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Sir John Lindsay | |
|---|---|
&sq=Facebook&lang=en&file=File:Portrait_of_Sir_John_Lindsay_by_David_Martin_(1737_%E2%80%93_1797).png) Lindsay in naval officer uniform | |
| Born | 1737 |
| Died | 4 June 1788 (aged 50–51) |
| Allegiance | Great Britain |
| Service | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1749–1788 |
| Rank | Rear-admiral |
| Commands | HMS Pluto HMS Trent HMS Cambridge HMS Tartar East Indies Station HMS Stag HMS Victory HMS Prince George Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty Mediterranean Fleet HMS Trusty |
| Battles / wars | |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Milner |
| Children | 5 illegitimate |
| Relations | Sir Alexander Lindsay (father) Sir David Lindsay (brother) Margaret Lindsay Ramsay (sister) |
Rear-Admiral Sir John Lindsay KB (1737 – 4 June 1788) was a British naval officer of the 18th century, who achieved the rank of rear admiral late in his career. Joining the Navy during the Seven Years' War, he served off France, followed by service for several years as captain of a warship stationed in the West Indies. After war's end, he returned to Britain, serving as an MP for Aberdeen Burghs from 1767 to 1768. From August 1769 to March 1772 Lindsay was promoted to commodore and assigned as commander-in-chief of the East Indies Station. He resigned from the Navy for a period following the Battle of Ushant (1778) off the coast of France, during the American War of Independence. In 1784 he was assigned as commodore and commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. In the last year of his life, he was promoted to rear admiral as an honorary position, as his failing health prevented him from taking a command.
He and his wife had no children together, but he was known to have three illegitimate children, including two daughters and a son, each by different women. One was Dido Elizabeth Belle, a mixed-race daughter born into slavery in 1761 in the West Indies. He entrusted the girl to his maternal uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield to raise free in England.[1] Murray served as Lord Chief Justice, ruling on cases important to the abolition of slavery. Belle was educated, married, and inherited money from Murray.[2]
- ^ D. Wilson, 'Naval gazing: A search for the true identity of a sculpted head by Michael Foye', The British Art Journal, Vol. VI, No. 2 [Autumn 2005], pp. 31-9.
- ^ "Sir John Lindsay", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography