This book explores the competing forces of family, war and duty in the lives of eighteenth-century British families, both at home and overseas. By examining thousands of letters written by naval and military officers, ordinary sailors, wives and children, it considers the developing roles and responsibilities of men and women within families and particularly how these roles were shaped by war. Through a close examination of personal correspondence this study seeks to move beyond the stereotypical representations of these men as irresponsible womanisers and ‘jolly Jack Tars’ to uncover an aspect of their lives long neglected by historians: their commitment to their families. In turn, the work uncovers the practicalities of eighteenth-century parenthood and family life during wartime. In a century plagued by prolonged conflicts, the tensions between family and patriotism were often expressed through correspondence. This book acknowledges and explores these tensions, particularly in the lives and letters of naval officers. Furthermore it analyses the personal and professional networks that individuals and families created and nurtured in a period that was otherwise dominated by systems of patronage. It also examines the effects of gender, class and rank on naval personnel and their families. The fundamental components of eighteenth-century life – family, duty and networks – are all revealed through family correspondence. This work also considers over 1,000 petitions of Royal Dockyard workers and their families, and dozens of petitions by the 1797 naval mutineers at Spithead and the Nore. Although petitions cannot offer us an in-depth or comprehensive study of individual lives or situations, we are able to catch a glimpse of petitioners’ hardships, and therefore an opportunity to understand how their lives, their families and sense of duty were affected by war. By analysing this correspondence we gain insight into the relative importance of (and tensions caused by) these components in the lives of eighteenth-century Britons and their families.