- Thomas Maitland, 11th Earl of Lauderdale
Admiral of the Fleet Thomas Maitland, 11th Earl of Lauderdale, GCB (3 February 1803 –1 September 1878 ) was aRoyal Navy officer and peer.Maitland was born in 1803 at
Frankfort, County Cork and was the only son of Gen. Hon. William Maitland (himself the fourth son ofJames Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale ) and his first wife, Mary.Career
Maitland joined the navy in 1816 and was promoted to
lieutenant for service aboard HMS "Euryalus" in 1823. In 1825, he was appointed to serve aboard HMS "Superb" atPortsmouth and to HMS "Ganges" in 1826 on theSouth America n station. Promoted tocommander in 1827, he commanded HMS "Sparrowhawk" from 1832-33 in theWest Indies , bringing home atreasure of $589,405 and 42 bales ofcochineal .From 1835-37, Maitland commanded HMS "Tweed" on the north coast of
Spain during theSpanish Civil War , for which he received the cross of theOrder of Charles III and Saint Fernando . In 1837, he was promoted tocaptain and took command of HMS "Wellesley" on theEast India station and saw action off thePersian Gulf in 1839 and during theFirst Opium War from 1840-41, for which he was appointed a CB in 1841.In 1843, Maitland was knighted and was Captain of the Gunnery School at Portsmouth from 1854-57. In 1857 he was promoted to
Rear-Admiral and wasCommander-in-Chief , Pacific from 1860-62. He was appointed KCB in 1865, First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp from 1866-73, GCB in 1873 andAdmiral in 1868 andAdmiral of the Fleet in 1877 on hisretirement .Family
On
7 February 1828 , Maitland married Amelia Young atRio de Janeiro (whilst posted in South America) and they had four children:*Thomas Mordaunt (1838-1844)
*Isabel Anne (d. 1854)
*Lady Alice Charlotte Maitland (d. 1883)
*Lady Mary Jane (1847-1918), marriedReginald Brabazon, 12th Earl of Meath .Death
Lord Lauderdale died in 1878 at the family home,
Thirlestane Castle inBerwickshire . As his only son predeceased him, his titles and hereditary offices passed to his second cousin once removed, Charles Barclay-Maitland.ources
* [http://www.burkes-peerage.net Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage]
* [http://www.gazette-online.co.uk/ The London Gazette]
* [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17837 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.