Sir John Strachan, 5th Baronet

John Strachan, 5th Baronet^[a]
John Strachan, 5th Baronet
Died	28 December 1777; Bath, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom of; Great Britain and Ireland
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1727–1777
Rank	Captain
Commands held	HMS Fortune ; HMS Experiment ; HMS Sapphire ; HMS Orford
Battles/wars	Seven Years' War Battle of Quiberon Bay ;
Relations	Richard Strachan (Nephew)

Last updated February 22, 2019

Sir John Strachan (died 28 December 1777) was a Baronet and chief of Clan Strachan. He served in the Royal Navy, rising to the rank of captain and commanding a number of warships. His nephew, Richard Strachan, would also go on to have a distinguished career in the Navy.

Baronet A hereditary title awarded by the British Crown

A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess, is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The practice of awarding baronetcies was originally introduced in England in the 14th century and was used by James I of England in 1611 as a means of raising funds.

The Scottish Gaelic word clann means children. In early times, and possibly even today, Scottish clan members believed themselves to descend from a common ancestor, the founder of the clan, after whom the clan is named. The clan chief is the representative of this founder, and represents the clan. In the Scottish clan system, a chief is greater than a chieftain, a designation applied to heads of branches of a clan. Scottish clans that no longer have a clan chief are referred to as armigerous clans.

Clan Strachan is a Scottish clan originating from Aberdeenshire, but once used to be located in the Howe O'Mearns. The clan does not have a chief now, therefore it is considered by Court of the Lord Lyon and the Stand Council of Scottish Chiefs as an Armigerous clan.

Early life

John Strachan was born the eldest son of Patrick Strachan, M.D., physician to the Greenwich Hospital, and his wife, the daughter of a Royal Navy captain. Little is known about his early life, but he appears to have entered the Navy in about 1727. It would be twenty years before he would be promoted to the rank of lieutenant, in January 1747.

A Doctor of Medicine is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, Canada and other countries, the MD denotes a professional graduate degree awarded upon graduation from medical school. In the United Kingdom, Ireland and other countries, the MD is a research doctorate, higher doctorate, honorary doctorate or applied clinical degree restricted to those who already hold a professional degree in medicine; in those countries, the equivalent professional degree is typically titled Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS).

A lieutenant is a junior mostcommissioned officer in the armed forces, fire services, police and other organizations of many nations.

Seven Years War

In 1755, Strachan was appointed second lieutenant aboard the 98-gun HMS St George, which was then the flagship of Lord Hawke. The following year Strachan accompanied Hawke to Gibraltar aboard HMS Antelope, to relieve John Byng. On arriving he was appointed to command the 18-gun sloop HMS Fortune, and on 9 September 1756 was posted to HMS Experiment.

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the first, largest, fastest, most heavily armed, or best known.

Admiral of the Fleet Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, KB, PC was a Royal Navy officer. As captain of the third-rate HMS Berwick he took part in the Battle of Toulon in February 1744 during the War of the Austrian Succession. He also captured six ships of a French squadron in the Bay of Biscay in the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre in October 1747.

Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. It has an area of 6.7 km² (2.6 sq mi) and is bordered to the north by Spain. The landscape is dominated by the Rock of Gibraltar at the foot of which is a densely populated town area, home to over 30,000 people, primarily Gibraltarians. It shares a maritime border with Morocco.

Serving on the Experiment he captured the 20-gun French privateer Télémaque off Alicante on 19 July 1757, in a lopsided engagement that saw 110 French sailors killed and 156 wounded, against a total of 41 British casualties.^[1] During the encounter Strachan came alongside and sent a boarding party onto the Télémaque under William Locker, who secured her surrender. Strachan took the prize into Gibraltar and along with Locker, was reassigned to the 32-gun HMS Sapphire. He returned to England aboard her and in 1759 was attached to the Grand Fleet under Sir Edward Hawke. He was then assigned to the light squadron in Quiberon Bay under Commodore Robert Duff, and was present at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759.

A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. The commission, also known as a letter of marque, empowers the person to carry on all forms of hostility permissible at sea by the usages of war, including attacking foreign vessels during wartime and taking them as prizes. Historically, captured ships were subject to condemnation and sale under prize law, with the proceeds divided between the privateer sponsors, shipowners, captains and crew. A percentage share usually went to the issuer of the commission. Since robbery under arms was once common to seaborne trade, all merchant ships were already armed. During war, naval resources were auxiliary to operations on land so privateering was a way of subsidizing state power by mobilizing armed ships and sailors.

Alicante, or Alacant, both the Spanish and Valencian being official names, is a city and port in Spain on the Costa Blanca, the capital of the province of Alicante and of the comarca of Alacantí, in the south of the Valencian Community. It is also a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city of Alicante proper was 330,525, estimated as of 2016, ranking as the second-largest Valencian city. Including nearby municipalities, the Alicante conurbation had 452,462 residents. The population of the metropolitan area was 757,085 as of 2014 estimates, ranking as the eighth-largest metropolitan area of Spain.

The Grand Fleet was the main fleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War.

Strachan remained in command of the Sapphire until 1762.

Later life

In 1770 Strachan was appointed to command HMS Orford, one of the squadron which went with Rear-Admiral Robert Harland to the East Indies. Ill health forced him to return to England just two years later whereupon he retired from active service.

HMS Orford was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment at Woolwich Dockyard, and launched in 1749.

The East Indies or the Indies are the lands of South and Southeast Asia. In a more restricted sense, the Indies can be used to refer to the islands of Southeast Asia, especially the Indonesian Archipelago and the Philippine Archipelago. The name "Indies" is derived from the River Indus and is used to connote parts of Asia that came under Indian cultural influence.

He had married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Lovelace of Battersea, but the marriage produced no children. He died at Bath on 28 December 1777.^[1] After his death the baronetcy passed to his nephew, Richard John Strachan who also became a distinguished Navy officer.

Battersea is a district of south west London, England, within the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located on the south bank of the River Thames, 2.9 miles (4.7 km) south west of Charing Cross.

Bath is the largest city in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, known for its Roman-built baths. In 2011, the population was 88,859. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 11 miles (18 km) south-east of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage site in 1987.

Sir Richard John Strachan, 6th Baronet GCB was a British officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of admiral. Sir Dicky, as his friends referred to him, was the last Chief of Clan Strachan. The Baronetcy became dormant in 1854 as he died without male heir.

Notes

a. ^{^} Some confusion over which baronet he was exists. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography lists him as the 3rd, but both Debrett's and Burke's Peerage list him as the 5th.

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References

1 2 Wise, Thomas A. (1873). "Life and Naval Career of Admiral Sir Richard J. Strachan, Baronet, G.C.B.". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 2: 32–53. JSTOR 3678000.