James Whitley Deans Dundas

Infobox Military Person
name =Sir James Dundas
lived=4 December 1785 – 3 October 1862


caption =Admiral Sir James Whitley Deans Dundas
placeofbirth =
placeofdeath =
allegiance=flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom
branch=
serviceyears=
battles=French Revolutionary Wars
Napoleonic Wars
Crimean War
rank= Admiral
commands=
awards=GCB
relations=|

Sir James Whitley Deans Dundas GCB (4 December 1785 – 3 October 1862) was a British admiral and a First Sea Lord.

Naval career

The son of Dr James Deans of Calcutta, James Whitley Deans was born on 4 December 1785 and entered the navy on 19 March 1799. After serving six years in the Mediterranean, on the west coast of France and in the North Sea, he was promoted by Lord Keith to be lieutenant of HMS "Cambrian", on 25 May 1805, and, the following year, after being for a few weeks flag-lieutenant to the Hon. George Cranfield Berkeley, he was made commander on 8 October 1806. He was wounded ashore at Copenhagen in 1807, and on 13 October that year he was posted, and continued actively employed in the Baltic or the North Sea to the peace. On 2 April 1808, he married his first cousin, Janet, only daughter and heiress of Charles Dundas, later Lord Amesbury, and, at the same time, took the surname of Dundas. From 1815 to 1819, he commanded the frigate HMS "Tagus" in the Mediterranean. From 1830 to 1832, he was flag captain to Sir William Parker on board HMS "Prince Regent" of 120 guns, on the coast of Portugal; and, from 1836 to 1838, commanded HMS "Britannia" at Portsmouth as flag captain to Sir Philip Durham.

On 25 October 1839, Dundas was nominated a CB and was advanced to the rank of rear-admiral on 23 November 1841. For some months in 1841, and again in 1850, he had a seat at the board of admiralty. In January 1852, he was appointed commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, was advanced to be vice-admiral on 17 December 1852, and was still in the Mediterranean when the Russian War broke out in 1854. He had, thus, the chief naval command of the operations during the Summer and Autumn of that year, including the transport of the army to the Crimea, the support of the allies in the Battle of the Alma and the engagement with the sea-forts during the Siege of Sevastopol on 17 October. Dundas's conduct with reference to this bombardment has been much criticised; and many writers, following the "Times" correspondent, have repeated the current gossip of the camp, circulated in ignorance of the many details which cramp and control a commanding officer. At the same time, it is difficult not to believe that Dundas, though a most estimable gentleman, brave and chivalrous, was old both in years and constitution, and was wanting in the energy which the occasion demanded.

In January 1855, having completed the usual term of command, he was succeeded by his second, Sir Edmund Lyons, afterwards Lord Lyons, and returned to England. On 5 July of the same year, he was nominated a GCB and his services were acknowledged by the British allies with the grand cross of the Legion of Honour and the Medjidie of the first class. He attained the rank of admiral on 8 December 1857, but had no further service, and died 3 October 1862.

Family

His first wife died in April 1846 and, in August 1847, he married Lady Emily Moreton, daughter of the first Earl of Ducie and younger sister of Lady Charlotte Moreton who had married, in 1834, Admiral Berkeley, afterwards Lord Fitzhardinge and for many years a Lord of the Admiralty. By his first wife, he had a life interest in large estates in Flintshire and Berkshire — centred on Barton Court in Kintbury — which, at his death, passed to his grandson, Mr. Charles Amesbury Deans Dundas. (Dundas' elder son, Charles Whitley Deans Dundas, predeceased him in 1856.) On the passing of the Reform Bill, he was elected member for Greenwich and represented that borough in several subsequent parliaments.

References

* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/jwddundas.html Berkshire history]
*cite book | first=J. K. | last=Laughton | chapter=Dundas, Sir James Whitley Deans (1785–1862) | editor=rev. Andrew Lambert | title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2004 | url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8254 | accessdate=2007-09-21
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=Xd8hAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA782&lpg=RA1-PA782&dq=admiral+sir+james+whitley+deans+dundas&source=web&ots=Vn_KedhNW7&sig=NFvXLCiHOsBGhUk3HavZByXSyio Gentlemans Magazine obituary]