Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

Lord John Hay, (1 April 1793 – 9 September 1851) was a British naval officer and Whig politician.

Naval career

The third son of George Hay, 7th Marquess of Tweeddale, Hay entered the Navy in December 1804, appearing on the books of HMS ''Monarch''. However, this was probably a nominal enrollment to increase his seniority. Hay's first real service was probably aboard HMS ''Seahorse'', beginning in December 1806. He saw considerable action aboard ''Seahorse'' (42) on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

station, under Captain John Stewart, losing his left arm on a cutting-out expedition in

Hyères Hyères (), Provençal Occitan: ''Ieras'' in classical norm, or ''Iero'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The old town lies from the sea clustered aroun ...

Bay in 1807. Hay was present during the ''Seahorses epic fight, on 5 July 1808, with the ''Badere Zaffer'' (52) and ''Alis Fezan'' (24), which ended with the capture of the ''Badere Zaffer'' and the sinking of the ''Alis Fezan''. He was promoted

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on 1 May 1812, and was appointed to HMS ''Pique'', going to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

station, on 1 June. He transferred to HMS ''Venerable'' on 31 May 1814 and was promoted

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain ...

on 15 June. On 15 November, Hay joined HMS ''Bustard'', off Lisbon, and was given command of the sloop HMS ''Opossum'' in 1815. ''Opossum'' served in the Channel and on the North American station until paid off on 5 August 1818. He was made a

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 7 December. On 23 July 1823, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the hi ...

. In 1826, he was returned as

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 Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for

Haddingtonshire East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the hi ...

. However, due to his Whig connections, he was unable to obtain another command until 24 December 1832, when he was given the new frigate HMS ''Castor''. In 1833, he received a medal from the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts for inventing a

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to obse ...

-holder that could be used by a one-handed man. On 19 November 1836, he was transferred to the paddle sloop HMS ''Phoenix'', and on 8 March 1837 to HMS ''North Star'', which he commanded until 1840. During much of this time, Hay acted as commodore of a squadron off the northern coast of Spain, with a naval brigade providing support for the Spanish government during the

First Carlist War The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833 to 1840, the first of three Carlist Wars. It was fought between two factions over the succession to the throne and the nature of the Spanish monarchy: the conservative and devolutionist su ...

. For his actions during the war, particularly in helping to defend

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

, he was made a Companion of the Bath and received the Grand Cross of the

Order of Charles 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 ...

. After the war, Hay commanded HMS ''Warspite'' on the North American and

station from 17 August 1841 to October 1845. It was ''Warspite'' which, in 1842, carried Lord Ashburton to America to negotiate the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. After briefly serving as superintendent of

Woolwich Dockyard Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich in north-west Kent, where many ships were built from the early 16th century until ...

, Hay was returned as Member of Parliament for Windsor in 1847. He was also appointed Fourth Naval Lord in 1846 and Third Naval Lord in 1847. Hay chaired the "Committee of Reference" that resulted in the retirement of Sir William Symonds as

Surveyor of the Navy The Surveyor of the Navy also known as Department of the Surveyor of the Navy and originally known as Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy was a former principal commissioner and member of both the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 1 ...

. However, Hay's own attempts at directing steam warship design, despite his interest in the subject, proved unsuccessful. The committee was disbanded, design placed in the hands of Symonds' successor, Sir Baldwin Walker, and Hay removed from the Board and made superintendent of Devonport Dockyard on 9 February 1850. Hay also resigned from Parliament by becoming

Steward of the Manor of Northstead The office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead functions as a procedural device to allow a member of Parliament (MP) to resign from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. As members of the House of Commons are forbidden ...

at this time. He was promoted

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

on 7 September 1851, hoisting his flag aboard HMS ''St George'', but died two days later.

Family

In 1846, Hay married Mary Anne Cameron (died 30 November 1850), daughter of Donald Cameron, 23rd Lochiel: they had no children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, John, Lord 1793 births 1851 deaths Companions of the Order of the Bath Deputy Lieutenants of East Lothian Lords of the Admiralty Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies Whig (British political party) MPs for Scottish constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Windsor Royal Navy rear admirals Military personnel of the First Carlist War UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1847–1852 Younger sons of marquesses Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars

Naval career

Family

See also

References

External links