Admiral George Keith Elphinstone, 1st and last Viscount Keith

Blythswood Hill, leading to Blythswood Square, is one of the central hills overlooking the River Clyde, which form the city of Glasgow, Scotland, and was developed as one of its prestigious residential areas from 1800 onwards.After the Reformation the Lands of Blythswood were owned by Sir George Elphinstone and changed to the Douglas-Campbell family during the 17th century. Archibald Campbell, whose son became Lord Blythswood, set about feuing the lands to developers.

• Born on 7 January 1745/46.
• Son of Charles Elphinstone, 10th Lord Elphinstone and Lady Clementina Fleming.
• Married, firstly, Jane Mercer, daughter of William Mercer and Margaret Murray, on 9 April 1787.
• Married, secondly, Hester Maria Thrale, daughter of Henry Thrale and Hester Lynch Salusbury, on 10 January 1808.1
• Died on 10 March 1823 at age 77.
• Commissioned in 1761, in the service of the Royal Navy.
• Member of Parliament (M.P.) (Whig) for Dunbartonshire between 1781 and 1790.
• Fought in the Battle off Toulon in 1793.
• Gained the rank of Rear-Admiral in 1794 in the service of the Royal Navy.
• Commander of the Sheerness at the time of the Mutiny at The Nore, which he helped put down.
• Invested as a Knight, Order of the Bath (K.B.) in 1794.
• Fought in the Capture of Cape Town in 1795, which he commanded.
• Gained the rank of Vice-Admiral in 1795.
• Held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) (Whig) for Stirlingshire between 1796 and 1801.
• Created 1st Baron Keith, of Stonehaven Marischal [Ireland] on 16 March 1797, with a special remainder to his daughter, Margaret.
• Commander-in-Chief of the the Mediterranean Fleet between 1799 and 1802 participating in military operations at Aboukir Bay and taking of Alexandria.1 He was decorated with the award of the Kinght, Ordert of the Crescent of the Ottoman Empire.
• Invested as a Fellow, Royal Society (F.R.S.).
• Gained the rank of Admiral of the Blue in 1801.
• Created 1st Baron Keith, of Stonehaven Marischal, co. Kincardine [U.K.] on 15 December 1801.
• Commander-in-Chief of the Plymouth in 1803.
• Commander-in-Chief of the North Sea and Eastern Channel between 1803 and 1807.
• Created 1st Baron Keith, of Banheath, co. Dumbarton [U.K.] on 17 September 1803, with a special remainder to his daughter, Margaret.
• Gained the rank of Admiral of the White in 1805.
• Gained the rank of Admiral of the Red in 1810.
• Commander-in-Chief of the the Channel Fleet in 1812.
• Created 1st Viscount Keith [U.K.] on 1 June 1814.
• Invested as a Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath (G.C.B.) in 1815.
• Decorated with the award of the Knight Grand Cross, Order of Saint Maurice and Saint Lazarus of Sardinia.

On his death, the Viscountcy and 1801 Barony became extinct

Reference http://www.thepeerage.com/p3069.htm#i30684

• Updated from MyHeritage Family Trees by SmartCopy: Apr 1 2015, 18:52:27 UTC

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Elphinstone

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

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 Saint Vincent. 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.

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. After peace was signed he remained on shore for ten years, serving in Parliament as member first for Dunbartonshire, and then for Stirlingshire.

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 at the Cape of Good Hope and in India. 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.

At the close of 1798, he was sent as second in command to St Vincent. 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 jarrings 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. He co-operated with the Austrians in the siege of Genoa, which surrendered on the 4th of 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 in the North Sea,[2] 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

A portrait of him by Owen is in the Painted Hall in Greenwich. 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.

In fiction

In Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series Lord Keith and his wife 'Queeney' appear in several of the best-selling novels.

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.).