Sir Charles Turner, 1st Baronet, while his great-uncle was Sir Robert Walpole. Suckling lived in Barsham until the age of four when his father died. His mother then, along with his sister Catherine and brother William, moved the family to live at Beccles in the same county. Nothing is recorded of Suckling's childhood past this point apart from that he continued to live in Beccles. Suckling's immediate family, as a single parent household, was not especially rich, and he did not receive a university education. These factors limited his career prospects, with the former meaning he could not join the British Army and the latter stopping him from following his father into the clergy. Suckling did however have the support of considerable patronage from the powerful Walpoles, and because of this he was able to find a place within the Royal Navy. At the age of thirteen, on 25 November 1739, Suckling was appointed an ordinary seaman on board the 50-gun fourth-rate HMS Newcastle at Sheerness Dockyard. While some records suppose that he was supported in his joining of the navy by Captain George Townshend, another maternal relative, historian John Sugden says this was the doing of Walpole. Suckling's first patron within the navy was Captain Thomas Fox, the commanding officer of Newcastle. Career Early career In Newcastle Suckling saw service in the Western Approaches, the English Channel, and off Gibraltar and Lisbon, advancing to able seaman on 7 April 1741 before being promoted to midshipman on 7 September. In 1742 Newcastle was sent to serve in the Mediterranean Sea; while at Port Mahon in March the following year Fox was given command of the 80-gun ship of the line HMS Chichester and, continuing to support Suckling's career, he took the midshipman with him on 16 June. While in the Mediterranean Suckling met the future Admiral of the Fleet Sir Peter Parker, at the time another junior officer, and formed a friendship that would endure throughout their respective careers. Having continued with Fox in Chichester, on 8 March 1745 Suckling took his examination for promotion to the rank of lieutenant at Port Mahon. He was at this stage not actually eligible to take the examination, by the rules needing to be a year older and to have another seven months of sea service. Fox was one of the four captains sitting to examine Suckling, and likely because of this the