George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington

George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington (1663 to 1733), was an Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal Navy and a Member of Parliament for Plymouth. As a young lieutenant in October 1688 he carried a letter from several captains to William of Orange, newly landed at Torbay, assuring him of their support, and the answer he brought back led the fleet to change allegiance in the Glorious Revolution. In the War of the Spanish Succession he fought at Vigo Bay, led the bombardment squadron at the capture of Gibraltar in 1704 and took part in the Battle of Malaga. Sent to the Mediterranean in 1718 as commander in chief, he chased the Spanish fleet down the Strait of Messina and destroyed it at the Battle of Cape Passaro, an early and decisive stroke of the War of the Quadruple Alliance. He later served as Senior Naval Lord and, from 1727, as First Lord of the Admiralty, where he helped found the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth.