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Viscount George Keith-Elphinstone

Viscount George Keith-Elphinstone, a British admiral, was born at Elphinstone, East Lothian, near Stirling, Scotland, Jan. 12, 1746. He was the youngest son of the tenth Baron Elphinstone, and had little hope inheriting a title. Keith determined to make a career for himself in the British navy where by some accounts he became one of the most celebrated officers of the Napoleonic era. Mahan, however, concluded that "Lord Keith was an accomplished and gallant officer, methodical, attentive, and correct; but otherwise he rose little above the commonplace." (1899, p. 364.)

He went to sea at the age of 15 years (1761), sailing on the Gosport, 44 guns, under Captain Jervis. Later he sailed on other naval vessels and then, since prevailing peace gave no chance for advancement, together with his brother he went into the East India Company, in whose service he was commissioned a lieutenant in 1767. Reentering the navy, he was assigned to the Mediterranean. Finding English deserters in Nice, he demanded that the authorities deliver them, and when they did not he took up his position off port until he got them. When, on entering the Bay of Naples in command of a small naval vessel, he was not officially received, he threatened to turn back no slaves that escaped to his ship.

In 1775, as post captain in command of the Romney, he participated in the American revolution, taking American and French ships as prizes. He took an important part in the seizure of Charleston, South Carolina, where were captured 4,000 Americans, numerous weapons, and four war vessels. Sent back to England with dispatches, he was elected to Parliament and later returned to North America, where he helped fight two French vessels off Delaware bay. In 1787 he married a Miss Mercer, an heiress, and in 1788 a daughter was born, the only child of this union.

In 1793, as captain of the Robust (74 guns), he joined the Mediterranean fleet to fight against the French revolutionists. At Toulon he he served under Lord Hood and was sent to support the land forces, and seized the shore forts. When Toulon was finally evacuated by the English, Elphinstone distinguished himself by getting away all the soldiers and thousands of the refugees. He was now made rear admiral and in 1795 commander in chief in Indian waters.

He went to Cape Town and participated in the siege and capture of the Cape territory. As the French were now intriguing in India, Elphinstone, after organizing a naval station at Cape Town, made his way to Madras, where he was very ill. Learning that the combined French and Dutch fleets threatened Cape Town, he returned thither despite his illness, found the fleets in Saldanha bay, cut off all means of retreat for them, and caused them all to surrender without battle (August 1796). He then took the ships to Cape Town, turned them into English ships of war, and returned to England in 1797 he was created an Irish peer as Baron Keith of Stonehaven Marischal. When the mutiny of the Nore broke out, 1797, Keith investigated it and was soon able to restore order; and he was similarly successful at Plymouth. In 1798 Keith was sent as second in command to Jervis, Earl St. Vincent. Owing to lack of harmony among the officers of the fleet, the French squadron at Brest escaped, and though forced by bad weather to return, none of the squadron was captured. St. Vincent's illness now left Keith in supreme commaud.

In 1799 he took command of the fleet in the Mediterranean, and in March, 1800, blockaded Genoa, then occupied by a French army under Masséna, until its surrender to the Austrians. He subsequently cooperated with Abercrombie in the military operations in Egypt. In 1800 he was ordered to Egypt to recover it from the French. He made an admirable landing at Aboukir and captured Cairo and Alexandria in 1801. Returning to England in 1803, Keith was given command of the meager North Sea fleet and had to plan the coast defenses of England against France. His attempt to destroy French ships off Brest by means of fire-ships failed. In 1810 he was appointed admiral of the red and commander of the Channel fleet; as such he directed measures to meet the threatened invasion.

He continued in active service until after the battle of Waterloo, and for several years held command of the channel fleet as admiral of the white. It was owing to his disposition of his cruisers along the coast of France that Napoleon was induced to surrender himself a prisoner. When Bonaparte surrendered, Keith had to manage his care and keeping and expressed to the Emperor the decision of the government.

In 1814 he was created Viscount Keith of the United Kingdom, having been a baron since 1801. Previous to his elevation to the peerage he was on several occasions a member of the house of commons. Keith now retired to the estates that he was able to purchase with his great wealth. He built a large house at Kincardine-on-Forth, and planned piers, embankments, and reclamation walls. He was fond of society, but eschewed politics. Keith died at his seat of Tulliallan, Perthshire, March 10, 1823. His second wife, born in 1762, was the eldest daughter and co-heir of Henry Thrale, the friend of Dr. Johnson, from whom she received her education. She died March 31, 1857. He left no sons, but his title descended to his elder daughter by his first wife, Baroness Keith, wife of Count Flahaut.

Keith was a fighter of fighting stock, especially on his mother's side. Her mother's brother Francis (1696-1758) was graduated from the University of Edinburgh, and early showed a decided preference for a soldier's career; but as a Jacobite he and his brother George had to flee England (1715). He obtained a colonelcy in the Spanish army (1726-1727), later took command of a regiment in Russia (1728), and gained a high reputation. In 1747 he offered his services to Frederick II of Prussia, who made him field marshal and gave him and his brother George evidences of high personal regard. In 1756, when the Seven Years' War broke out, Francis Keith was given high command and gained still higher reputation for "resolution and promptitude of action as well as care and skill." After repeated engagements he was killed in 1758 at the battle of Hochkirch. Francis's brother George was less of a fighter and more of a diplomat; and having conveyed valuable information to Lord Chatham he was pardoned by George II and returned to Scotland in 1759. Lord Keith had a brother, William (IV 7), who entered the Royal Navy, but later became connected with the East India Company and eventually became a director of it. Another brother, John (IV 5), entered the army and was later lieutenant governor of Edinburgh Castle; his son, Montstuart Elphinstone (1779- 1859), received a civil appointment in the East India Company, through his uncle William, became attached as diplomatist to the mission of Sir Arthur Wellesley to the Mahrattas, and, though a civilian, acted virtually as Wellesley's aide-decamp. At the battle of Assaye he displayed such military knowledge and insight that Wellesley told him he should have been a soldier. Appointed resident at Poona, he suspected treachery under the friendly mask of the peshwa and when that mask was thrown aside and war was declared Elphinstone assumed command of the British troops at a crisis in the battle of Kirkee and defeated the peshwa. Of his later career it is stated (Encyl. Britt., llth ed.): " He may fairly be regarded as the founder of the system of state education in India." He twice refused the governor-generalship of India. He published a great history of India (1841). Still another brother of Keith was Charles (IV 6), who was also in the navy and who died on the Prince George when she took fire off Ushant Island in 1757. The quality of diplomacy was marked in George also and had to be exercised at the Cape of Good Hope as well as in his relations with the captured Napoleon. George Lord Keith believed in obeying orders, however, and adhered to discipline even when his obedience of St. Vincent's orders lost him the capture of Bruix's fleet. He was just, considerate, and merciful, and was even reproved by the admiralty for furnishing a better diet to the sick than was prescribed by that authority.