James Dundas

Admiral Sir James Whitley Deans Dundas, GCB (4 December 1785 – 3 October 1862) was a Royal Navy officer. He took part in the Napoleonic Wars, first as a junior officer when he took part in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in Autumn 1799 and later as a commander when he was in action at Copenhagen Dockyard shortly after the capture of that City in August 1807. He also served as Whig Member of Parliament for Greenwich and then for Devizes and became First Naval Lord in the First Russell ministry in July 1847 and in that role his service was dominated by the needs of Whig party. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean in 1852 and led all naval operations in the Black Sea including the bombardment of Sevastopol in October 1854 during the Crimean War.

Early career

Born the son of Dr James Deans (of Calcutta) and Janet Deans (née Dundas), daughter of Thomas Dundas MP, James Deans, as he then was, joined the Royal Navy in March 1799. He initially joined the third-rate HMS Kent and took part in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in Autumn 1799 during the War of the Second Coalition.

Dundas was given command of the third-rate HMS Stately, flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Bertie, in the Baltic Fleet in March 1809. he sat in Parliament until he stood down at the 1835 general election in favour of a fellow Whig. He then resigned his seat in Parliament when he became Clerk of the Ordnance on 21 March 1838. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 25 October 1839. Dundas became Fourth Naval Lord in the Second Melbourne ministry in June 1841 but stood down in September 1841 when the Government fell from power.

Senior command

Promoted to rear-admiral on 23 November 1841, Dundas became Second Naval Lord in the First Russell ministry in July 1846 before stepping up to be First Naval Lord in the same ministry in July 1847. Promoted to vice-admiral on 17 December 1852, he led all naval operations in the Black Sea in command of the Baltic Fleet during the Crimean War. advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 5 July 1855 and awarded the Grand Cross of the French Legion of Honour on 30 April 1857. Promoted to full admiral on 8 December 1857, he died at Weymouth in Dorset on 3 October 1862.

Family On 2 April 1808, he married his first cousin, Janet, only daughter and heiress of Charles Dundas, later Lord Amesbury. His first wife died in April 1846 and, in August 1847, he married Lady Emily Moreton, fourth daughter of Thomas Reynolds-Moreton, 1st Earl of Ducie. By his first wife, he had a life interest in large estates in Flintshire and Berkshire – centred on Aston Hall in Flintshire and Barton Court at Kintbury in Berkshire – which, at his death, passed to his grandson, Mr. Charles Amesbury Deans Dundas. (Dundas' elder son, Charles Whitley Deans Dundas, having predeceased him in 1856.)