299
DOUGLAS.
flag-ship of Sir Robt. Stopford – 18 June, 1841, to the Powerful 84, Capt. Geo. Mansel – and, 9 Nov. 1841, to the Formidable 84, Capts. Sir Chas. Sullivan and Geo. Fred. Rich, flag-ship latterly of Sir Edw. W. C. R. Owen – all employed on the Mediterranean station. He attained his present rank 28 Feb. 1845; and since 29 June, 1846, has been in command of the Pantaloon 10, on the coast of Africa. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.
DOUGLAS, formerly Stoddart, M.P. (Lieutenant, 1815.)
James Douglas Stoddart Douglas was promoted to a Lieutenancy in the Doris 36, Capt. Robt. O’Brien, then on the East India station, 15 June, 1815.
He is a Lieutenant of Yeomanry Cavalry, and Representative in Parliament for Rochester. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
DOUGLAS. (Lieutenant, 1826.)
John Douglas entered the Navy 14 April, 1812; passed his examination in 1818; and obtained his commission 21 June, 1826. His appointments appear to have been – 18 Sept. 1828, to the Coast Blockade, while in which service his name was successively borne on the books of the Ramillies and Talavera 74’s, Capt. Hugh Pigot – 15 April, 1831, to the Coast Guard – and 16 Dec. 1835, 24 Sept. 1833, and 5 Aug. 1841, to the command, on the Channel, South American, and Falmouth stations, of the Speedy cutter, Cockatrice schooner, and Swift brig, the latter of which he left in Jan. 1847. Lieut. Douglas was awarded, 18 Dec. 1843, a pension for wounds of 12l.
DOUGLAS. (Admiral of the Red, 1838.)
John Erskine Douglas is son of the late David Douglas, Esq., by Miss Thompson; grand-nephew of James, second Earl of Queensberry; and cousin of the present Marquess of Queensberry. His elder brother, William, a Colonel in the Army, died in May 1831.
This officer obtained his first commission 21 April, 1778; acquired the rank of Commander, in the Trompeuse sloop, 24 May, 1794; and was made Post 10 June, 1795. He then assumed command of the Garland 28, in which he served on the North Sea station, until his removal, in 1798, to the Boston 32. While in that vessel, on the American station, he appears to have captured and destroyed several of the enemy’s ships, and to have blockaded for several months the Semillante, a French frigate of far superior force. After cruizing for some time in the West Indies and off Halifax, Capt. Douglas, on his return home, in 1804, was appointed to the Impétueux 80, attached to the Channel fleet. Exchanging, early in 1805, into the Bellona 74, he subsequently assisted, off Cape Henry, at the destruction, 14 Sept. 1806, of the French 74-gun ship L’Impétueux – was intrusted with the command, during the summer of 1806, of a squadron stationed in the Chesapeake – served under Lord Gambler at the destruction of the French shipping in Aix Roads in April, 1809 – and, on 18 Dec. 1810, captured, in the North Sea, Le Héros du Nord privateer, of 14 guns and 44 men. When in the Prince of Wales 98, to which ship he was appointed in the spring of 1812, Capt. Douglas witnessed Sir Edw. Pellew’s partial actions with the French fleet out of Toulon, 5 Nov. 1813, and 13 Feb. 1814. Being promoted to Flag-rank 4 June, 1814, he was next, from 1815 to 1818, employed as Commander-in-Chief at Jamaica. He has since been on half-pay. He became a Vice-Admiral 27 May, 1825, and a full Admiral 28 June, 1838.
He married, in 1818, Mrs. White, and has, with other issue, a daughter, Helen Catherine, who married, 21 Nov. 1843, Capt. Colin Mackenzie, Hon.E.I.C.S.
DOUGLAS. (Captain, 1811. i-p., 21; h-p., 29.)
Peter John Douglas was born 30 June, 1787. His father. Admiral Billy Douglas, who died in 1817, commanded the Stately 64, at the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope, in 1795, and afterwards at the surrender of the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay, 17 Aug. 1796.
This officer entered the Navy, 17 Jan. 1797, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Agamemnon 64, Capt. Robt. Devereux Fancourt; and during the next six years served, on the Channel, Cape of Good Hope, and North Sea stations, chiefly as Midshipman, in the Firm 12, Capt. Patrick Campbell, Sandwich 98, Capts. Billy Douglas and A. Guyott, Theseus 74, Capt. John Bligh, Endymion 40, Capts. Philip Chas. Durham and Henry Garrett, Concorde 36, Capts. Robt. Barton and John Wood, Jupiter 54, Capt. Geo. Losack, and Galykheid and Ruby 64’s, flag-ships of Rear-Admiral Edw. Thornbrough. In March, 1804, he was appointed Acting-Lieutenant of the Beaver 18, Capt. Chas. Pelly; and for his conduct in proceeding up the river Elbe with the boats of that sloop, and capturing five vessels which had forced the blockade, he was confirmed, 11 June following, into the Surveillante 38, Capt. John Bligh, at Jamaica. On next joining the Franchise 36, Capts. Hon. John Murray and Chas. Dashwood, we find him frequently landing at Curaçoa, where he received a lasting injury in the foot from the receding of a gun, while in the act of dragging it up a steep acclivity, 20 June, 1805. On 25 Oct. following Mr. Douglas commanded one of the ship’s boats at the capture, on the north side of Jamaica, of Le Général Ferrand privateer, of 1 gun and 2 swivels; and, on the night of 6 Jan. 1806, he had charge of the barge, and elicited the highest approbation for his promptitude and gallantry, as second in command under Lieut. John Fleming, at the taking, in Campeachy Bay, of El Raposa Spanish corvette, carrying (besides swivels and co-horns) 12 guns and 75 men, which, after an obstinate conflict of 10 minutes’ duration, and a loss to the enemy of 5 men killed and 26 wounded, was boarded and carried by the British, who, in three boats, with 64 men, of whom only 7 were wounded, had also to contend against a brig of 20 guns, a schooner of 8 guns, and seven gun-vessels.[1] Being among the wounded on the latter occasion, Mr. Douglas was presented by the Patriotic Society with a sword valued at 50 guineas. Prior to leaving the Franchise be further served in the boats at the capture of El Carmen Spanish schooner, on being sent to cruize in which vessel he succeeded in making two prizes, and in driving an armed vessel on shore. When afterwards detached in the Brutus, a prize schooner of 1 gun and 30 men, he engaged, 1 July, 1806, and beat off, with a loss on his own side of 7 men wounded, two of the enemy’s vessels (the larger mounting 5 guns, with a crew of 60 men) which had been sent from Curaçoa for the express purpose of re-capturing the Brutus. After serving for three months on board the Lark 18, Capt. Fred. Langford, Mr. Douglas was rewarded for his gallantry at the capture of El Raposa by being promoted to the acting-command, 9 Oct. 1806, of the Shark 18, bearing the flag at Jamaica of Vice-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres. Previously, however, to the receipt of his Commander’s commission, which bears date 17 Feb. 1807, he appears to have been again employed, from March to July in that year, as Lieutenant and Acting-Commander, in the Ferret 18, Capt. Hon. Geo. Cadogan. Assuming at length the official command, on 24 of the following Aug., of the Reindeer 18, Capt. Douglas had the good fortune to capture four privateers within as many months. He subsequently served under Capt. Chas. Dashwood at the capture, towards the close of 1808, of the town of Samana, St. Domingo – made prize, on his passage to England, of La Mouche French manof-war schooner, 9 March, 1809 – and co-operated with Commodore Owen’s advanced division in the East Scheldt during the ensuing expedition to the
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1806, p. 464.
