Admiral John Colville, 9th Lord Colville of Culross (15 March 1768 – 22 October 1849), styled Master of Colville from 1786 to 1811, was a

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 who served as Commander-in-Chief, Cork Station.

Naval career

Colville was the second son of John Colville, 8th Lord Colville of Culross, and his wife Amelia Webber. He joined the

in December 1775 and saw action in the

fourth-rate In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. He took part in the

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

in April 1782. He also saw action, while serving as first lieutenant in , a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate, in the capture of

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...

in March 1794 and at the capture of Guadeloupe in April 1794 during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

. Later that year he took part in the destruction of the French frigate ''Volontaire''. Colville became commanding officer of the fourth-rate in October 1804, shortly before it was wrecked by incompetent pilots in November 1804, and then became commanding officer of the

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

in March 1807, in which he took part in the Battle of Copenhagen during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. Following the incident in Lisbon and the subsequent surrender of the Russian Fleet during the Anglo-Russian War, he accompanied the Russian Fleet back to

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in September 1807. He went on to be commanding officer of the

second-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer gun ...

in September 1811. Promoted to rear admiral on 12 August 1819, Colville became Commander-in-Chief, Cork Station, with his flag in HMS ''Semiramis'', in 1821. He was promoted to vice admiral on 22 July 1830 and to Admiral of the White on 23 November 1841. Colville succeeded to the peerage as Lord Colville of Culross on 8 March 1811, was elected a

Scottish representative peer This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Scotland to sit in the House of Lords after the Acts of Union 1707 abolished the Parliament of Scotland, where, as a unicameral legislature, all Scottish P ...

on 24 July 1818 and participated in ten successive parliaments until his death in October 1849.

Family

Colville married, firstly, Elizabeth Ford on 14 October 1790 and, following the death of his first wife, Anne Law on 15 October 1841.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colville of Culross, John Colville, 9th Lord 1768 births 1849 deaths Royal Navy admirals Lords of Parliament Scottish representative peers