Admiral Sir James Hanway Plumridge (13 March 1787 – 29 November 1863) was a British naval officer whose career extended from
Trafalgar to the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, and a
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP).
Early life and education
There are contradictory accounts of Plumridge's origins. He was born at
Hertford Street
Hertford Street is a street in central London's Mayfair district.
It runs between a junction with Park Lane and Old Park Lane at its western end, to Curzon Street at its north-east end.
In 1771, Anne, Duchess of Cumberland and Strathearn marrie ...
,
Mayfair, either the illegitimate son of a man named Preston and a daughter of James Plumridge, or, the son of architect James Plumridge of
Littleworth, Berkshire, and the daughter of a man called Hanway of Hertford Street. There is an entry in the baptismal register at
St George's, Hanover Square on 1 April 1787 for a James Hanway Plumridge, son of James and Susanna Plumridge.
According to a biography of
Jonas Hanway, James Hanway Plumridge was his great-great-nephew, and the son of his great-niece, who was the sister of a man called Hanway Hanway.
He was educated at the Naval Academy in Chelsea.
Wars against France
He entered the Navy on 6 September 1799 as a first-class volunteer aboard the sloop , employed in home waters under Commander John Watts. From December 1800 he served in the Mediterranean, as midshipman, master's mate, and for a short time as acting-lieutenant; firstly aboard the frigate , under Captains
George Johnstone Hope
Rear-Admiral Sir George Johnstone Hope, KCB, KSO (6 July 1767 – 2 May 1818) was a British naval officer, who served with distinction in the Royal Navy throughout the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, including service at the Battle o ...
and
Robert Honyman, seeing action in the Egyptian campaign under the former. He then followed Captain Hope into the
74s , taking part in the battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, and . Finally, he served aboard , under Captain
Peter Parker
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August ...
, from where he was promoted to lieutenant on 20 August 1806.
For the next seven years Plumridge served as a lieutenant; aboard the under Captain the Honourable
Arthur Kaye Legge, in under Captains
John Giffard and
William Pierrepont, and then ''Melpomene'' again, under Captain Peter Parker. There, on 1 May 1809, during the
Gunboat War
The Gunboat War (, ; 1807–1814) was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Na ...
, he commanded the boats of ''Melpomene'' in an attack on a Danish cutter of 6 guns and several merchantmen, which were lying under the protection of gun batteries in the harbour of Huilbo,
Jutland
Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...
. The cutter was destroyed, but with the loss of Lieutenant George Rennie, and five men severely wounded. Soon after ''Melpomene'' fought off an attack by a flotilla of 20 gun-boats, suffering considerable damage, and losing 34 men killed and wounded.
He then served aboard the frigate , Captain
Joseph Baker, in the Baltic.
By December 1810 Plumridge was serving aboard the frigate under Captain Peter Parker again, and taking part in the capture of
Isle de France. He then served aboard the 80-gun ship , Captain
Sir John Gore; in and , the flag-ships of Sir
William Sidney Smith
Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith (21 June 176426 May 1840) was a British naval and intelligence officer. Serving in the American and French revolutionary wars and Napoleonic Wars, he rose to the rank of Admiral.
Smith was known for his offe ...
in 1812; and the frigate , Captain
Fleetwood Pellew. On 5 October 1813 he commanded the boats of ''Resistance'' at the destruction of batteries and the capture of a convoy in
Porto d'Anzo. He then served aboard , Captain Thomas Gordon Caulfeild, and , the flagship of Sir
Edward Pellew. In April 1814 he served as Pellew's
aide-de-camp during the capture of
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
.
Peacetime service
On 7 June 1814 Plumridge was promoted to
commander in the sloop , but within a month was transferred to command of and ordered to the
East Indies
The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around ...
. There on 29 April 1816, he was appointed acting-captain of the Bombay-built frigate , in which he returned to England by February 1817.
He then commanded the 18-gun brig-sloop from February 1818 until March 1821, visiting
Saint Helena, and in 1820, while on the Irish station, capturing three American smugglers;
''Clinton'' on 13 August, ''Liberty'' on 14 August, and ''Maria'' on 12 October. Plumridge was finally promoted to
post-captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.
The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:
* Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain ...
on 9 October 1822, but had to wait until July 1831 before being appointed to command of the frigate , serving in the East Indies until early 1835. From April 1837 until 1841 he was the Superintendent of the
Packet Service at
Falmouth.
In the
1837 election he stood unsuccessfully for
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
in
Penryn and Falmouth, but won the seat in
1841
Events
January–March
* January 20 – Charles Elliot of the United Kingdom, and Qishan of the Qing dynasty, agree to the Convention of Chuenpi.
