James Robert Drummond

Born the second of the eight children of James Drummond, 8th Viscount Strathallan and Lady Amelia Sophia Drummond (née Murray),[1][2] Drummond joined the Royal Navy on 2 February 1826. He was promoted to lieutenant on 27 December 1832, and to commander on 9 June 1838.[3]

As a commander he took command of the 18-gun sailing sloop HMS Scout in the Mediterranean in 1841.[4] Promoted to captain in 1846,[3] in 1852 he took charge of the 1st-Class wooden paddle-frigate HMS Retribution, which had 10-guns and also served in the Mediterranean.[5] Under his command the Retribution, which was listed as having 28 guns,[6] participated in the first bombardment of Sevastapol on 17 October 1854 during the Crimean War. During the bombardment, Retribution towed or was coupled broadside to the 120-gun sailing line-of-battle ship HMS Trafalgar.

Later that year, Drummond was appointed captain of the 31-gun wooden screw-corvette HMS Tribune,[7] and the following year to the 2nd rate, 2-decker 90-gun sail line-of-battle ship HMS Albion, both of which ships formed part of the Black Sea Fleet.[8] In March 1856 he became Captain of HMS Victory, flagship of Vice Admiral George Francis Seymour, Portsmouth,[9] and in December of that year he was transferred to the 5th-rate 44-gun sailing frigate HMS Maeander, for coast guard service.[10]

In May 1857 Drummond was appointed Private Secretary to Sir Charles Wood, the First Lord of the Admiralty and was then himself appointed Fourth Naval Lord from March 1858.[1][3] In December 1858 he was appointed as Commodore in HMS Fisgard, as Commander-in-Chief, Woolwich.[3] Fisgard was an old 5th-rate 46-gun sailing frigate, which had been hulked in 1847.[11] Captain Drummond was again Fourth Naval Lord from June 1861 to July 1866, and was promoted to Rear Admiral in January 1864.[2][12]

He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 24 May 1873, and was promoted to Vice Admiral on 2 June 1877.[3] He commanded the Mediterranean Fleet from 13 January 1874 to 15 January 1877.[13] His flagship was initially HMS Lord Warden and later HMS Hercules.[3] He was promoted to admiral on 22 January 1877 and retired on 16 September 1877, the day after his 65th birthday. He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 23 April 1880.[3] In retirement he served as Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod.[14]

Drummond married Catherine Francis Elliot, daughter of Admiral Sir George Elliot and Eliza Cecilia Ness, on 5 February 1856. They had one child, Laurence George Drummond, born on 13 March 1861, who became a soldier.[1] Catherine Drummond died on 20 April 1914.[1]

• O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). "Drummond, James Robert" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . John Murray – via Wikisource.