James Hanway Plumridge

James Hanway Plumridge (c. 1788 – 29 November 1863) was a British naval officer whose career extended from Trafalgar to the Crimean War.

Plumridge was born in London and entered the navy in 1799. As a Midshipman on board "Defence" (74) he took part in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. His first command was "Crocus" in 1814 and he was master of several ships thereafter but though he became a Post Captain in 1822, he did not go to sea again for nine years, when he commanded "Magicienne" on the East Indies Station 1831-35. In 1841 he became Superintendent of the Packet service at Falmouth as well as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Penryn and Falmouth, in which capacity he served until 1847.

He then returned to the East Indies, with the rank of Commodore. He was raised to the rank of Rear-Admiral in 1852. In 1854, in the Crimean War, he was assigned to the fleet headed by Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Napier for operations in the Baltic to command a detached ‘flying squadron’ of steamships. Flying his flag in the frigate HMS "Leopard", Plumridge operated in the Gulf of Bothnia, bombarding a number of Finnish settlements to destroy fortifications, telegraph apparatus, and capture enemy shipping. He was afterwards sharply criticized for firing on civilian settlements. Furthermore, the destroyed Finish commodities were for the greater part actually bought by British customers and often paid in advance, Plumridge effectively pillaging on his own nations's goods [ Reagan, Geoffrey "The Guinness Book of Naval Blunders", London, 1993, page 25 ] .On 21 June his force bombarded the fortress of Bomarsund on the Aland Islands, expending most of their ammunition for little result. It was on this occasion that a midshipman of the gunboat HMS "Hecla" won the first-ever Victoria Cross. In common with the other commanders of the 1854 Baltic campaign Plumridge’s command was not renewed in 1855, but he was awarded the K.C.B. He became a Vice-Admiral in 1857 and Admiral in April 1863, but died in November of the same year.

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