Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Burrard, Sidney

4 November 1826 - 7 October 1893

Sidney Burrard was born at Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, where his father Revd Sir George Burrard (3rd baronet) was the rector. As the third son, his expectations of inheritance were limited, but the baronetcy did indeed pass through him and on to his son. He served in the Grenadier Guards, as had his grandfather, Lt Colonel William Burrard, and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel two years before the portrait below was taken.

His only published book, The Annals of Walhampton, was a record of the Burrard family over several generations, but with particular reference to the period 1679-1834 when the Burrard family exercised varying degrees of control over the Corporation of Lymington, a ‘rotten borough’, with the right to elect two members of parliament.

The book is particularly valuable for including the full correspondence in 1744-45 between Sir Harry Burrard (1st baronet) with the third Duke of Bolton and others which resulted in Burrard re-establishing control over one of the parliamentary seats. It also includes, a day-by-day account of Burrard’s coup of 1774-75, when he succeeded in ousting the 6th Duke of Bolton from the Corporation, and the full correspondence between Admiral Sir Harry Neale (2nd baronet, who changed his name from Burrard on marriage) and the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir James Graham, in 1832-33 over the appointment of the Port Admiral, Portsmouth.

Burrard died at 30, Lansdowne-place, Brighton.

Sources

• Burrard 1766: The Journal of William Burrard and Letters to his brother Harry covering the period 1738-66, British Library, Manuscript Collections: Add MSS 34097, 34207, 34274.

• Town Book of Lymington, HRO 27M74

• History of Parliament (on-line): 1. Constituencies: – Lymington; 2. Members: Neale (Sir Harry) and Burrard variously, John, Paul I, Paul II, Sir Harry, General Sir Harry, George

Portrait

by Camille Silvy, albumen print, 3 May 1861, NPG Ax52843 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Contribution to county’s history

The only full record of the history of the Burrards of Walhampton, cited in many books and articles.

Relevant published works

• Burrard, Sidney 1874, The Annals of Walhampton , W.J, Johnson, London .

• Diary of Sidney Burrard aged 12 of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, later Lieutenant Colonel Sidney (1839) HRO38A22/1.

• Diary of Sidney Burrard aged 13-14 of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, later Lieutenant (1840) HRO38A22/2.

• Manuscript book 'The Burrard Family', compiled by Lieutenant Colonel Sidney Burrard (c1892) HRO38A22/3

Critical Comments

The Annals of Walhampton is episodic rather than a complete history. In common with other works of the time, it is heavily reliant on family tradition and legend, which does not stand up to scrutiny, particularly in relation to his grandfather, William Burrard’s, marriage and later military career. Similarly, his father’s genealogical claims– based on a Saxon-named Norman invader in 1066, but without any connecting link before the 1570s – are no more than the fashionable genealogical fantasies of the period.

His treatment of his uncle, Admiral Sir Harry Neale, has largely held sway until very recently. But although Neale was favoured in Royal circles, a hero in his home town of Lymington, and a naval officer in the best traditions of the service, Burrard overstates his importance in the Mutiny at The Nore in 1797 and gives significance to the spat with Sir James Graham in the 1830s, when it is not even mentioned by Graham’s biographers.

Finally, much of the book is designed to impress upon the reader the altruistic character of the Burrard family and the continuity of policy on its transition from Whig to Tory, but completely overlooks the cupidity of Sir Harry Burrard as a member of parliament, the several sinecures passed round members of the family almost as heirlooms, and George Burrard’s pluralism of incumbencies in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, as well as the Isle of Wight

Other Comments

Recent re-interpretations of Walhampton and the Burrards include:

Barry Jolly: ‘The Burrard Neale Memorial at Walhampton – Legend and Reality’ Hampshire Studies: Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Vol 76 (2021) 129-46.

Barry Jolly: ‘Political Admiral and Royal Favourite – The Career of Sir Harry Neale, Bart GCB’ The Trafalgar Chronicle NS6 (2021) 70-88.

Barry Jolly: ‘The Life and Career of Lieutenant Colonel William Burrard: A Re-Interpretation’ Hampshire Studies: Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Vol 77 (2022) 139-52.

Barry Jolly: ‘Family Tradition in the Life of Sir Harry Neale: A Clarification’ The Trafalgar Chronicle NS7 (2022) 117-28.

Contributor

17 09 24, by Barry Jolly, who is currently a committee member of Friends of Sir Harry [Neale].

Key Words

Burrard, Walhampton, Lymington, parliament, Army, Royal Navy

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