Admiral of the Fleet An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral. It is also a generic ter ...

Thomas Maitland, 11th Earl of Lauderdale, (3 February 1803 – 1 September 1878) was a

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. As a junior officer he saw action supporting the blockade of

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

by Greek revolutionaries in July 1824 during the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

and then took part in an operation to land a naval brigade in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

to protect Pedro I, the

Emperor of Brazil The monarchs of Brazil (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''monarcas do Brasil'') were the imperial head of state, heads of state and hereditary rulers of Brazil from the House of Braganza that reigned from the creation of the Brazilian monarchy ...

, in the face of the Irish and German Mercenary Soldiers' Revolt. He also took part in the Battle of Luchana, an operation to defend the Port of

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

on the north coast of Spain, 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 Monarchy of Spain, Spanish monarchy: the conservative a ...

. Maitland also fought at various battles during the

First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...

including the Battle of Canton at which he commanded the 1st naval battalion. He gave evidence to the

Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom The Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom was a committee formed in 1859 to enquire into the ability of the United Kingdom to defend itself against an attempted invasion by a foreign power, and to advise the British Government on ...

and argued that building powerful ships was more important than building fortifications. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief,

Pacific Station The Pacific Station was created in 1837 as one of the geographical military formations into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. The South America Station was split into the Pacific Station and the South East Coast o ...

Early career

Born the only son of General the Hon. William Maitland (himself the fourth son of

James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale (25 January 1718 – 17 August 1789), and was one of the sixteen List of Scottish representative peers, Scottish representative peers in the House of Lords. Life James Maitland was born the eldest son of ...

) and Mary Maitland (née Orpen), Maitland joined the navy on 22 September 1816. Promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 16 May 1823, he was appointed to the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

HMS ''Euryalus'' in the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between ...

. In HMS ''Euryalus'' he saw action supporting the blockade of

by Greek revolutionaries in July 1824 during the

. He transferred to the guard ship HMS ''Superb'' at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

in December 1825 and to 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 guns ...

HMS ''Ganges'', flagship of Admiral Sir Robert Otway serving as Commander-in-Chief of the South America Station, in March 1826. Promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

on 30 April 1827, he saw action again when HMS ''Ganges'' took part in an operation to land a naval brigade in

to protect Pedro I, the

, in the face of the Irish and German Mercenary Soldiers' Revolt in June 1828. He returned home when HMS ''Ganges'' became the guard ship at Portsmouth in 1829. Maitland became commanding officer of the sloop HMS ''Sparrowhawk'' on the

North America and West Indies Station The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956, with main bases at the Imperial fortresses of Bermuda and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ...

in June 1832 and brought home a

treasure Treasure (from from Greek ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions legally define what constit ...

freight of $589,405 and 42 bales of

cochineal The cochineal ( , ; ''Dactylopius coccus'') is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessility (motility), sessile parasitism, parasite native to tropical and subtropical Sout ...

scale insect Scale insects are small insects of the Order (biology), order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient g ...

from which the

crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, '' Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red col ...

-coloured natural

dye Juan de Guillebon, better known by his stage name DyE, is a French musician. He is known for the music video of the single "Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical ele ...

carmine Carmine ()also called cochineal (when it is extracted from the Cochineal, cochineal insect), cochineal extract, crimson Lake pigment, lake, or carmine lake is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminium coordination complex, compl ...

is derived) when he returned in May 1833. He became commanding officer of the

sixth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works an ...

HMS ''Tweed'' and took part in the Battle of Luchana, an operation to defend the Port of

on the north coast of Spain, in December 1836 during the

. As a result of this he was awarded the knight's 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 (, originally ; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OC3) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bes ...

for his support for the liberal forces of Maria Christina, the Regent of Spain at the time of the minority of

Isabella II Isabella II (, María Isabel Luisa de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904) was Queen of Spain from 1833 until her deposition in 1868. She is the only queen regnant in the history of unified Spain. Isabella wa ...

, who had faced a revolt by Carlos, Count of Molina. Chusan conference 1840

Promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 10 January 1837, Maitland 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). Rating When the rating system was f ...

HMS ''Wellesley'', flagship of Rear Admiral

Frederick Maitland General Frederick Maitland (3 September 1763 – 27 January 1848) was a British Army officer who fought during the American War of Independence, the Peninsular War and later served as Lieutenant Governor of Dominica. Life The youngest son ...

serving as Commander-in-Chief of 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 18 ...

