Vice-Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

James Berkeley, 3rd Earl of Berkeley ( – 17 August 1736) was an English

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer and peer who served as

First Lord of the Admiralty First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...

from 1717 to 1727. The son of Charles Berkeley, 2nd Earl of Berkeley, he was known by the

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but is rather used by custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some context ...

of Viscount Dursley prior to succeeding as Earl of Berkeley in 1710. Viscount Dursley received his commission as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy on 10 March 1699James Berkeley, 3rd Earl of Berkeley at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> and was promoted to captain on 2 April 1701. He was also a Member of Parliament (MP) for

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

1701–1702. He took part in the battle off

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

under Admiral Rooke, commanding HMS ''Boyne''. He was summoned to Parliament by writ of acceleration as Baron Berkeley on 5 March 1705, and continued to rise in the Navy. Dursley commanded HMS ''St George'' in 1706, and narrowly escaped the Scilly naval disaster in which Sir Cloudesley Shovell in HMS ''Association'' was lost on 23 October 1707. The ''St George'' ran aground on the same ledge as the ''Association'', but was lifted off with the next wave. It is said that it was Dursley who gave his close friend Shovell the priceless

emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr., and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991). ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York ...

ring which features prominently in some of the legends still told about the disaster.legacy of Sir Cloudsley Shovel
Kent History Forum With the death of Sir Clowdisley Shovell, a promotion of flag-officers was made. Rear Admiral Robert Fairfax, was to be commissioned as a

Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

of the Blue (it was signed by the Lord High Admiral and gazetted) but was then cancelled, and Dursley, who was his junior and because of the political influence of his family, made Vice Admiral of the Blue in his stead with seniority of 10 January 1708. Dursley was then promoted to Vice Admiral of the White in late 1708. In April 1709 he recaptured HMS ''Bristol'', which had been taken by the French a short time earlier, but she sank shortly afterwards. Dursley was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Red in December 1709. With the death of his father on 24 September 1710, Dursley succeeded to his titles and became the 3rd

Earl of Berkeley The title Baron Berkeley originated as a feudal title and was subsequently created twice in the Peerage of England by writ. It was first granted by writ to Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley (1245–1321), 6th feudal Baron Berkeley, in 12 ...

. That year, he was also made High Steward of Gloucester, Warden of the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the Counties of England, county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangle, triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and no ...

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

of St. Briavel's Castle, and Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, which he held until 1712, and then from 1714 to his death, and Custos Rotulorum of Surrey, which he held until his death. In 1714, besides his restoration to his offices in Gloucestershire, he was made a

Lord of the Bedchamber Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the Royal Household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household, the term being fir ...

. He married Lady Louisa Lennox (24 December 1694 – 15 January 1716), daughter of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and Anne Brudenell, on 13 February 1711. They had two children, his wife dying in childbirth: *- Lt. Col. Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley (b. 18 February 1715) *- Lady Elizabeth Berkeley (b. 15 January 1716) On 16 May 1717, he was made

, He also became Vice-Admiral of Great Britain (a civil position with no executive command) and a member of the Privy Council. On 31 March 1718, he was created a Knight of the Garter. He held the supreme post in the Admiralty Board for over a decade, before being dismissed as First Lord of the Admiralty on 2 August 1727, for opposing Sir

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prim ...

, and also left his office as Lord of the Bedchamber at this time. In 1719 he was one of main subscribers in the Royal Academy of Music (1719), a corporation that produced

baroque opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

on stage. He died on 17 August 1736 at the , near Coincy, France, and was buried on 31 October 1736 at

Berkeley, Gloucestershire Berkeley ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Stroud (district), Stroud District in Gloucestershire, England. It lies in the Vale of Berkeley between the east bank of the River Severn and the M5 motorway. The t ...

. He was succeeded by his son Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley. His daughter Elizabeth ran away at a very young age and married Anthony Henley in 1728. Lord Hervey wrote "he was a man of great family and great quality, rough, proud, hard, and obstinate, with excellent good natural parts, but so uncultivated that he was totally ignorant of every branch of knowledge but his profession. He was haughty and tyrannical, but honourable, gallant, observant of his word; equally incapable of flattering a prince, bending to a minister, or lying to anybody he had to deal with."

References

Ships of the RN
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley, James, 3rd Earl of Berkeley 1670s births 1736 deaths 3 Knights of the Garter Lord-lieutenants of Gloucestershire Lords of the Admiralty Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Royal Navy vice admirals James Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Gloucester English MPs 1701–1702