Sir William Carnegie (7^th Earl Northesk)

Notes on Officer

Rear-Admiral of Great Britain; Admiral of the White; Knight Grand Cross of the most honourable Military Order of the Bath; Governor of the British Linen Company in Scotland: Doctor of Laws; and a Vice-President of the Naval and Military Bible Society.

The family of this nobleman has been settled for some centuries in the county of Angus, in Scotland. His ancestors came originally from Hungary, about the year 1200, at which time the family name was either de Bolinhord, or Ballinhard; but getting possession of the lands and barony of Carnegie, they adopted that, agreeably to the custom of the age and country.

In the reign of King Charles I., David, the eldest of four brothers, was created Earl of Southesk, and Lord Carnegie; and John, the second, was advanced to the dignities of Lord Inglismaldy, Lord Lour, and Earl of Ethie; which titles he afterwards exchanged for those of Earl of Northesk and Lord Rosehill. In consequence of the attachment of this family to that unfortunate monarch, they were fined by Oliver Cromwell 10,000l. They were afterwards equally remarkable for their support of the revolution, and for their steady loyalty to the House of Hanover. In the rebellion in 1715, when the family mansion was taken possession of by the Old Pretender, the Countess of Northesk was obliged to seek refuge in the Castle of Edinburgh, where she was delivered of the late George Earl of Northesk (named after his Majesty, King George I., who was one of his sponsors by proxy). He died in 1792, having served with a considerable degree of credit in the Royal Navy, and attained the rank of Admiral of the White.

The subject of this memoir is the second, son of the above peer, by the Lady Anne Leslie, eldest daughter of Alexander, fifth Earl of Leven and Melville; and was born about the year 1758. In 1771 he embarked with the Hon. Captain Barrington, in the Albion. He next served with Captain Macbride, in the Southampton, and Captain Stair Douglas, in the Squirrel; was made acting Lieutenant in the Nonsuch, and confirmed by Lord Howe in 1777, into the Apollo. He afterwards served with Admirals Sir John Lockhart Ross, and Sir George B. Rodney; and by the latter was made a Commander after the action with the Count de Guichen, April 17, 1780, and appointed to the Blast fire-ship, from which he removed into the St. Eustatia, and was present in her at the reduction of the island of that name, Feb. 3, 1781. Captain Carnegie obtained Post rank on the 7th April, 1782, and at the ensuing peace returned to England in the Enterprise frigate, and was put out of commission. In 1788 he succeeded his elder brother, as Lord Rosehill; and in 1790, on the Spanish armament, was appointed to the command of the Heroine, of 32 guns; but was paid off when the apprehension of a war with that power ceased. In 1792, on the demise of his father, his Lordship succeeded to the Earldom and estate; in January, 1793, he commissioned the Beaulieu frigate, and went to the Leeward Islands; whence he returned towards the close of that year, in the Andromeda, which ship was shortly after put out of commission.

In 1796 Lord Northesk was elected one of the sixteen representatives of the peerage of Scotland, in the Parliament of Great Britain. He was in the same year appointed to the command of the Monmouth, of 64 guns; and employed in the North Sea, under the orders of the late Viscount Duncan; until, in May 1797, the spirit of disaffection which had originated in the Channel Fleet, unfortunately spread to that squadron; and the Monmouth was one of the ships brought to the Nore. The subsequent events of that temporary delirium among our seamen are already noticed in our memoir of Admiral Sir John Knight; to which we shall only add, that when the firmness of the mutineers began at length to be a little shaken, they determined to try to effect a reconciliation with government through the medium of Lord Northesk. For this purpose, on the 6th June, the two delegates of the Monmouth were rowed on board that ship, where his Lordship was confined, and informed him, it was the pleasure of the committee that he should immediately accompany them on board the Sandwich, as they had proposals to make leading to an accommodation; his Lordship complied, attended by one officer; he found the convention in the state cabin, consisting of 60 delegates, with the chief ringleader, Parker, sitting at their head.

Before they entered upon business, the president demanded of the gentleman who accompanied Lord Northesk, “who he was?” the answer was, “An officer of the Monmouth, who accompanied the Captain as secretary.” – “Who knows him? – say, delegates of the Monmouth, what kind of man is he?” The two delegates stated he was a worthy good man; on which it was unanimously voted he might attend the conference. Parker then said to Lord Northesk, “That the committee, with one voice, had come to a declaration of the terms on which alone, without the smallest alteration, they would give up the ships; and that they had sent for him as one who was known to be the seamen’s friend, to be charged with them to the King, from whom he must pledge his honour to return on board with a clear and positive answer within fifty-four hours.”

