A full-length portrait to the left showing Cornwallis in his captain's uniform of the 1767-74 pattern with a plain waistcoat. He stands on the shore with a ship in the left background.
William Cornwallis joined the Navy in 1755. His first ship was the ‘Newark’ under Admiral Edward Boscawen, which saw action at the capture of Louisbourg in 1758 and the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759. Cornwallis was appointed lieutenant on 5 April 1761. In July 1764 he was promoted commander and was made a captain on 20 April 1765.
In 1774, he was in the ‘Pallas’ off the west coast of Africa before being stationed to the West Indies in the ‘Lion’, where he took part in the Battle of Grenada, 6 July 1779. He met Nelson in Jamaica. Cornwallis saw further action during the American war at St Kitts in January 1782 and, most especially, at the Battle of the Saints, 12 April 1782. He was made commodore and commander-in-chief of the East Indies in October 1788; his brother, Earl Cornwallis, was governor-general of Bengal.
On 1 February 1793 he was promoted rear-admiral and hoisted his flag in the Channel Fleet. On 4 July that year he was made vice-admiral and moved to the 100-gun ‘Royal Sovereign’ in December. He took command of the West Indies Fleet in 1796. The ‘Royal Sovereign’ was damaged in a collision and, while his fleet sailed into the Atlantic, Cornwallis returned to Spithead. He was court-martialled for refusing to join the fleet in a frigate (his health was poor) and although acquitted, he struck his flag. He became a full admiral on 14 February 1799.
In February 1801, he returned to active service in command of the Channel Fleet in the 110-gun ‘Ville de Paris’, masterminding the blockade of Brest. Exhausted by the exertions of command, he hauled down his flag on 22 February 1806 and saw no further service.