George M'Kinley

George M'Kinley (1766–1852) was a Royal Navy officer who served during the American Revolutionary, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He joined the navy in 1773 but did not go to sea until 1777. In December 1778, the vessel he was serving on, , was captured and M'Kinley was a prisoner of war until his exchange the following January. In 1781, M'Kinley was aboard , fighting at the Battle of Fort Royal on 29 April and the Battle of the Capes on 5 September. In January 1782, he was rated lieutenant aboard and in April took part in the Battle of the Saintes and the Battle of the Mona Passage.

When war with France resumed in 1793, M'Kinley was sent to the Mediterranean, where, as first lieutenant under Robert Linzee, he took part in operations against Corsica. As a lieutenant, M'Kinley was given command of the 14-gun cutter Liberty in March 1795. Serving in the English Channel, he joined Sir Sidney Smith for an attack on a French squadron near Cap Fréhel and was mentioned in dispatches for his efforts. Promoted to Master and Commander of the 14-gun brig-sloop, on 16 May 1798, M'Kinley was in the task force sent to invade Holland the following year. While serving in the Baltic in 1801, M'Kinley's Otter had a minor role in the Battle of Copenhagen; part of a light division, attached to Lord Nelson's squadron. Soon after, on 20 October, M'Kinley made Post-Captain and on the same day, set sail for the West Indies in his new command . He remained in American waters until July 1802, serving aboard then , in which he returned home.

Following the short-lived peace of Amiens, M'Kinley was appointed to , a guardship at Leith. It was on board, during a gun drill, where he was temporarily blinded in an explosion and had to be excused from duties for several weeks. In 1807, M'Kinley was operating off Lisbon in and rescued British merchant vessels from the Tagus when French troops threatened the capital. M'Kinley commanded a small squadron off Galicia in 1809, co-operating with the local resistance and aiding in the recapture of Santiago de Compostela. The following year, M'Kinley's ship was wrecked off the coast of Malta but he was cleared of blame by a court martial and returned to duty. Apart from a single trip to the South Atlantic, M'Kinley remained in home waters until the end of his sea service, finally coming ashore in 1817. He rose through the ranks to become Vice Admiral of the White in 1841 and died in 1852.

Early life and career George M'Kinley was born in Devonport, Plymouth, in 1766. His father and both his brothers were Royal Navy officers who all died during the American Revolutionary War: His father, a lieutenant, when M'Kinley was eleven and his brothers; Samuel in 1780, while in command of HMS Comet on the American Station, and John in 1782, off Hispaniola.

M'Kinley received the patronage of Samuel Barrington and John Leveson Gower and on 5 August 1773, was entered on the books of Gower's ship, , at Portsmouth.

Command As a lieutenant, M'Kinley received his first command, the 14-gun cutter, , in March 1795, operating in the waters around the Channel Islands.

At 12:00 on 18 March, Smith's ship, , Liberty and a hired lugger named Aristocrat, entered the narrow entrance of the harbour. A party of marines and seamen were put ashore to silence one of the gun batteries while the British vessels engaged the French Corvette, four brigs, two sloops and a lugger, within. Liberty, having a shallower draught than Diamond was able to maintain a close action with the 16-gun corvette. At 22:00, with all the enemy's ships ablaze but the guns ashore still firing, the British withdrew. and the recapture of the city of Santiago de Compostela on 3 July. Lively was wrecked off Malta in 1810, M'Kinley and his crew having worked for 8 weeks to try to salvage her. A court martial acquitted M'Kinley of blame and commended him for his efforts. and Vice Admiral of the White on 23 November 1841. He died in Alverstoke in 1852.