Sir John Strachan, 5th Baronet

Infobox Military Person
name=John Strachan, 5th BaronetRef_label|A|a|none
lived=died 28 December 1777


caption=
placeofbirth =
placeofdeath = Bath, England
nickname=
residence = United Kingdom
nationality = British
allegiance=United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland
serviceyears=1727–1777
rank=Captain
branch= Royal Navy
commands=HMS "Fortune"
HMS "Experiment"
HMS "Sapphire"
HMS "Orford"
unit=
battles=Battle of Quiberon Bay
awards=
relations=Richard Strachan (Nephew)

Sir John Strachan (died 28 December 1777) was a Baronet and chief of Clan Strachan. He served in the Royal Navy, rising to the rank of captain and commanding a number of warships. His nephew, Richard Strachan, would also go on to have a distinguished career in the Navy.

Career

John Strachan was born the eldest son of Patrick Strachan, M.D., physician to the Greenwich Hospital, and his wife, the daughter of a Royal Navy captain. Little is known about his early life, but he appears to have entered the Navy in about 1727. It would be twenty years before he would be promoted to the rank of lieutenant, in January 1747. In 1755 he was appointed second lieutenant of the 98-gun HMS "St George", which was then serving as the flagship of Lord Hawke. The following year Strachan accompanied Hawke to Gibraltar aboard HMS "Antelope", to relieve John Byng. On arriving he was appointed to command the 18-gun sloop HMS "Fortune" and on 9 September 1756, he was posted to HMS "Experiment".

Serving on the "Experiment" he captured the 20-gun French privateer "Télémaque" off Alicante on 8 July 1757, with the loss of 235 French and forty-eight British sailors. During the encounter Strachan came alongside and sent a boarding party onto the "Télémaque" under William Locker, who secured her surrender. Strachan took the prize into Gibraltar and along with Locker, was reassigned to the 32-gun HMS "Sapphire". He returned to England aboard her and in 1759 was attached to the Grand Fleet under Sir Edward Hawke. He was then assigned to the light squadron in Quiberon Bay under Commodore Robert Duff, and was present at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759. Strachan remained in command of the "Sapphire" until 1762. Eight years later he was appointed to command HMS "Orford", one of the squadron which went with Rear-Admiral Robert Harland to the East Indies. Ill health forced Strachan to return to England two years later and he retired from active service. He had married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Lovelace of Battersea, but the marriage produced no children and, following his death at Bath on 28 December 1777, the baronetcy passed to his nephew, Richard John Strachan who also became a distinguished Navy officer.

Notes

a. Note_label|A|a|none Some confusion over which baronet he was exists. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography lists him as the 3rd, but both Debrett's and Burke's Peerage list him as the 5th.

References

* [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26618/?back=92747,26620 John Strachan's entry at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]
* [http://www.clanstrachan.com/heritage/john_strachan.htm John Strachan at Clan Stachan.com]