John Lindsay (Royal Navy officer)

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Sir John Lindsay

Knight of the Order of the Bath
Spouse(s)Mary Milner
Children
RelationsSir Alexander Lindsay, 3rd Baronet (father)

American War of Independence. In 1784 he was assigned as commodore and commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean
. In the last year of his life, he was promoted to rear admiral as an honorary position, as his failing health prevented him from taking a command.

He and his wife had no children together, but he was known to have three illegitimate children, including two daughters and a son, each by different women. One was

Lord Chief Justice, ruling on cases important to the abolition of slavery. Belle was educated, married, and inherited money from Murray.[2]

Early life

John Lindsay

He was born John Lindsay in 1737 to Sir Alexander Lindsay, 3rd Baronet of Evelix (near Dornoch in Easter Ross) and Amelia Murray, daughter of David Murray, 5th Viscount of Stormont. His mother was sister to William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield.

His sister

Margaret Lindsay was tutored in painting by Allan Ramsay
. In 1752 she eloped and married him as his second wife. Her parents became alienated from her by the marriage, which they disapproved. Her brother John remained loyal to her until her death in 1782.

Naval career

Lindsay joined the navy during the

Sir Edward Hawke's 1757 expedition to attack Rochefort.[2]

West Indies

Dido Elizabeth Belle and her second cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray, while living at Kenwood House with their great-uncle Lord Mansfield.

On 29 September 1757, Lindsay was made captain of the 28-gun frigate HMS Trent, serving from 1757 to 1763. He served in both the West Indies and in home waters during the war.[2] Trent was among ships used to try to capture Spanish ships in the Caribbean.

Trent was part of

Morro Castle, which he was trying to capture.[2]

For this and "many strong proofs of his valour"

knighthood
on 10 February 1764.

Lindsay returned to the West Indies, in command of the Tartar. His ship carried one of John Harrison's chronometers for tests and Thomas Erskine was serving as one of his midshipmen.[4]

He returned to Britain in 1765, following the conclusion of the war. Lindsay was

MP for Aberdeen Burghs from 1767 to 1768.[2]

Personal life and Marriage

While in the West Indies, Lindsay got an enslaved 14-year-old child named Maria Belle pregnant, she subsequently gave birth to a daughter in 1761 when she was about 15. Lindsay then returned to England in 1765 presumably with Maria Belle and their daughter.[5]

After, the daughter was baptized as Dido Elizabeth Belle by her mother Maria Belle in November 1766 at St George’s Church Bloomsbury, Lindsay was absent from the baptism and record, Dido wasn't publicly acknowledged by her father hence she was given her mother's last name. Lindsay wasn't in England around this time, as he appeared in Jamaican baptism record of his other daughter named Elizabeth Lindsay in December 1766.[6]

Under colonial law, Dido Belle was born into slavery and after her baptism, she was taken to Kenwood to be raised by Lindsay's uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, who educated and cared for her alongside her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray. She lived with them for 30 years (later Murray's will bequeathed her a sum and an annuity in 1793).[5]

Lindsay had at least five illegitimate children by five different women from 1761-1767 in Jamaica:

  1. Dido Elizabeth Belle (June 1761–1804), by Maria Bell "negro slave"
  2. John Edward Lindsay (Feb 1762–1762), by Mary Vellet "mulatto"
  3. Ann (November 1766), by Sarah Gandwell "free negro"
  4. Elizabeth Lindsay "Palmer" (Dec 1766–1842) by Martha G
  5. John Lindsay (Nov 1767–1821), by Francis Edwards "free mulatto" [7]

On 19 September 1768, Lindsay married Mary Milner (1740-1799), daughter of Sir William Milner. They had no children.

Despite being married, Lindsay still kept Maria Belle in England with him until 1774, when Lindsay having made her free and paid for her manumission, also transferred a piece of property in Pensacola to Maria, where she was to live and required her to build a house within 10 years, "the manumission transaction for the sum of two hundred Spanish milled dollars paid by Maria Belle a Negro Woman Slave about 28 years of age" dated 22 August 1774.[5]

His younger children, John and Elizabeth Lindsay weren't brought to Kenwood House, but both ended up being raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were known to correspond with each other, later his son John became a colonel and when he died, he left his estate to his mother Francis and his sister Elizabeth. When Elizabeth married to a merchant Peter Hill, she continued to reference her father as Sir John Lindsay (Dido made no such reference). It was said that Elizabeth didn't approve on social ground of her husband's friendship with poet Robert Burns.[7][8][9]

By the end of his life, Lindsay was known to reside in Scotland, he only acknowledged two child in his will, leaving £1,000 to "John and Elizabeth, my reputed son and daughter".[6]

East Indies

From August 1769 to March 1772 Lindsay was promoted to

British East India Company and the Indian nawabs
. This made him unpopular with the company and he was soon recalled.

Ushant

HMS Victory when commanded by Sir John Lindsay in 1778.

From March to May 1778, he was the first captain of the

American War of Independence.[2]

Later life and death

Sandwich and his successors appreciated Lindsay's ability, and he was appointed as

queen
of Sicily on board his ship.

Soon afterward, his health began to fail and he had to return to England. He was promoted to "

red" on 24 September 1787. For health reasons he held it as an honorary role rather than an active one. He died at Marlborough, on his way from a health trip to Bath, on 4 June 1788, aged fifty-one. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.[2]

Mansfield family tree

See also

Notes

  1. ^ D. Wilson, 'Naval gazing: A search for the true identity of a sculpted head by Michael Foye', The British Art Journal, Vol. VI, No. 2 [Autumn 2005], pp. 31-9.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Sir John Lindsay", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  3. ^ R. Beatson, Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain, 3 vols. (1790), 2.550
  4. ^ Thomas Erskine, Electric Scotland
  5. ^ a b c "Dido Belle". English Heritage. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  6. ^ a b Adams, Gene (1984). "Dido Elizabeth Belle / A Black Girl at Kenwood / an account of a protégée of the 1st Lord Mansfield" (PDF). Camden History Review. 12: 10–14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  7. ^ a b Major, Joanne (13 April 2023). "Dido Elizabeth Belle: revealing her half-siblings". Joanne Major. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  8. ^ "Robert Burns Country: The Burns Encyclopedia: Hill, Peter (1754 — 1837)". www.robertburns.org. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  9. ^ Sarahmurden (10 April 2023). "Sir John Lindsay". All Things Georgian. Retrieved 21 February 2024.

Sources

  • R. Beatson, Naval and military memoirs of Great Britain, 3 vols. (1790)
  • J. Charnock, ed., Biographia navalis, 6 (1798)
  • E. Haden-Guest, "Lindsay, John", Houses of Parliament records, Commons, 1754–90, 3.44
  • DNB
  • British Library, material on his appointment and some of his correspondence with the East India Company, Add. MS 18020
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Member of Parliament for Aberdeen Burghs

1767–1768 		Succeeded by
Military offices
Vacant Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet
1783–1784 		Succeeded by
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