James Steuart

Admiral of the Fleet James Steuart (1678 – 30 March 1757) was a Royal Navy officer. After his father died at the Siege of Derry, Steuart and his siblings were brought up by their uncle and aunt, who were wealthy and politically well connected.

Steuart commanded the fourth-rate HMS Greyhound during the War of the Spanish Succession and then commanded the sixth-rate HMS Aldborough off the Scottish coast during the Jacobite rising.

Steuart became second-in-command of a fleet of 25 British and Dutch ships dispatched to rescue a British squadron and convoy which had been trapped in the Tagus by a French Brest squadron during the War of the Austrian Succession. The British and Dutch fleet was successful in driving off the French, who retired in the face of the superior British and Dutch fleet without firing a shot.

Early career

Born of the seven children of Captain James Steuart who was killed fighting for King William's Army at the Siege of Derry in Spring 1689, Steuart and his siblings were adopted by their uncle, General Sir William Steuart and his first wife Katherine FitzGerald, Viscountess Grandison, grandmother of Prime Minister Pitt the Elder.

Steuart joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1697 at the age of nineteen, and his exams passed for lieutenant in December 1701, at the age of twenty three. Promoted to captain on 14 January 1709, he was given command of the fourth-rate HMS Greyhound during the War of the Spanish Succession. He was later given command of the fourth-rate HMS Dartmouth in the Mediterranean Fleet and then of the sixth-rate HMS Aldborough off the Scottish coast during the Jacobite rising.

Stuart was given command of the third-rate HMS Cumberland in the Channel in November 1740. With his flag in the second-rate HMS Duke, he became second-in-command of a fleet of 25 British and Dutch ships despatched under the command of Admiral Sir John Balchen to rescue a British squadron and convoy under Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hardy, which had been trapped in the Tagus by a French Brest squadron: the British and Dutch fleet was successful in driving off the French, who retired in the face of the superior British and Dutch fleet without firing a shot, and Hardy's convoy was escorted safely to Gibraltar.

Promoted to vice-admiral on 23 June 1744, Steuart went on to be Port Admiral at Portsmouth in 1745. Promoted to full admiral on 15 July 1747 and to Admiral of the Fleet on 22 November 1750, he died at his house on Lower Brook Street, adjacent to Hanover Square, in London on 30 March 1757.

Family Steuart married Anne (who died in 1741); they had one son, also called James.