Naval officers such as Captain Philip Broke and army officers such as Thomas Woods Knollis, though loyal to their country, found that their national duty was challenged by an increasing sense of familial duty. Although compelled by the position, privileges and responsibilities they held as members of the gentry and aristocracy to perform their traditional public roles, Broke and Knollis also valued their domestic duties, and sought to fulfil these through correspondence, visits home and both familial and non-familial support networks.2 The challenge to reconcile domestic duties with the demands of the nation and the service became especially difficult when young children were involved. These demands left little time for fatherhood, particularly during wartime. As the above letter demonstrates, Broke struggled to balance duty to his country with the demands and pleasures of parenthood. By exploring the correspondence of men such as Broke and Knollis, this chapter will consider the ways in which pregnancy, childbirth and raising young children affected eighteenth-century naval and military families. There has been relatively little work done on the evolving roles of fathers in Britain throughout the century, despite contemporary commentary and representation of both maternal and paternal roles.3 War was a near constant feature of eighteenth-century life. For naval and military families it had a tremendous impact on their everyday lives, especially when it took the head of the household away from home. Current scholarship does not fully consider the impact of war on the intimate concerns of family life and how war affected both maternal and paternal roles and responsibilities. This chapter will show how fathers such as Broke and Knollis used their correspondence to help overcome the trials of separation and to maintain a strong, influential and domestic role within their families.