A Naval Biographical Dictionary/McKinley, George
M‘KINLEY. (Vice-Admiral of the White, 1841. f-p., 38; h-p., 36.)
George M‘Kinley, born at Devonport, is the son of a Lieutenant in the R.N. One of his brothers, Samuel, commanded the Comet galley, and died on the American station; and another, John, who served as a Lieutenant under the late Sir Chas. Morice Pole at the capture of the Santa Catalina Spanish frigate, died off St. Domingo in 1782.
This officer entered the Navy, 5 Aug. 1773, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Albion 74, Capts. Hon. Jas. Barrington and Hon. John Leveson Gower, to which ship, lying at Portsmouth, he continued attached until 1777. In Jan. 1778 he rejoined the former officer, then a Rear-Admiral, on board the Prince of Wales 98, and sailed for the West Indies, where, on being discharged at the close of the same year into the Ceres sloop, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres, he was captured, while holding the rating of Midshipman, by the French frigate Iphigénie. Regaining his liberty in the early part of 1779, he served during the next three years, still on the West India station, in the Surprize, Alcmène frigate (which vessel he had assisted in taking from the French), and Belliqueux 64, all commanded by Capt. Jas. Brine (whom he fought under in the latter ship in the actions of 29 April and 5 Sept. 1781, off Martinique and the Chesapeake), and also in the Barfleur 98, bearing the flag of Sir Sam. Hood. On 14 Jan. 1782 Mr. M‘Kinley was made liieutenant into the Stormont sloop, but that vessel being captured before he could join her he went back to the Barfleur, and was in consequence present in the actions of 9 and 12 April, and at the capture, on 19 of the same month, of the enemy’s ships Jason, Caton, Almable, and Ceres, in the Mona passage. On the date last mentioned he removed to the Champion 24, Capt. Alex. Hood, with whom, in July, 1783, he returned home from America in L’Aimable frigate. We next, between April, 1784, and Aug. 1791, find him serving on the Newfoundland and Home stations in the Thorn sloop, Capt. Wm. Lechmere, Edgar 74, Capt. Adam Duncan, Trimmer 16, Capt. Chas. Tyler, and Illustrious 74 and Formidable 98, bearing each the flag of Hon. J. L. Gower. When in the Trimmer in 1787, Mr. M‘Kinley was sent in pursuit of a smuggler in the jolly-boat, and during an absence of 30 hours without food was caught in a heavy gale and all but lost. His first appointment, on leaving the Formidable, was, 1 Dec. 1792, to the Alcide 74, Captain (afterwards Commodore and Rear-Admiral) Robt. Linzee; previously to accompanying whom, in 1794, into the Windsor Castle 98, he participated (the second time on board the Fortitude 74, Capt. Wm. Young) in two unsuccessful attacks upon the tower of Mortella in the island of Corsica. Assuming command, in March, 1795, after four months of half-pay, of the Liberty cutter, he cruized for upwards of three years in that vessel on the Channel station, and on 17 March, 1796, gained the particular notice of Sir Wm. Sidney Smith by the gallant and judicious manner in which, having entered the harbour of Herqui in company with the Diamond frigate and Aristocrat lugger, he went into action with the corvette Etourdie, of 16 guns, preparatory to her destruction.[1] On 16 May, 1798, Mr. M‘Kinley was promoted to the command of the Otter fire-ship. In the following year, being ordered to accompany the expedition to Holland, he witnessed the surrender of Rear-Admiral Storey’s squadron in the Texel, and was placed in charge, with a detachment of marines, of the town of Enkuysen, where he remained until the evacuation of the Helder and the removal of the British naval force from the Zuyder Zee. On 2 April, 1801, immediately after the battle of Copenhagen, on which occasion the Otter had formed part of the light squadron attached to Lord Nelson’s division, Capt. M‘Kinley was nominated to the temporary command of the Bellona 74, whose Captain, Sir Thos. Boulden Thompson, had lost a leg in the action. As soon as he had refitted that ship he was superseded and sent in charge of the Ardent 64 to England, whence, on 20 of the ensuing Oct., the very day he was confirmed in Post-rank, he sailed for the West Indies in the Pelican sloop with despatches relative to the treaty of Amiens. He removed, immediately on his arrival, to the Abergavenny 54, and was subsequently appointed – 23 July, 1802, to the Ganges 74, in which ship he returned home via Halifax – 11 July, 1803, to the Roebuck 44, employed at first as a guard-ship at Leith (where the explosion of a powder-horn, while on duty, deprived him of sight for several weeks), and then as flagship to Rear-Admiral Billy Douglas in Yarmouth Roads – 23 Jan. 1806, to the Quebec 32, stationed off the coast of Holland – 20 May following, to the Lively 38 – 19 April, 1811, to the San Josef 110, bearing the flag in the Mediterranean and Channel of Sir Chas. Cotton, with whom he continued until his death in Feb. 1812 – 5 May in the latter year, to the Bellona 74, in which ship he cruized off the Scheldt, made a voyage to St. Helena, and served with the Channel fleet – and (after an interval of nine months), 21 Nov. 1814, and 26 Aug. 1815, to the Namur and Bulwark 74’s, as Flag-Captain to Sir Chas. Rowley in the River Medway. During his command of the Lively, Capt. M‘Kinley was for some time Senior officer on the Lisbon station, where he rendered an essential service in bringing away the British factory and all the English merchant-vessels lying in the Tagus, at a time when General Junot was rapidly approaching with a powerful French army to take possession of the Portuguese capital. His conduct, indeed, afforded so much satisfaction to the merchants that they united in presenting him with a piece of plate. In Jan. 1808 the Lively conveyed Rear-Admiral Wm. Albany Otway to the squadron employed in the blockade of Lisbon; and then went on a cruize off the Western Islands. After the convention of Cintra her Captain was sent into the Tagus, with orders to take charge of the naval arsenal, which he retained until it was delivered over to the Portuguese authorities. He subsequently cruized off Oporto, and received the thanks of the merchants there for his exertions in clearing the river Douro of all the British shipping previously to the French entering that city. In March, 1809, his assistance being solicited by the inhabitants of Galicia, he repaired thither, and took an active part in the operations which led to the capture of Vigo and Santiago.[2] On the advance of Marshal Soult towards St. Payo, Capt. M‘Kinley was the means of saving it from capture by effectually destroying the bridge. In July, 1809, he convoyed a fleet from Lisbon to England; and on 18 Sept. in the same year he contributed to the capture of L’Aurore French lugger-privateer, of 16 guns and 69 men. After lying for a time in the Downs as flag-ship of the late Sir Geo. Campbell, the Lively, in April, 1810, conveyed Sir Chas. Cotton to Cadiz. On her return she was ordered to escort the outward-bound trade to Portugal and the Mediterranean. After executing that service she was unfortunately wrecked, 10 Aug. 1810, on a reef of rocks near Point Coura, in the island of Malta; a disaster of any share in which Capt. M‘Kinley was by court-martial fully acquitted. On afterwards leaving the Bulwark, he was appointed, 16 Jan. 1818, a Captain of the Royal Hospital at Greenwich; and in April, 1821, he was nominated Superintendent of the Royal Naval Asylum on the occasion of its incorporation with the former institution. His services in the latter capacity were acknowledged in 1828 by a special increase of 100l. per annum to his salary. He became a Rear-Admiral 22 July, 1830; and attained his present rank 23 Nov. 1841.
Vice-Admiral M‘Kinley married a sister of the late Vice-Admiral Aiskew Paffard Hollis, by whom he has issue. Agent – J. Chippendale.