ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the loneliness of leadership experienced by active Royal Navy officers during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, specifically captains and admirals, who not only were often away from their loved ones for years at a time but were also, as a result of the increasingly rigid, hierarchical structure of the Royal Navy, set apart professionally, socially and psychologically from their subordinates. It suggests that, on the whole, these men suffered from two kinds of loneliness: personal and professional. While the two frequently overlapped, both were vocational and were primarily articulated through expressions of longing and frustration—be it for home and loved ones, for peer sociability and/or for official direction and recognition. It contends that while loneliness could be acute, it was endured and contained, not only because the men involved expected it to be time-limited but also because they believed in the cause for which they were fighting and felt that their service at sea would lead to the fulfilment of a variety of goals—personal or familial, professional and/or national.
