appointed lieutenant in HMS Bridgewater in 1746. He was promoted to commander in 1756 and served as flag captain for Rear Admiral Sir Charles Saunders, first in HMS Prince in the Mediterranean Sea (the flagship of Rear-Admiral Saunders, under whom Hood had served as a lieutenant), then in the frigate HMS Minerva.[9]

Seven Years' War

Main article: Great Britain in the Seven Years' War

Captain Alexander Hood, in 1759, inserted is the scene where Hood recaptured Warwick

In the Seven Years' War Hood fought at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759, and in 1761 Minerva recaptured after a long struggle, the 60-gun Warwick of equal force, which had been captured by the French in 1756. For the remainder of the war, from 1761 to 1763, he was captain of HMS Africa in the Mediterranean.[9]

Cricket House, built in 1786 by Admiral Hood to the design of Sir John Soane

In 1786 he built the surviving grade II listed[13] Georgian manor house, known as "Cricket House", to the designs of his friend the architect Sir John Soane (1753-1837).[14][15] The Admiral had purchased the estate in 1775 from Richard Hippisley Coxe. It is unknown whether the new house incorporated elements of the earlier 14th century house or whether it was completely new.[16] Soane completed further alterations in 1801–7. The Georgian orangery attached to the house was later turned into a parrot house.

He married twice,[17] but failed to produce any issue:[18]

• Firstly in 1758 to Maria West (c.1726-1786), known as "Molly", a daughter of the Reverend Richard West,[18] Prebendary of Winchester, by his wife Mary Temple, a daughter of Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet, of Stowe, Buckinghamshire, and sister of Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham.[19] Her modest mural monument designed by Sir John Soane (1753-1837) (who in 1786 rebuilt Cricket House for her husband) survives in Cricket St Thomas Church, comprising an urn capped by a segmental pediment surmounting a tablet inscribed as follows:[20]

"Sacred to the Memory of Mary Wife of Rear Admiral Alexander Hood, who died 12 September 1786, After a short illness. She was Daughter of the Reverend Doctor West And Niece to Lord Viscount Cobham of Stow in Buckinghamshire Whose Eldest Sister her Father Married. From the purest sentiments of esteem And in just testimony of her pious benevolence And most amiable disposition, Her affectionate Husband, has caused this humble Monument to be Erected. 1787".

• Secondly in 1788 to Mary Sophia Bray (d.1831), only daughter and heiress of Thomas Bray of Edmonton, Middlesex.[19]

Monument to Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, Cricket St Thomas Church, Somerset, designed by Sir John Soane (1753-1837). Displaying the arms of Hood, West and Bray, with quarterings, topped by the Hood crest of A Cornish Chough resting on an anchor

He died without issue on 2 May 1814 when the Viscountcy in the Peerage of the United Kingdom became extinct. His Irish barony passed[10] by special remainder to his younger great-nephew Samuel Hood, 2nd Baron Bridport (1788-1868), the husband of Charlotte Mary Nelson, 3rd Duchess of Bronté (1787–1873), daughter and heiress of William Nelson, 1st Earl Nelson, 2nd Duke of Bronté (1757–1835), elder brother and heir of the great Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté (1758–1805). Samuel and Charlotte's son Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, 3rd Baron Bridport (1814-1904) (Viscountcy created 1868), 4th Duke of Bronté in Sicily, sold Cricket House and its estate in 1898 to the chocolate manufacturer Francis Fry (d.1918), the estate having become heavily mortgaged.[14]

• David R. Fisher, biography of "Hood, Sir Alexander (1726-1814), of Cricket St. Thomas, Som.", published in History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790–1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986

• Hood's cousin once removed, also named Alexander Hood (1758–1798), was a captain in the Royal Navy, famous for a duel between his ship Mars and the French Hercule.

• William James, Naval History of Great Britain, 1793–1827.
• The Naval Chronicle, Volume 1 1799, J. Gold, London. (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-108-01840-1)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Bridport