Admiral Sir Alexander Dundas Young Arbuthnott (bapt. 5 March 1789 – 8 May 1871) was a British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

officer of the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

Background

Born in Forton, Hampshire, he was the son of Robert Arbuthnott, grandson of

Robert Arbuthnot, 1st Viscount of Arbuthnott Robert Arbuthnot, 1st Viscount of Arbuthnott Privy Council, PC (before 1625 – 10 October 1655) was a British peerage, Scottish Peer and Privy Council of Scotland, Scottish Privy Counsellor (1649). He was a son of Sir Robert Arbuthnott, 1 ...

, and his wife Cordelia, daughter of Hon. James Murray.

Career

Arbuthnott entered the Royal Navy in 1803 and served as a midshipman aboard the warship at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

in 1805. He was present at the capture of ''

Le Rhin ''Le Rhin'' (lit. ''The Rhine'') is an 1842 travel guide written by Victor Hugo. Similar to Mark Twain's writings about the Mississippi, it includes many stories about the Rhine river. It ends with a political manifesto. External links * ''Le ...

'' in 1806 and that of four French frigates off Rochefort by

Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet (27 November 1762 – 24 December 1814), of 37 Lower Wimpole Street, London, was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served as a Member of Parliament for Westminster in 1806. He is not to be confused ...

's Squadron in the same year. Arbuthnott was with the expedition to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1807, was at the capture of Antwerp, and escorted the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia to England in 1814. He was commander of the ''

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

'', a 10-gun sloop-of-war, on a mission to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 1823. In the following year, Arbuthnott was in the ''

Redwing The redwing (''Turdus iliacus'') is a bird in the thrush family, Turdidae, native to Europe and the Palearctic, slightly smaller than the related song thrush. Taxonomy and systematics This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in h ...

'' and was appointed a

Gentleman of the Privy Chamber A privy chamber was the private apartment of a royal residence in England. The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were noble-born servants to the Crown who would wait and attend on the King in private, as well as during various court activities, f ...

. He then commanded and served in the Syrian Campaign of 1840. Arbuthnott was promoted to vice-admiral in 1858 and was created a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...

a year later. Sir Alexander was Grand Prior of the Sovereign and Illustrious Order of St John of Jerusalem, Anglia 1860–61. He was invested as a Knight Commander of the

Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Carlos III The Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III, originally Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III ( es, Real y Distinguida Orden Española de Carlos III, originally es, Real y Muy Distinguida Orden de Carlos III) was establ ...

and held the same rank in the Russian Military Order of the Saint Grand Martyr and the Triumphant George. He was ultimately promoted to full admiral on the Retired List in 1863 before his death in 1871. 200px, right

Family

In 1827, Arbuthnott married in

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional ce ...

Catherine Maria ("Mary") Eustace (born about 1806 in Ireland; still alive in 1891 living in Sheepy Magna, Leicestershire), third daughter of Rev. Charles Eustace and descendant of the Viscounts Baltinglass. They had a daughter, Josette Eliza Jane Arbuthnot (born about 1829 in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

; died 12 January 1909; married Major Frederick Wollaston). Arbuthnott died in 1871 in Leicester. He is buried in

Shenton Shenton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sutton Cheney, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, in the county of Leicestershire, England, situated south-west of Market Bosworth. Shenton was formerly a chapelry an ...

, Leicestershire.

References

* Mrs P S-M Arbuthnot ''Memories of the Arbuthnots'' (1920). George Allen & Unwin Ltd. *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arbuthnott, Alexander Dundas Young 1789 births 1871 deaths People from Test Valley Alexander Douglas Young Arbuthnott Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Knights Bachelor Royal Navy admirals Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber