John Hay

Notes on Officer

HAY, Lord JOHN (1793–1851), rear-admiral, third son of George, seventh marquis of Tweeddale, was born on 1 April 1793. In December 1804 he was nominally entered on board the Monarch, Lord Keith's flagship in the Downs. He is described as belonging in succession to several other ships on the home station; but it seems probable that he did not personally enter the service till December 1806, when he joined the Sea-horse of 42 guns, going to the Mediterranean. In her he continued till June 1811, and saw much active service, losing his left arm in a cutting-out expedition in Hyères Roads in 1807, and sharing in the capture of a Turkish ship of 52 guns on 5 July 1808. On 1 April 1812 he was made lieutenant, and in June was appointed to the Pique, in which he went to the West Indies; on 31 May 1814 he was transferred to the Venerable, carrying the flag of Sir Philip Durham, and from her was promoted on 15 June to the rank of commander. In November he was appointed to the Bustard at Lisbon, and in the following year commissioned the Opossum of 10 guns, which he commanded in the Channel and on the Halifax station till August 1818. On 7 Dec. he was promoted to be captain; he was member of parliament for Haddington 1826–30, but had no employment afloat till September 1832, when he was appointed to the Castor frigate. In November 1836 he was transferred to the Phœnix, and in March 1837 to the North Star, which he paid off in 1840. For a great part of this time he was employed as commander of a small squadron on the north coast of Spain during the civil war, and was frequently landed in command of a naval and marine brigade. In acknowledgment of his services, especially at the siege of Bilbao, he received the C.B., 17 Feb. 1837, and the grand cross of Charles III. From August 1841 to October 1843 Hay commanded the Warspite of 50 guns on the North American and West Indian station; in 1846 he was for a few months acting as superintendent of Woolwich dockyard; in 1847 he was returned to parliament as member for Windsor, and from 1847 to 1850 was one of the lords of the admiralty. On 9 Feb. 1850 he was appointed commodore-superintendent of Devonport dockyard, where he still was at the time of his death on 9 Sept. 1851, two days after he had hoisted his flag as rear-admiral on board the St. George. He married in 1846 Mary Anne, eldest daughter of Donald Cameron of Lochiel, but left no issue.