Rear Admiral John Leith
(Portrait, Leith Hall family collection)
John Leith was born at Leith Hall, Aberdeenshire, the second son of General Alexander Leith Hay and his wife Mary, daughter of Charles Forbes of Ballogie. He was a younger brother of Sir Andrew Leith Hay of Rannes and Leith Hall, and a nephew of Lieutenant-General Sir James Leith, Governor of Barbados and Commander-in-Chief of the Windward Islands, who died in 1816. John entered the Royal Navy on 11 June 1802 as a first-class volunteer aboard HMS Lapwing (28 guns) under Captain Alexander Skene. Soon afterwards, off the banks of Newfoundland, the Lapwing was chased for three days by the French 74-gun Duguay-Trouin and the 40-gun frigate Guerrière, and escaped only by throwing her guns, boats, all but one anchor and cable, and most of her provisions and water overboard.
That October he followed Captain Skene to HMS Leander (50 guns), later serving under Captains John Talbot, Henry Whitby and Salusbury Pryce Humphreys. Under Talbot, he took part in the capture of the French frigate La Ville de Milan (46 guns) and the recapture of her prize, Cleopatra, on 23 February 1805. Following Humphreys to HMS Leopard in August 1806, he was aboard her on 22 June 1807 when she compelled the United States frigate Chesapeake to surrender after the Americans refused to allow a search for deserters — the incident later known as the Chesapeake–Leopard affair.
In April 1808 he joined HMS Triumph (74) under Captain Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, serving as master’s mate in the North Sea and during the blockade of Lorient, before moving with Hardy to HMS Barfleur (98), flagship off Lisbon of the Hon. George Cranfield Berkeley. Berkeley made him acting-lieutenant of HMS Norge on 26 June 1809, and that summer he helped fit out Spanish men-of-war at Ferrol, then under threat from the French. He returned to the Barfleur that October, was confirmed lieutenant on 10 October, and on Berkeley’s promotion in December 1810 succeeded him as flag-lieutenant. Before that appointment he had held command of the telegraph posts on the lines of Torres Vedras, a post he kept until the French army under Masséna was finally driven from Portugal. He was present at Lord Wellington’s headquarters during the Siege of Badajoz, and the surviving account states he was there when the fortress was stormed and carried in April 1811 — though the assault that finally took Badajoz is generally dated to April 1812, a discrepancy worth flagging for anyone researching this service further.
The Barfleur was ordered home in 1812, and in April 1813 Leith was appointed to HMS Sceptre (74) under Captain Charles Bayne Hodgson Ross, flagship of Rear-Admiral George Cockburn. He later moved with Cockburn into HMS Albion (74), taking part in the attack on Hampton, Virginia, the capture of Ocracoke and Portsmouth Islands — bringing off the privateers Anaconda and Atlas — the occupation of Kent Island, and other operations during the War of 1812. He returned to England aboard HMS St Domingo (74) in June 1814 and was promoted Commander on 13 June 1815.
Leith was not employed again until September 1822, when he was appointed to HMS Bellette (18), fitting out for the West Indies. He moved to HMS Pylades (18) in June 1825, was made acting captain of HMS Isis (50) later that month, and was confirmed into HMS Rattlesnake (28) that November. He was paid off in September 1827, returning home with the Duke of Manchester, the outgoing Governor of Jamaica, and remained on half-pay until February 1837, when he was appointed to HMS Seringapatam (46) and sent once more to the West Indies to take charge of the Barbados station. On the passage out he took with him HMS Romney (50), intended as a receiving ship at Havana for Africans freed from intercepted slave ships, and succeeded in establishing her there despite opposition from the governor.
Apart from a visit to Jamaica in 1838, Leith remained senior officer at Barbados until July 1841, when he sailed for Halifax to recover his own health and that of his crew; before he left, the inhabitants of Barbados presented him with an address and a piece of plate. He was invalided home from Halifax in October 1841 and remained on half-pay for the rest of his career. Rear-Admiral John Leith died at Blackford on 25 October 1854.
Continue the Family Story
From Rear Admiral John Leith to Sir Andrew Leith-Hay
John was a younger brother of Sir Andrew Leith Hay, who succeeded to Rannes and Leith Hall. Continue with the next chapter of the family record.