George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith

George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith

George Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith (born January 7, 1746 in Elphinstone Tower near Stirling , † March 10, 1823 in Tulliallan Castle near Kincardine , Fife ) was a British admiral during the Napoleonic Wars .

Life

George Elphinstone was the fifth son of Charles Elphinstone, 10th Lord Elphinstone and a great-nephew of George Keith, 9th Earl Marischal , after whom he also got his middle name. Elphinstone entered the sea service in 1761 and was a captain by 1775 .

During the American Revolutionary War between 1780 and 1783 he fought against privateers , commanded a naval brigade off Charleston (South Carolina) and captured a Dutch 50-gun ship. After the war, Elphinstone stayed on land for around ten years and represented the Scottish constituency of Dunbartonshire as an MP in the House of Commons from 1781 to 1790 .

In 1793 he commanded a ship of the line under Samuel Hood during the war against France when he took Toulon . In 1794 he was promoted to Rear Admiral and in 1795 conquered the Cape Country , sailing on to India , where he took Ceylon . On the way back he forced a Dutch squadron to surrender in Saldanhabucht in August 1796 . During the great naval mutiny of 1797, Elphinstone, as commander in chief, managed to restore order both on the Nore and later in Plymouth . From 1796 to 1801 he was also a Member of the House of Commons for the Scottish constituency of Stirlingshire .

He later received supreme command of the Mediterranean fleet , blocked Genoa in 1800 and covered General Abercromby's landing with his troops in Egypt in 1801 . There he refused to ratify the el-Arish agreement concluded by his sub-commander Sidney Smith with the French .

On his return he was Commander in Chief of the British Fleet in the North Sea between 1803 and 1807 , was promoted to Admiral of the White Flag in 1806 and then appointed Commander of the Canal Fleet in 1812. One of the main tasks of the two commandos was to ward off a potential invasion of Great Britain and to cover the important sea trade routes.

In his latter capacity he informed Napoleon of the future place of exile and directed the embarkation for St. Helena . Elphinstone died in 1823 at Tulliallan Castle near Kincardine , Fife , his country home in Scotland .

Title and family

In 1797 Elphinstone was raised to the hereditary nobility . He was given the dignity of Baron Keith in the Peerage of Ireland . In 1801 he was awarded a barony of the same name in the Peerage of the United Kingdom , which he was awarded again in 1803, now with a special succession arrangement in favor of his daughter. In 1814 he was promoted to Viscount Keith .

Elphinstone was married twice, a second marriage to Hester Maria Elphinstone, a daughter of Hester Thrale . He had a daughter from both marriages.

As Lord Keith he appears repeatedly with his wife Queenie in the Aubrey Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian .

George Elphinstone's nephew was William George Keith Elphinstone , who led the loss-making retreat of the British from Kabul in the First Anglo-Afghan War .

literature

• Kevin D. McCranie: Admiral Lord Keith and the naval was against Napoleon . University Press of Florida, Gainesville 2006, ISBN 0-8130-2939-2
• Keith, George Keith Elphinstone, Viscount . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 15 : Italy - Kyshtym . London 1911, p. 716 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Baron Keith 1797-1823	Margaret Elphinstone
New title created	Baron Keith 1801-1823	Title expired
New title created	Baron Keith 1803-1823	Margaret Elphinstone
New title created	Viscount Keith 1814-1823	Title expired