* January 26 – Britain occupies Hong Kong. Later in the year, the first census of the i ...
. He did not seek re-election in
1847
Events
January–March
* January 4 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the U.S. government.
* January 13 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends fighting in the Mexican–American War in California.
* January 16 – John C. Frémont ...
.
In June 1842 he was appointed
Storekeeper of the Ordnance
The Principal Storekeeper of the Ordnance was a subordinate of the Master-General of the Ordnance and a member of the English (and later British) Board of Ordnance from its constitution in 1597. He was responsible for the care and maintenance of ...
, and on 29 June 1847 was awarded the Good Service Pension.
Plumridge returned to sea duty in August 1847, commanding the frigate on the
East Indies and China Station
The Commander-in-Chief, East Indies and China was a formation of the Royal Navy from 1831 to 1865. Its naval area of responsibility was the Indian Ocean and the coasts of China and its navigable rivers.
The Commander-in-Chief was appointed in 183 ...
, and serving as second-in-command with the rank of
commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore ...
.
Following the death of the Commander-in-Chief,
Francis Augustus Collier
Rear Admiral Sir Francis Augustus Collier, CB, KCH (7 August 1785 – 28 October 1849) was a senior officer of the British Royal Navy during the early nineteenth century. Born into a naval family, Collier served in the French Revolutionary Wars ...
, on 28 October 1849, Plumridge served as C-in-C ''
pro tem
''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...
'' until the arrival of
Charles Austen
Rear Admiral Charles John Austen CB (23 June 1779 – 7 October 1852) was an officer in the Royal Navy and the youngest brother of novelist Jane Austen. He served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and beyond, eventually ...
in January 1850. He was raised to the rank of
rear admiral on 8 October 1852.
Crimean War
In 1854, during the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, he was assigned to the fleet headed by Vice-Admiral Sir
Charles Napier for
operations in the Baltic, commanding a detached "flying squadron" of steamships. Flying his flag in the
frigate , Plumridge operated in the
Gulf of Bothnia during the
Åland War
The Åland War ( fi, Oolannin sota, sv, Åländska kriget) is the Finnish term for the operations of a British-French naval force against military and civilian facilities on the coast of the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1854–1856, during the Crime ...
(part of the Crimean War) bombarding a number of Finnish settlements to destroy fortifications, telegraph apparatus, and capture enemy shipping. He was afterwards sharply criticized for firing on civilian settlements. Furthermore, the destroyed Finnish commodities were for the greater part actually bought by British customers and often paid in advance, Plumridge effectively pillaging on his own nations's goods. On 21 June his force bombarded the fortress of
Bomarsund in
Åland
Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populat ...
, expending most of their ammunition for little result. It was on this occasion that a midshipman of the gunboat HMS ''Hecla'' won the first-ever
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
. In common with the other commanders of the 1854 Baltic campaign Plumridge's command was not renewed in 1855, but he was made a
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as o ...
on 5 July 1855.
Plumridge was made a
vice admiral on 28 November 1857 and
admiral on 27 April 1863, but died in November of the same year at Hopton Hall. He is buried in the churchyard of old
St Margaret's Church,
Hopton-on-Sea
Hopton-on-Sea is a village, civil parish and seaside resort on the coast of East Anglia in the county of Norfolk. The village is south of Great Yarmouth, north-west of Lowestoft and near the UK's most easterly point, Lowestoft Ness.
The villa ...
, Norfolk.
Personal life
Plumridge was married three times.
He married first in 1821, to a daughter of a Rear-Admiral Hart.
She died in 1827, and he married for a second time in 1835 to Harriet Agnes, daughter of the Rt Hon
Hugh Elliot, by whom he had several children. He was again left a widower in 1845.
He married for a third time to Georgina Skinner, the sister of
Thomas Skinner, who was the daughter of Lt-Col William Thomas Skinner, RA.
He and his third wife also had several children, including Mabel Ann (1861-1931) who married the art critic, novelist and illustrator
Haldane MacFall
Haldane MacFall was a British Army officer who became an authoritative art critic, the author of several works of art history, an essayist and a novelist. He illustrated many of his own works, as well as bookplates and cover art for others, and ...
. She survived him, and died in 1897.
His maternal niece Catherine German married Hermann Philipp Rée, and their great-great-great-grandson is the former
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Rt. Hon. David Cameron.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plumridge, James Hanway
1787 births
1863 deaths
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Royal Navy admirals
Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Penryn and Falmouth
UK MPs 1841–1847
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
Burials in Norfolk
People from Suffolk (before 1974)