George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith

Admiral George Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith, GCB (7 January 1746 – 10 March 1823) was a British naval officer active throughout the Napoleonic Wars.

The Viscount Keith
George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith by George Sanders (painter)
Born7 January 1746
Stirling, Scotland
Died10 March 1823 (aged 77)
Tulliallan Castle, near Kincardine-on-Forth
Allegiance Great Britain
United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
RankAdmiral of the Red
Commands heldCape of Good Hope Station
Mediterranean Fleet
Nore Command
North Sea Fleet

Career

Fifth son of the 10th Lord Elphinstone, he was born in Elphinstone Tower, near Stirling, Scotland. Two of his brothers went to sea, and he followed their example by entering the Royal Navy in 1761, in HMS Royal Sovereign, but then transferred to HMS Gosport, then commanded by Captain John Jervis, afterwards Earl of St Vincent.[1] In 1767, he made a voyage to the East Indies in the British East India Company's service, and put £2000 lent him by an uncle to such good purpose in a private trading venture that he laid the foundation of a handsome fortune. He became lieutenant in 1770, commander in 1772, and post captain in 1775.[1]

Post-Captain

During the war in America he was employed against the privateers, and with a naval brigade at the occupation of Charleston, South Carolina. In January 1781, when in command of the 50-gun HMS Warwick, he captured a Dutch 50-gun ship which had beaten off a British vessel of equal strength a few days before. On 15 September 1782 in the Delaware Bay he led a squadron that captured the French 38 gun frigate Aigle during which Captain Latouche Tréville was taken prisoner. After peace was signed he remained on shore for ten years, serving in Parliament as member first for Dunbartonshire, and then for Stirlingshire.[1] He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1790.[2]

Admiral

When war broke out again in 1793, he was appointed to the 74-gun HMS Robust, in which he took part in the occupation of Toulon by Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood. He particularly distinguished himself by beating a body of the French ashore at the head of a naval brigade of British and Spaniards. He was entrusted with the duty of embarking the fugitives when the town was evacuated. In 1794 he was promoted rear-admiral, and in 1795 he was sent to occupy the Dutch colonies in South Africa thereby establishing the Cape of Good Hope Station.[3] He had a large share in the capture of the Cape in 1795, and in August 1796 captured a whole Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay. In the interval he had gone on to India, where his health suffered, and the capture at Saldanha was effected on his way home. When the Nore Mutiny broke out in 1797 he was appointed to the command, and was soon able to restore order. He was equally successful at Plymouth, where the squadron was also in a state of effervescence.[1]

At the close of 1798, he was sent as second in command to St Vincent.[1] It was for a long time a thankless post, for St Vincent was at once half incapacitated by ill-health and very arbitrary, while Horatio Nelson, who considered that Keith's appointment was a personal slight to himself, was peevish and insubordinate. In May 1799, he was unable to counter Bruix' expedition, mainly due to sparring among the British naval commanders. Keith followed the enemy to Brest on their retreat, but was unable to bring them to action.

He returned to the Mediterranean in November as commander-in-chief.[1] He co-operated with the Austrians in the siege of Genoa, which surrendered on 4 June 1800. It was however immediately afterwards lost in consequence of the Battle of Marengo, and the French made their re-entry so rapidly that the admiral had considerable difficulty in getting his ships out of the harbour. The close of 1801 and the beginning of the following year were spent in transporting the army sent to recover Egypt from the French. As the naval force of the enemy was completely driven into port, the British admiral had no opportunity of an action at sea, but his management of the convoy carrying the troops, and of the landing at Aboukir, was greatly admired.

He was made Baron Keith of the United Kingdom, an Irish barony having been conferred on him in 1797. On the renewal of the war in 1803 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, North Sea (which at the time included Nore Command),[1][4] which post he held till 1807. In February 1812 he was appointed commander-in-chief in the English Channel, and in 1814 he was raised to a viscounty. During his last two commands he was engaged first in overlooking the measures taken to meet a threatened invasion, and then in directing the movements of the numerous small squadrons and private ships employed on the coasts of Spain and Portugal, and in protecting trade.