, in June 1837. He saw action off the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

in 1839 and then, following the death of Frederick Maitland in November 1839, served under Commodore

Gordon Bremer Sir James John Gordon Bremer (26 September 1786 – 14 February 1850) was a British Royal Navy officer. He served in the Napoleonic Wars against France, the First Anglo-Burmese War in Burma, and the First Opium War in China. Born in Portsea, ...

at the

Capture of Chusan The First Capture of Chusan () by British forces in China occurred on 5–6 July 1840 during the First Opium War. The British captured Chusan (Zhoushan), the largest island of an archipelago of that name. Background The Kangxi Emperor estab ...

in July 1840, at the

Second Battle of Chuenpi The Second Battle of Chuenpi () was fought between British and Chinese forces in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong province, China, on 7January 1841 during the First Opium War. The British launched an amphibious attack at the Humen strait (Bogu ...

in January 1841 and at the Battle of the Bogue in February 1841 during the

. He also commanded the 1st naval battalion during the Battle of Canton in May 1841 for which he was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

on 29 June 1841. He remained on the station and, after taking part in the Battle of Amoy in August 1841, fought at some of the later battles under Rear Admiral Sir William Parker including the

in October 1841, the Battle of Ningpo in March 1842, the

Battle of Woosung The Battle of Wusong (Woosung) ( zh, t=吳淞戰役) was fought between British and Chinese forces at the entrance of the Wusong River (present-day Huangpu River), Jiangsu province, China, on 16 June 1842, during the First Opium War. The Briti ...

in June 1842 and the

Battle of Chinkiang The Battle of Chinkiang () was fought between British and Chinese forces in Zhenjiang (Chinkiang), Jiangsu province, China, on 21July 1842 during the First Opium War. It was the last major battle of the war. The Chinese force consisted of a garr ...

in July 1842 which ultimately led to the

Treaty of Nanking The Treaty of Nanking was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese ...

ending the war in August 1842. Maitland went on to be commanding officer of the third-rate HMS ''America'' off the coast of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in November 1846, commanding officer of the

first-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a first rate was the designation for the largest ships of the line. Originating in the Jacobean era with the designation of Ships Royal capable of carrying at least ...

HMS ''San Josef'', flagship of Admiral Sir William Gage serving as

Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth The Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. Plymouth Command was a name given to the units, establishments, and staff operating under the admiral's command. Between 1845 and 1896, this offi ...

, in April 1848 and commanding officer of the

HMS ''Impregnable'', Gage's new flagship, in January 1849. After that he became commanding officer of the second-rate HMS ''Agamemnon'' in the

Channel Squadron Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Australia in Queensland and pa ...

in September 1852, commanding officer of the first-rate HMS ''Victory'', flagship of Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane serving as

Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. The commanders-in-chief were based at premises in High Street, Portsmouth from the 1790s until the end of Thomas Williams (Royal Navy officer), Si ...

, in December 1853 and commanding officer of the Gunnery School HMS ''Excellent'' at Portsmouth in January 1854.

Senior command

Promoted to

rear-admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

on 18 June 1857, Maitland gave evidence to the

in 1859 and argued that building powerful ships was more important than building fortifications. He became Commander-in-Chief,

, with his flag in the screw frigate HMS ''Bacchante'', in May 1860 and stood down from that post in October 1862. He inherited the title of

Earl of Lauderdale Earl of Lauderdale is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The current holder of the title is Ian Maitland, 18th Earl of Lauderdale. History The title was created in 1624 for John Maitland, 2nd Lord Maitland of Thirlestane, Berwickshire. The se ...

on the death of his cousin on 22 March 1863, was promoted to

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 ...

on 30 November 1863 and was advanced to

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

on 28 March 1865. Maitland was appointed First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Queen on 22 November 1866. Promoted to full

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

on 8 April 1868, he retired in February 1873 and was advanced to

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior military officers or senior civil servants, and the monarch awards it on the advice of His ...

on 24 May 1873. He was promoted to

on 27 December 1877 and died at his home,

Thirlestane Castle Thirlestane Castle is a castle set in extensive parklands near Lauder in the Scottish Borders, Borders of Scotland. The site is aptly named Castle Hill, as it stands upon raised ground. However, the raised land is within Lauderdale, the valley o ...

Berwickshire Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...

on 1 September 1878.

Family

On 7 February 1828, Maitland married Amelia Young at

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

(whilst posted in South America) and they had one son, Thomas Mordaunt (1838–1844), and three daughters, Isabel Anne (d. 1854), Lady Alice Charlotte (d. 1883) and Lady Mary Jane (1847–1918). Mary Jane Maitland married Reginald Brabazon, twelfth earl of Meath He was succeeded in the earldom by Charles Barclay-Maitland, his second cousin once removed.

Legacy

Lauderdale Road in London's

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, north of Paddington, southwest of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn, on Edgware Road. It is part of the City of Westminster and is northwest of Charing C ...

is named after him.Bebbington, Gillian. ''London Street Names''. Batsford, 1972. p.196

References

Sources

External links

* *
William Loney
Career History , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lauderdale, Thomas Maitland, 11th Earl Of 1803 births 1878 deaths Nobility from the Scottish Borders Royal Navy personnel of the First Opium War

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Earls of Lauderdale Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Royal Navy admirals of the fleet Scottish representative peers Military personnel from County Cork