Parker then read the letter, which contained some compliments to his late Majesty’s virtues, and many severe strictures on the demerits of his ministers. His Lordship informed the delegates, that “he certainly would bear the letter as desired; but he could not, from the unreasonableness of their demands, flatter them with any expectation of success.”

They persisted that the whole must be complied with, or they would immediately put the fleet to sea. Parker then delivered the following paper to Lord Northesk, to ratify his credentials; he was rowed on board the Duke of York Margate packet, with three cheers from the rebels.

“To Captain Lord Northesk.

“You are hereby authorized and ordered to wait upon the King, wherever he may be, with the resolutions of the committee of delegates; and are directed to return back with an answer within fifty-four hours from the date hereof.

Lord Northesk proceeded to London with this despatch; and after stopping a short time at the Admiralty, he attended Earl Spencer to the King. The demands of the seamen were rejected as exorbitant and unreasonable. Captain Knight, whom they had permitted to go on shore upon the promise to return, carried down the refusal of the Lords of the Admiralty.

After the trials were over, Lord Northesk resigned the command of the Monmouth, and remained unemployed till the year 1800, when he was appointed to the Prince, of 98 guns, in which ship he continued on Channel service till the suspension of hostilities, when he again came on shore; and the same year was re-elected one of the sixteen representative Peers of Scotland.

On the renewal of the war in 1803. his Lordship was immediately appointed to the Britannia, of 100 guns, at Portsmouth, and soon after received the honour of a visit on board that ship, from their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of York and Cambridge. Towards the close of the same year, the Britannia was stationed at St. Helen’s, to guard that end of the Isle of Wight, in case of an invasion. She afterwards formed a part of the Channel fleet, commanded by the Hon. William Cornwallis.

Lord Northesk was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral, April 23, 1804, and, with his flag in the Britannia, continued to serve in the arduous blockade of Brest, till August in the following year; when he was detached with a squadron, under the orders of Sir Robert Calder, to reinforce Vice-Admiral Collingwood off Cadiz.

In the glorious and decisive battle of Trafalgar, his Lordship took a distinguished share in achieving the victory. Previously to that memorable event, the Britannia had been directed by Lord Nelson, in consequence of her heavy rate of sailing, constantly to take a position to windward of him; and, on the morning of the glorious 21st Oct. 1805, he ordered by signal, that she should assume a station as most convenient, without regard to the order of battle; and afterwards sent verbal directions to Lord Northesk, to break through the enemy’s line a-stern of the fourteenth ship. This was effected in the most masterly and gallant manner; though the Britannia was severely galled in bearing down, by a raking fire from several of the enemy. On passing through the line, and hauling up, she was the fourth ship of the van division in action, the Victory, Temeraire, and Neptune, alone preceding her; and, in a short space of time, completely dismasted a French ship of 80 guns, on board of which a white handkerchief was waved in token of submission. She afterwards singly engaged, and kept at bay, three of the enemy’s ran ships, that were attempting to double upon the Victory, at that time much disabled, and warmly engaged with two of the enemy. During the whole continuance of this long and bloody conflict, Lord Northesk zealously emulated the conduct of his illustrious leader; nor was his conduct after the action less meritorious, while his skill and promptitude were equally conspicuous in the arduous task of securing the captured ships. And, when the order was given for destroying the prizes, after removing from them the British Seamen, his zeal in that truly dangerous service, in a tempestuous sea, and heavy gale of wind, was exceeded only by his exemplary humanity. Though urgent signals were made, and repeated, “to expedite their destruction;” his Lordship would on no account suffer l’Intrepide, the nearest of the captured ships to the Britannia, to be scuttled or burned, till his boats had rescued from the devoted prize all her wounded men, and the whole of her surviving crew.

For his eminent services as third in command of the victorious fleet, Lord Northesk was honoured with the insignia of the Order of the Bath; and both Houses of Parliament, the Corporation of London, and of several other cities and public companies, concurred in voting him their thanks. In addition to which the citizens of the metropolis presented him with a handsome sword, and the Goldsmith’s Company their freedom.

His Lordship was advanced to the rank of Vice-Admiral, April 28, 1808; became an Admiral, June 4, 1814; and has since been constituted Rear-Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the Admiralty thereof, and also of the navies and seas of the United Kingdom.

The Earl of Northesk married, in 1789, to Mary, only daughter of the late William Henry Ricketts, of Longwood, co. Hants, Esq., and niece of the Earl of St. Vincent. His eldest son, Lord Rosehill, a Midshipman on board the Blenheim, was lost with Sir Thomas Troubridge in that ship, in 1807.

A portrait of the noble Earl, by T. Phillips, was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1807.

Residence.– Rosehill House, near Winchester, Hants, and Ethie House, Forfarshire.