He was at Plymouth when Napoleon surrendered and was brought to England in HMS Bellerophon by Captain Maitland (1777–1839). The decisions of the British government were expressed through him to the fallen Emperor. Lord Keith refused to be led into disputes, and confined himself to declaring steadily that he had his orders to obey. He was not much impressed by the appearance of his illustrious charge and thought that the airs of Napoleon and his suite were ridiculous. Lord Keith died in 1823 at Tulliallan Castle, near Kincardine-on-Forth, Fife, his property in Scotland, and was buried in the parish church.

Family life

He was twice married: in 1787 to Jane Mercer, daughter of Colonel William Mercer of Aldie; and in 1808 to Hester Thrale, daughter of Henry Thrale and Hester Thrale, who is spoken of as 'Queeney' in Boswell's Life of Johnson and Mme d'Arblay's Diary. He had a daughter by each marriage, the second being Georgina Augusta Henrietta Keith, but no son. Thus the viscounty became extinct on his death, but the British and Irish baronies descended to his elder daughter Margaret (1788–1867), who married the Comte de Flahault de la Billarderie, only to become extinct on her death.

George Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith

A portrait of him by Owen is in the Painted Hall in Greenwich and another by George Sanders in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

Freemasonry

He was initiated into Scottish Freemasonry in Lodge Holyrood House (St Luke's), No.44, on 16 June 1769.[5]

In fiction

Lord Keith and his wife 'Queeney' appear in several of the novels in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey–Maturin series. He is also mentioned in passing in Robert Brightwell's novel Flashman and the Seawolf, based loosely on the exploits of Thomas, Lord Cochrane (as indeed is, in part, the character of Jack Aubrey).

Bibliography

There is a panegyrical Life of Lord Keith by Alex. Allardyce (Edinburgh, 1882); and biographical notices will be found in John Marshall's Royal Naval Biography, i. 43 (1823–1835), and the Naval Chronicle, x. I. (D. H.).

Arms

Coat of arms of George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith
Crest
A Lady from the middle well attired proper holding in her dexter hand a Tower Argent and in her sinister a Laurel Branch proper
Escutcheon
Argent a Chevron Sable between three Boars' Heads erased Gules
Supporters
Dexter: A Savage proper wreathed head and middle with Oak Leaves Vert in his exterior hand a Club resting on his right shoulder on his breast a Shield Azure charged with three Fleur de lis Or, at his feet an Anchor Sable; Sinister: A Stag proper attired and unguled Or collared Azure the Collar charged with three Cinquefoils Argent and pendent therefrom a Shield of the last with a Chief Gules charged with three Pallets Or, the dexter hind foot resting on an Anchor Sable
Motto
Cause Causit [6]

References

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Keith, George Keith Elphinstone, Viscount". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 716–717.
  1. Viscount Keith at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  2. "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  3. Hiscocks, Richard. "Cape Commander-in-Chief 1795-1852". morethannelson.com. morethannelson.com. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  4. "Lord Keith, en af Englands ypperste Amiraler", Åbo Tidning (in Swedish) (17), pp. 1–2, 28 February 1807, retrieved 3 July 2014
  5. A History of the Mason Lodge of Holyrood House (St.Luke's), No.44, holding of the Grand Lodge of Scotland with Roll of Members, 1734-1934, by Robert Strathern Lindsay, W.S., Edinburgh, 1935. Vol.II, p.676.
  6. http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/keith1814.htm
Military offices
Preceded by
New Post
Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope Station
1795–1796
Succeeded by
Thomas Pringle
Preceded by
Earl of St Vincent
Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet
1799–1802
Succeeded by
Viscount Nelson
Preceded by
Archibald Dickson
Commander-in-Chief, North Sea
1803–1807
Succeeded by
Thomas Russell
Preceded by
Alexander Graeme
Commander-in-Chief, The Nore
(Part of North Sea Command)

1803–1807
Succeeded by
Thomas Wells
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Lord Frederick Campbell
Member of Parliament for Dunbartonshire
1781–1790
Succeeded by
Sir Archibald Edmonstone
Preceded by
Robert Graham of Gartmore
Member of Parliament for Stirlingshire
1796–1801
Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Member of Parliament for Stirlingshire
1801–1802
Succeeded by
Charles Elphinstone Fleeming
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Viscount Keith
1814–1823
Extinct
New creation Baron Keith
1803–1823
Succeeded by
Margaret Keith
Peerage of Ireland
New creation Baron Keith
1797–1823
Succeeded by
Margaret Keith
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