John Lindsay (Royal Navy officer)

British naval officer (1737–1788)

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Rear-Admiral

Sir John Lindsay

Lindsay in naval officer uniform

Born| 1737 (1737)
Died| 4 June 1788(1788-06-04) (aged 50–51)
Allegiance| Great Britain
Branch| 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|

* Seven Years' War
* Siege of Louisbourg
* American Revolutionary War
* Battle of Ushant

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]

## Early life

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Lindsay c.1768–9 by Allan Ramsay

He was born John Lindsay in 1737 to Sir Alexander Lindsay, 3rd Baronet of Evelix (near Dornoch in Easter Ross) and Amelia Murray, daughter of David Murray, 5th Viscount of Stormont. His mother was sister to William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield.

His sister Margaret Lindsay was tutored in painting by Allan Ramsay. In 1752 she eloped and married him as his second wife. Her parents became alienated from her by the marriage, which they disapproved. Her brother John remained loyal to her until her death in 1782.

## Naval career

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Lindsay joined the navy during the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France. He was made a lieutenant in 1756 commanding the fireship Pluto. He participated in Sir Edward Hawke's 1757 expedition to attack Rochefort.[2]

### West Indies

[edit]

Dido Elizabeth Belle and her second cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray, while living at Kenwood House with their great-uncle Lord Mansfield. Dido Elizabeth Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray by David Martin, 1778

On 29 September 1757, Lindsay was made captain of the 28-gun frigate HMS Trent, serving from 1757 to 1763. He served in both the West Indies and in home waters during the war.[2] Trent was among ships used to try to capture Spanish ships in the Caribbean.

Trent was part of Sir George Pocock's fleet at the taking of Havana from the Spanish in 1762.[2] During that action, Lindsay took over command of the 80-gun HMS Cambridge on 1 July when her commander William Goostrey was killed by rifle fire from the Morro Castle, which he was trying to capture.[2]

For this and "many strong proofs of his valour"[3] shown in the battle, he was rewarded with a permanent command of HMS Cambridge, the 70-gun HMS Marlborough or the 74-gun HMS Dragon (it is unknown which he chose, and he was still on the Trent in December 1763). After his return to England following the conclusion of the war, Lindsay received a knighthood on 10 February 1764.

Lindsay returned to the West Indies, in command of the Tartar. His ship carried one of John Harrison's chronometers for tests and Thomas Erskine was serving as one of his midshipmen.[4]

He returned to Britain in 1765, following the conclusion of the war. Lindsay was MP for Aberdeen Burghs from 1767 to 1768.[2]

## Personal life and marriage

[edit]

While in the West Indies, Lindsay got an enslaved 14-year-old child named Maria Belle pregnant, she subsequently gave birth to a daughter in 1761 when she was about 15. Lindsay then returned to England in 1765 presumably with Maria Belle and their daughter.[5]

After, the daughter was baptized as Dido Elizabeth Belle by her mother Maria Belle in November 1766 at St George’s Church Bloomsbury, Lindsay was absent from the baptism and record, Dido wasn't publicly acknowledged by her father hence she was given her mother's last name instead. Lindsay wasn't in England around this time, as he appeared in Jamaican baptism record of his other daughter named Elizabeth Lindsay in December 1766.[6]

Under colonial law, Dido Belle was born into slavery and after her baptism, she was taken to Kenwood to be raised by Lindsay's uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, who educated and cared for her alongside her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray. Dido lived with them for 30 years (later Murray's will bequeathed her freedom alongside a sum and an annuity in 1793).[5]

Lindsay had at least five illegitimate children by five different women from 1761–1767 in Jamaica:

1. Dido Elizabeth Belle (June 1761–1804), by Maria Bell "negro slave"
2. John Edward Lindsay (Feb 1762–1762), by Mary Vellet "mulatto"
3. Ann Lindsay (November 1766), by Sarah Gandwell "free negro"
4. Elizabeth Lindsay "Palmer" (Dec 1766–1842) by Martha G
5. John Lindsay (Nov 1767–1821), by Francis Edwards "free mulatto" [7]

On 19 September 1768, Lindsay married Mary Milner (1740-1799), daughter of Sir William Milner. They had no children.

Despite being married, Lindsay still kept Maria Belle in England with him until 1774, when Lindsay having made her free and paid for her manumission, also transferred a piece of property in Pensacola to Maria, where she was to live and required her to build a house within 10 years, "the manumission transaction for the sum of two hundred Spanish milled dollars paid by Maria Belle a Negro Woman Slave about 28 years of age" dated 22 August 1774.[5]

His younger children, John and Elizabeth Lindsay weren't brought to Kenwood House, but both ended up being raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were known to correspond with each other, later his son John became a colonel and when he died, he left his estate to his mother Francis and his sister Elizabeth. When Elizabeth married to a merchant Peter Hill, she continued to reference her father as Sir John Lindsay (Dido made no such reference). It was said that Elizabeth didn't approve on social ground of her husband's friendship with poet Robert Burns.[7][8][9]

By the end of his life, Lindsay was known to reside in Scotland, he only acknowledged two children in his will, leaving £1,000 to "John and Elizabeth, my reputed son and daughter."[6]

### Slavery

[edit]

In December 1765, recorded by Robin Fabel in his book, Sir John Lindsay was to buy 12 slaves from Henry Driscoll and Henry Lizars (merchants), by the name "Michael, Cumberland, Geoffrey, Samuel, Fortune, Charles, Caesar, Quachiba, and, Diana, Lucy, Venice, a child." The slaves were intended as collateral for a debt of £487, they then were boarded into a ship and while on sail from Jamaica to Honduras, it sank.

