Josiah Burchett

Who was Josiah Burchett?

Josiah Burchett was Secretary of the Admiralty in England, a position he held for almost fifty years. He was first a clerk to Samuel Pepys, the English civil servant famous for his diary. Burchett eventually fell out of favour with Pepys, but gained the respect and favour of Lord Admiral Edward Russell, and eventually was appointed Secretary of the Admiralty. He served continuously as Secretary of the Admiralty until retiring at age 76.

Burchett served on Russell's flagship, the 100-gun HMS Britannia, at the battle of Barfleur in 1692 during the War of the Grand Alliance. In 1693 he became the Deputy Judge Advocate of the Fleet, replacing Samuel Pepys in that office. Burchett was elected as a member of the English Parliament in 1705 as a Whig and member of the 'Court Group' representing the borough of Sandwich, in Kent. He remained a Member of Parliament until 1713, then returned in 1721 continuing as a member for 20 years.

Using official reports received by the Admiralty, Burchett wrote the Memoirs of Transactions at Sea during the War with France, which was published in 1706 by the Queen's Printer, Edward Jones. In 1720 he published the lengthy book A Complete History of the Most Remarkable Transactions at Sea, which was reissued in 1995 by John Hattendorf of the U.S. Naval War College. This 1720 book was the first general naval history published in the English language. This book was published by the printing firm J. Walthoe under royal license of King George I of Great Britain and was clearly based on the official reports received in the Admiralty. Burchett's A Complete History of the Most Remarkable Transactions at Sea, along with Thomas Lediard's 1735 The Naval History of England, has become a key source of naval history of that era.