George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith

GCB FRS
GCB FRS
Birth name	George Keith Elphinstone
Born	17 January 1746; Elphinstone Tower, Falkirk
Died	10 March 1823 (aged 77); Tulliallan Castle, Kincardine
Allegiance	Great Britain; United Kingdom;
Branch	Royal Navy
Service years	1761–1823
Rank	Admiral of the Red
Wars	Seven Years' War; American Revolutionary War; French Revolutionary Wars; Napoleonic Wars;
Awards	Knight of the Order of the Crescent; Knight of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus;

George Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith

GCB FRS (7 January 1746 – 10 March 1823), was a British naval officer active throughout the Napoleonic Wars

.

George Elphinstone was the fourth son of Charles Elphinstone, 10th Lord Elphinstone, and his wife Lady Clementina Fleming, the daughter and heiress of John Fleming, 6th Earl of Wigtown. Elphinstone was born on 7 January 1746 at

William Fullerton Elphinstone, initially served in the Royal Navy before joining the East India Company. Elphinstone followed his third brother into the navy, joining the 100-gun ship of the line HMS Royal Sovereign on 4 November 1761. He stayed in her only briefly, transferring to the 44-gun frigate HMS Gosport, commanded by Captain John Jervis, on 1 January of the following year.^[1]

Serving in Gosport on the

post captain in 1775.^[1]^[2]

Post-Captain

During the American Revolutionary War 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 that 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.^[2] He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1790.

Admiral

When war broke out again in 1793, he was appointed to 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.^[4]

At the close of 1798, he was sent as second in command to St Vincent.

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.^[5]

He returned to the

Aboukir, was greatly admired.^[5]

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]^[6] which post he held until 1807. In February 1812 he was appointed commander-in-chief in the English Channel, and in 1814 he was raised to a viscountcy. During his last two commands he was engaged first in overseeing 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.^[5]

He was at Plymouth when

Kincardine-on-Forth, Fife, his property in Scotland, and was buried in the parish church.^[5]

Family life

He was twice married: in 1787 to Jane Mercer, daughter of Colonel William Mercer of Aldie, and in 1808 to

Comte de Flahault de la Billarderie, only to become extinct on her death.^[5]

A portrait of him by Owen is in the

Painted Hall in Greenwich^[5] 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.[7]

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 is, in part, the character of Jack Aubrey).

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 ^[8]

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Owen (2009).
^ ^a ^b Hannay 1911, p. 716.
^ Hiscocks, Richard (17 January 2016). "Cape Commander-in-Chief 1795–1852". morethannelson.com. morethannelson.com. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
^ Hannay 1911, pp. 716–717.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Hannay 1911, p. 717.
^ "Lord Keith, en af Englands ypperste Amiraler", Åbo Tidning (in Swedish), no. 17, pp. 1–2, 28 February 1807, retrieved 3 July 2014
^ 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.
^ "Keith, Viscount (UK, 1814 - 1823)".

References

Owen, C. H. H. (2009). "Elphinstone, George Keith, Viscount Keith". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hannay, David McDowall (1911). "Keith, George Keith Elphinstone, Viscount". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 716–717.

External links

"Archival material relating to George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith". UK National Archives.
Keith's Papers slowly being put online here.

Military offices
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
	Baron Keith 1801–1823	Extinct
	Baron Keith 1803–1823	Succeeded by Margaret Keith
Peerage of Ireland
New creation	Baron Keith 1797–1823	Succeeded by Margaret Keith

[FOOTNOTEOwen2009-1] Owen (2009).

[FOOTNOTEHannay1911716-2] Hannay 1911, p. 716.

[3] Hiscocks, Richard (17 January 2016). "Cape Commander-in-Chief 1795–1852". morethannelson.com. morethannelson.com. Retrieved 19 November 2016.

[FOOTNOTEHannay1911716–717-4] Hannay 1911, pp. 716–717.

[FOOTNOTEHannay1911717-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Hannay 1911, p. 717.

[6] "Lord Keith, en af Englands ypperste Amiraler", Åbo Tidning (in Swedish), no. 17, pp. 1–2, 28 February 1807, retrieved 3 July 2014

[7] 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.

[8] "Keith, Viscount (UK, 1814 - 1823)".

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