Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Norris was a Royal Navy officer and Whig politician. After serving as a junior officer during the Nine Years' War and the Williamite War in Ireland, he was given command
Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1711
c. 1735 portrait of Norris by George Knapton
Norris's home, Hemsted Park in Kent (now occupied by Benenden School)
The Battle of Barfleur at which Norris saw action in command of a fire ship during the Nine Years' War
An invasion of Great Britain was planned by France in 1744 shortly after the declaration of war between them as part of the War of the Austrian Succession. A large invasion force was prepared and put
John Norris (Royal Navy officer)
…be commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet at the outset of the War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739. In 1744 he was asked to defend Britain from an imminent French Invasion: he was preparing for battle against the French fleet, when storms intervened scattering the invasion transports, with heavy loss of life, thereby…
George Wade was to have commanded British troops resisting the invasion.