Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p2.djvu/424

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840
REAR-ADMIRALS OF THE BLUE.

Our officer’s next appointment was to the Indus, a new 74, in which he served off the Scheldt, and in the Mediterranean, until the end of the war. His promotion to the rank of Rear-Admiral took place July 19, 1821.

Residence.– 47, Dover Street, Piccadilly.




JOHN MAITLAND, Esq
Rear-Admiral of the Blue.

This officer is the third son of the late Hon. Colonel Richard Maitland (uncle of the present Earl of Lauderdale[1]), by Mary, second daughter of John M‘Adam, of Loudon, in Ayrshire, Esq., and a brother of the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel James Maitland, of the 75th regiment, who fell at the storming of Fort Barpoor, under General Lake, in 1805.

He entered the naval service at an early age; and in 1703, went to the West Indies as a Midshipman, on board the Boyne, of 98 guns, bearing the flag of Sir John Jervis, now Earl of St. Vincent, to whose favorable notice he soon recommended himself by his distinguished gallantry when serving on shore with a company of seamen, at the reduction of Martinique, Guadaloupe, &c.; but particularly at the storming of Fort Fleur d’Epée, April 12, 1794; on which occasion he was not only the first person who gained the rampart, but actually assisted the heroic Faulknor and several others up the steep parapet by which the party of sailors under that officer’s orders entered the fort.

As soon as Captain Faulknor had collected about 30 men on the parapet, he dashed into the midst of the enemy, by

  1. The ancient and illustrious family of Maitland have been for many centuries lords of Thirlestane, and have produced many eminent characters in the annals of Scotland. Sir John Maitland was a Secretary of State in 1584, and created a Baron in 1590. His son and successor was successively raised to the dignities of a Viscount and an Earl; he died in 1645, leaving issue John, who enjoyed the distinguished confidence of Charles II., after the restoration, and was by that monarch created Duke of Lauderdale, and Marquis of March; which titles, together with an English Earldom and Barony, became extinct at his death, in 1682; but his brother succeeded as 3d Earl of Lauderdale, and from him is descended the officer of whose services we are about to present an outline.