John Mordaunt (British Army officer)
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General Sir John Mordaunt was a British soldier and Whig politician, the son of Lieutenant-General Harry Mordaunt and Margaret Spencer. He was best known for his command of the Raid on Rochefort which ended in failure and his subsequent court-martial. Cleared on a technicality, he was nonetheless barred from holding further military command.
General Sir John Mordaunt by Allan Ramsay
The Whisker's. Or Sr Jn Suckling's Bugga Boh's, a 1757 caricature ridiculing Mordaunt and the aborted raid
Raid on Rochefort
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The Raid on Rochefort was a British amphibious attempt to capture the French Atlantic port of Rochefort in September 1757 during the Seven Years' War. The raid pioneered a new tactic of "descents" on the French coast, championed by William Pitt who had taken office a few months earlier.
British chart of the Basque Roads, 1757.
The village of Aix behind its later Napoleonic ramparts.
Colonel James Wolfe participated as Quartermaster General, but was frustrated by the lack of action. His performance impressed Pitt, who had him promoted and sent with a force to capture Louisbourg.
The main street in the village.