A Naval Biographical Dictionary/St. Clair, Charles
ST. CLAIR. (Commander, 1842. f-p., 16; h-p., 7.)
The Honourable Charles St. Clair, born 8 June, 1811, is second son of Lord Sinclair, by his first wife, Mary Agnes, only daughter of Jas. Chisholme, Esq., of Chisholme. His uncle, Hon. Matthew St. Clair, Commander R.N., was lost in the Martin sloop in 1800.
This officer entered the Royal Naval College 5 Aug. 1824; and embarked, 16 June, 1826, as a Volunteer, on board the Blonde 42, Capt. Lord Byron. In the course of the same month he removed to the Ganges 84, Capt. Sam. Hood Inglefield, fitting for the flag of Sir Robt. Waller Otway, with whom he sailed soon afterwards, for South America. While on that station he landed, in June, 1828, at Rio de Janeiro, with the Marines of the squadron under Capt. Sam. Hood Inglefield (to whom he had been nominated Aide-de-Camp), and assisted in subduing a serious mutiny among the German and other troops in the service of Don Pedro. In Sept. 1829 he became in succession Midshipman (a rating he had previously attained) of the Melville 74, and Rapid 10, Capts. Alex. Wilmot Schomberg and Chas. Henry Swinburne – the latter on the Mediterranean station, where he remained until obliged by an attack of ague to procure his discharge, 10 April, 1832. In the early part of 1830 he was sent, in company with Lieut. Eyton and Mr. Webster, Mate, across the Morea, from Napoli di Romania to Pergos and Zante, with despatches and the first overland Indian mail; in the following Oct. he was employed on shore on secret service at Grabusa; and in June, 1831, he was on board the Rapid when she discovered a volcanic island, since called Graham Island [errata 1]. While attached, as Mate,[1] from Aug. 1832 until May, 1835, to the Nimrod 20, Capts. Lord Edw. Russell and John M‘Dougall, he served in the river Douro and on the coasts of Spain and Portugal during the civil war, and accompanied the Stag frigate, with Don Miguel on board, from the neighbourhood of Lisbon to Genoa. He also landed with Capt. M‘Dougall on the north coast of Spain, and proceeded with him on a particular mission to Bilboa. In March, 1836, he joined the Phoenix steamer, Capt. Wm. Honyman Henderson; and in that vessel and, as “Competent Mate,” in the Tweed 20, Capt. Hon. Fred. Thos. Pelham, he continued employed until presented with a commission bearing date 7 March, 1837. In the Phoenix we find him assisting in carrying the Carlist lines at St. Sebastian, 5 May, 1836, and engaged, at Pasages, in throwing up and defending batteries. During the term of his servitude in the Tweed he contributed to the capture of the town of Hernani, and was in constant co-operation on shore with the Christino troops. His appointments, after he left her, were – 24 April, 1837, to the Hercules 72, Capts. Maurice Fred. Fitzhardinge Berkeley, Sir Jas. John Gordon Bremer, John Toup Nicolas, and Edw. Barnard, in which ship he was chiefly, until paid off in Nov. 1839, employed in carrying troops to Canada, Halifax, the West Indies, and Gibraltar – 29 Dec. 1840, to the Vernon 50, Capt. Wm. Walpole, on the Home station – 26 Oct. 1841, as First-Lieutenant (four months after he had left the Vernon) to the Cambridge 78, Capt. Edw. Barnard, under whom he served off Gibraltar, and aided in recovering the wreck of H.M.S. Tribune, lost off Tarragona – 27 April, 1842, to the Caledonia 120, as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir David Milne at Plymouth – 22 Aug. following, to the Royal George yacht, Capt. Lord Adolphus FitzClarence, in which vessel he escorted Her Majesty and the Prince Consort to Scotland – and 12 Oct. in the same year, again, in his former capacity, to the Caledonia. Since the attainment of his present rank 10 Nov. 1842, he has been on half-pay.
Commander St. Clair married, 29 Sept. 1840, Isabella Jane, youngest daughter of Wm. Foreman Home, Esq., of Paxton and Billie, a Magistrate, Deputy-Lieutenant, and Commissioner of Supply for co. Berwick, by whom he has issue. One of his wife’s sisters, Jean, is married to David Milne, Esq., eldest son of the late Admiral Sir David Milne, G.C.B., and another, Margaret, to the Hon. Adolphus F. Cathcart, a Captain in the Army, youngest son of the late Earl Cathcart.
- ↑ He had passed his examination at the R.N. College 10 Nov. 1839, and for seamanship 17 June, 1830.