Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacDougall, John
MACDOUGALL, Sir JOHN (1790–1865), vice-admiral, born in 1790, was the second son of Patrick MacDougall of Dunolly Castle, Argyllshire, lineal representative of the MacDougalls of Lorne, by his wife Louisa, youngest daughter of John Campbell of Achallader in Argyllshire. His elder brother, Alexander, captain in the 5th regiment of foot, was killed in 1812, at the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo. John MacDougall entered the navy in December 1802, on board the Cruiser sloop, actively employed on the north coast of France through 1803. In he was in the Doris frigate with his cousin, Patrick Campbell [q. v.]; see also Campbell, Sir Colin, 1776-1847]. When the Doris was burnt, January 1805, he was appointed to the Hero, in which he was present in the action off Cape Finisterre, 22 July 1805 [see Calder, Sir Robert]. He was afterwards again with Patrick Campbell in the Chiffonne, and in the Unité from June 1806 to November 1809, during which time he was repeatedly engaged in boat actions in the Adriatic. On 25 Nov. 1809 he was promoted by Lord Collingwood to be lieutenant of the Ville de Paris, a promotion confirmed by the admiralty on 3 Jan. 1810. Li May 1811 he was again appointed to the Unité, which under the command of Captain Chamberlayne still formed part of the squadron in the Adriatic. The service was very severe, and MacDougall was, as before, frequently engaged in boat actions. In November 1811 he was in command of a prize to take her to Malta, when he fell in with three French sums of war. 'With a judgment and zeal which did him infinite credit' he returned to communicate his intelligence to the senior officer, Captain Murray Maxwell [q. v.], with the result that two of the French ships were captured. Towards the end of 1812 he was invalided from the Unité; in 1814 he was in the Leander on the coast of North America; and in 1816 was a lieutenant of the Superb with Captain Ekins, at the bombardment of Algiers, 27 Aug. In 1819 he was flag-lieutenant to Rear-admiral Donald Campbell in the West Indies, and was officially thanked by the king of Denmark, through the lords of the admiralty, for his conduct in saving the crew of a Danish ship wrecked in a hurricane at St. Thomas. He was promoted to be commander on 9 Feb. 1820.
From 1833 to 1835 he commanded the Nimrod on the coast of Portugal, and was promoted to be captain 16 Aug. 1836. In February 1845 he commissioned the Vulture, paddle-wheel frigate, for the East India station, and in April 1847, being then senior officer at Hongkong, escorted the governor, Sir John Davis, with a strong body of troops up the river to Canton, capturing the Bogue forts on the way, spiking upwards of five hundred guns and destroying the ammunition (Bulletins of State Intelligence, 1847, p. 262). It would appear that the Chinese were taken unawares, and that the forts were not garrisoned to their proper strength. He returned to England in 1848. He had no farther service, but was promoted to be rear-admiral on 12 May 1857; was nominated a K.C.B. 10 Nov. 1862; attained the rank of vice-admiral 3 Nov. 1863; and died at Dunolly on 12 April 1865. He married in 1826 Elizabeth Sophia, only daughter of Commander Charles Sheldon Timins of the royal navy, and had issue, among others, Colonel Charles Allan, the present laird of Dunolly, Patrick Charles Campbell, who died a commander in the navy in 1861, and Somerled, now a captain on the retired list.
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Dict. Times, 17 April 1865.]