In 1776, Sir John Lindsay jointly bought a slave plantation in the Island of Nevis including the slave working in them.

Lindsay had a connection to elite planter through his brother Sir David Lindsay's brother in law, Edward Long, who wrote "The History of Jamaica" and plantation owner, he had a strong opinion in favor of slavery.[10]

### East Indies

[edit]

From August 1769 to March 1772 Lindsay was promoted to commodore and assigned as commander-in-chief of the East Indies Station, flying his broad pennant flown from the frigate Stag.[2] While in India, he was awarded the Order of the Bath (28 June 1770), though he was still a relatively junior sea officer.[2] He was ordered to investigate dealings between the British East India Company and the Indian nawabs. This made him unpopular with the company and he was soon recalled.

### Ushant

[edit]

HMS Victory when commanded by Sir John Lindsay in 1778.

From March to May 1778, he was the first captain of the first-rate HMS Victory. He was assigned as captain of the 90-gun HMS Prince George when Admiral Keppel decided to raise his flag in Victory (with John Campbell as his flag captain) after the ship's commissioning in May 1778. Lindsay commanded the Prince George in the disastrous Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778. After giving evidence against Sir Hugh Palliser to the ensuing courts martial, he resigned straight after Keppel. He refused to accept any command during Lord Sandwich's administration of the Admiralty, thus missing the American War of Independence.[2]

### Later life and death

[edit]

His successors appreciated Lindsay's ability, and he was appointed as Admiralty Commissioner between April and December 1783. He next was assigned as commodore and commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, with HMS Trusty as his flagship. At Naples 24 June 1784, he entertained the king and queen of Sicily on board his ship.

Soon afterward, his health began to fail and he had to return to England. He was promoted to "rear admiral of the red" on 24 September 1787. For health reasons he held it as an honorary role rather than an active one. He died at Marlborough, on his way from a health trip to Bath, on 4 June 1788, aged fifty-one. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.[2]

## Mansfield family tree

[edit]

* v
* t
* e

Mansfield tree

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | David Murray[i]| | Marjory Scott[i]

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| | | | | | | | | | | David Murray[i]| | Anne Stewart[i]| | James Murray[i]| | Marjory Murray[i]| | John Hay[i]| | | | | | Amelia Murray[i]| | Sir Alexander Lindsay of Evelick[i]
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| | | | | | | | | 2) Louisa Cathcart[i]| | David Murray[i]| | 1) Henrietta Frederica Bunau[i]| | Daniel Finch[i]| | Anne Hatton| | | | | | | | David Lindsay| | John Lindsay| | Margaret Lindsay Ramsay|
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| | | | | | | | | | |
| | | Frederica Murray[i]| | David William Murray[i]| | Henry Murray[i]| | | | | | | | | | Edward Finch| | Elizabeth Finch[i]| | William Murray[i]| | | William Lindsay| | Dido Elizabeth Belle
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| | | | | Frederica Murray[i]| | James Hamilton Stanhope[i]| | William David Murray[i]| | Lady Elizabeth Murray[i]| | George Finch-Hatton[i]
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| | | | | | | James Stanhope| | | | | | | | | | George Finch-Hatton[i]
Notes:

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Burke, Bernard (1865). Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (27 ed.). Harrison. p. 734.

## See also

[edit]

* Shadow family

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ 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.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Sir John Lindsay", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
3. ^ R. Beatson, Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain, 3 vols. (1790), 2.550
4. ^ Thomas Erskine, Electric Scotland
5. ^ a b c "Dido Belle". English Heritage. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
6. ^ a b Adams, Gene (1984). "Dido Elizabeth Belle / A Black Girl at Kenwood / an account of a protégée of the 1st Lord Mansfield" (PDF). Camden History Review. 12: 10–14\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
7. ^ a b Major, Joanne (13 April 2023). "Dido Elizabeth Belle: revealing her half-siblings". Joanne Major. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
8. ^ "Robert Burns Country: The Burns Encyclopedia: Hill, Peter (1754 — 1837)". www.robertburns.org. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
9. ^ Sarahmurden (10 April 2023). "Sir John Lindsay". All Things Georgian. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
10. ^ Sarahmurden (20 March 2023). "What became of Dido Elizabeth Belle's mother, Maria Belle?". All Things Georgian. Retrieved 26 March 2025.

## Sources

[edit]

* R. Beatson, Naval and military memoirs of Great Britain, 3 vols. (1790)
* J. Charnock, ed., Biographia navalis, 6 (1798)
* E. Haden-Guest, "Lindsay, John", Houses of Parliament records, Commons, 1754–90, 3.44
* DNB
* British Library, material on his appointment and some of his correspondence with the East India Company, Add. MS 18020

Parliament of Great Britain

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David Scott

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