James Ley, 3rd Earl of Marlborough (28 January 1618 – 3 June 1665) was an English peer, naval admiral and coloniser, and Member of Parliament. He was styled Lord Ley from 1629 to 1638.

Life

He was the only son of

Henry Ley, 2nd Earl of Marlborough Henry Ley, 2nd Earl of Marlborough (3 December 1595 – 1 April 1638), was an English hereditary peer and Member of Parliament. He was baptised on 3 December 1595, the eldest son of James Ley, 1st Earl of Marlborough, and his wife, Mary (née Pe ...

, whom he succeeded in 1638. He inherited property in and around

Westbury, Wiltshire Westbury is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. The town lies below the northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain, about south of Trowbridge and a similar distance north of Warminster. Westbury w ...

, including Heywood House which had been built by his grandfather, the 1st Earl; but he sold Heywood and most of the other properties in the next two years. Marlborough was General of Ordnance in the West for

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

in 1643, during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, and later in the year was appointed Admiral of the Royal fleet at Dartmouth. Through diligent study, Marlborough gained a reputation as an able mathematician and navigator. He founded an English colony in

St Croix Saint Croix ( ; ; ; ; Danish and ; ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. St. Croix is the largest of the terr ...

in 1645, which was, however, destroyed in 1650. He proposed to embark on another colonizing venture in 1649, which was apparently unsuccessful. After the Restoration, in late 1661, he was given command of HMS ''Dunkirk'' and sent out as

commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (India), in India ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ' ...

of a squadron to claim

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, which had been ceded to England as the dowry of

Catherine of Braganza Catherine of Braganza (; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to Charles II of England, King Charles II, which la ...

on her marriage to the English king, Charles II. The fleet carried the last Portuguese governor of Bombay, António de Melo de Castro, and the first English governor,

Abraham Shipman Sir Abraham Shipman was an Englishman appointed as governor of Bombay during the period of the East India Company. He assumed the office in March 1662 and died in office in October 1664, but did not gain possession of Bombay. On 19 March 1662, S ...

. However, the Portuguese were able to stall the handover by a variety of pretexts, and Marlborough was obliged to land the garrison troops sent with him on

Anjadip Island Anjediva Island (also Anjadip Island) (; ) is an Indian island in the Arabian Sea. It sits off the coast of Karwar, Karnataka. It is politically part of Goa state, geographically the nearest mainland is the Kanara subregion of Karnataka. The ...

and return home with his ships. He was in 1664 nominated as the next

Governor of Jamaica This is a list of viceroys in Jamaica from its initial occupation by Spain in 1509, to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. For a list of viceroys after independence, see Governor-General of Jamaica. For context, see History of Jama ...

but was shortly afterwards given command of the 70-gun second-rate ''Old James'' and was killed in 1665 at the

Battle of Lowestoft The Battle of Lowestoft took place on during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. A fleet of more than a hundred ships of the Dutch Republic, United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam, Jacob van Wassenaer, Lord Obdam, at ...

while attempting to recover a captured ship. He was succeeded by his uncle William.

References

1618 births 1665 deaths Royal Navy personnel of the Second Anglo-Dutch War English military personnel killed in action Earls of Marlborough {{England-earl-stub