A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hay, John (a)
HAY, Lord, C.B., G.C.C. (Captain, 1818. f-p., 23; h-p., 20.)
The Right Honourable Lord John Hay, born 1 April, 1793, is third son of Geo., seventh Marquess of Tweeddale, by Lady Hannah Charlotte Maitland, daughter of Jas., seventh Earl of Lauderdale. His eldest brother, the present Marquess of Tweeddale, K.T., a Major-General in the Army, and Lord-Lieutenant of co. Haddington, served as Aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War, and was wounded in that capacity at the battle of Busaoo, 27 Sept. 1810. Two other of his brothers, Lords Jas. and Edw. Geo. Hay, are officers of high rank in the Army. His Lordship, who is a distant relative of the present Capt. Jas. Hay, R.N., is brother-in-law of John Henry Ley, Esq., Clerk to the House of Commons; and of Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Bart., President of the Board of Control.
This officer entered the Navy, 4 Dec. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Monarch 74, Capt. John Clarke Searle, bearing the flag in the Downs of Lord Keith, whom he followed, in Aug. 1805, into the Edgar 74. After a further servitude on the Home station in the Egyptienne frigate, and Revenge 74, both commanded by Hon. Chas. Elphinstone Fleeming, Phoebe 36, Capt. Jas. Oswald, and Puissant 74, Capt. John Irwin, he joined, in Dec. 1806, the Seahorse, of 42 guns and 281 men, Capt. John Stewart, attached to the force in the Mediterranean, where he continued until June, 1811. During that period Lord John Hay, besides being in attendance on various diplomatic personages, bore an ample part in many gallant operations against the enemy. Among other services, he was employed in the boats, and lost his left arm at the cutting out of some vessels in Hières Bay; and on the night of 5 July, 1808, he contributed to the capture, after a memorably furious engagement, and a loss to the Seahorse (30 of whose crew were absent) of 5 men killed and 10 wounded, of the Turkish man-of-war Badere Zaffer, mounting 52 guns, with a complement of 543 men, of whom 170 were slain and 200 wounded. The Alis Fezan, of 26 guns and 230 men, a ship which had been also opposed to the Seahorse, was at the same time put to flight. Obtaining a commission 1 May, 1812, Lord John Hay was next appointed, 1 June following, and 31 May, 1814, to the Pique 36, Capt. Hon. Anthony Maitland, and Venerable 74, bearing the flag of the late Sir Philip Durham, both on the West India station. On 15 Nov. in the latter year, having been advanced to the rank of Commander on 15 of the previous June, his Lordship joined the Bustard 10, off Lisbon, and he next, in the course of 1815, obtained command of the Opossum 10, in which sloop he served on the Channel and North American stations until paid off 5 Aug. 1818. He attained Post-rank 7 Dec. following, and was subsequently appointed, 24 Sept. 1832, 19 Nov. 1836, and 8 March, 1837, to the Castor 36, Phoenix steamer, and North Star 28, which vessels he commanded until 1840. He had charge of a battalion of marines, during that period, and acted as Commodore of a small squadron on the north coast of Spain, where the importance of his services as connected with the civil war, especially at the siege of Bilbao, procured him, in 1837, the Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III., and the Companionship of the Bath. Lord John Hay, who next, from 17 Aug. 1841 until Oct. 1843, commanded the Warspite 50, on the coast of North America (whither he conveyed Lord Ashburton) and in the West Indies, was succesively appointed in 1846, Acting-Superintendent of Woolwich Dockyard, Chairman of the Board of Naval Construction, and a Lord of the Admiralty – which latter office he still retains.
His Lordship, a Deputy-Lieutenant for co. Haddington, sat in Parliament for that shire in 1826 and 30. In 1833, he received a large silver medal from the “Society for the Encouragement of Arts,” &c., for his invention of a telescope-holder for the use of a person with only one hand. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.