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Sir John Hawkins
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
CH.108
Hawkins was born in Plymouth, Devon in 1532, the younger son of William Hawkins, an
experienced navigator and merchant known to Richard Hakluyt.
William Hawkins was also a prominent citizen of Plymouth where he served as Mayor 1532-1533
and 1538-1539 and which he represented in Parliament in 1539. John Hawkins' elder brother
William was also Mayor of Plymouth 1578-1579.
John Hawkins was therefore brought up in an established seafaring and mercantile family and may
also have gained military skills with his father privateering in the English Channel. After his own
voyages to the Canaries, Teneriffe, Guinea in West Africa and Portugal, Hawkins looked more
ambitiously towards the West Indies. Thereafter, Hawkins alternately clashed or traded with the
Spanish Empire.
Hawkins' civil career took after his family's example. In 1556 Hawkins was admitted Freeman of
Plymouth and he served as Mayor in 1572.
The Hawkins family coat of arms, augmented by Sir John in 1564, is depicted on an estate plan in
the collection (/276A). Interpretation of the inspiration for the crest on the coat of arms varies,
although it certainly stems from Hawkins' own voyages.
Arnold describes the crest as comprising a "demi-moor proper, bound captive, with annulets on his
arms and in his ears", attributing this to Hawkins commemorating a victory over the Moors
achieved on one of his voyages (p. 19). Arnold, a Solicitor and responsible figure in the Medway
Towns, was clerk to numerous organisations and Deputy Governor of Hawkins' Hospital.
Writing earlier than Arnold and for a more popular readership, Harris describes the crest as a
"demi-moor in his proper colour bound with cord" and attributes this to Hawkins' "infamous
traffic in slaves, which at that period does not seem to have militated against the feelings of the
most enlightened and humane of our countrymen" (p.7).
It is conceivable that at this time physical conditions for enslaved negroes had not yet degenerated
to those of the Eighteenth Century. On Hawkins' second slaving voyage, planned in 1564, 120
quarters of beans and peas with shirts and shoes were loaded for the anticipated 500 captives
(Williamson 1927/p.95).
Through Hawkins' contact with Benjamin Gonson, Treasurer of the Navy (and a financial backer
of his second slaving voyage), he was introduced to Gonson's daughter Katherine whom he
married in about 1559. This relationship with Gonson also resulted in Hawkins inheriting on
1st January 1578 the office of Treasurer of the Navy, following this with the Comptrollership of
the Navy in 1588, the Armada year. (A B. Gonson is mentioned in /349).
It was during Hawkins' period in office as Treasurer that he established the link with Chatham
which was to result in the foundation of the Chatham Chest and Hawkins' Hospital, both of which
followed in the wake of the Spanish Armada.
In the period 1578-1588 Hawkins' time as Treasurer saw new influences in the design of warships
and in the administration of the navy, with both of which Hawkins has been associated. As Rear
Admiral serving in the English Channel against the Spanish Armada, Hawkins distinguished
himself in an engagement off the Isle of Wight, following which Hawkins was knighted by Lord
Howard of Effingham on board the Arc on 25th July 1588 and was advanced Vice Admiral the
following day.
After a period ashore during which Hawkins was closely involved in the founding of the Chatham
Chest (1588-1590) and his Hospital (1592-1594), he again took to sea, in an expedition to the West
Indies led by Sir Francis Drake. Falling ill and dying off Porto Rico on 12th November 1595, his
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