James Hanway Plumridge

Admiral Sir James Hanway Plumridge, KCB, MP (c. 1788 – 29 November 1863) was a British naval officer whose career extended from Trafalgar to the Crimean War, and a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP).

Plumridge was born in London and entered the navy in 1799. As a Midshipman on board Defence (74) he took part in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. His first command was Crocus in 1814 and he was master of several ships thereafter but though he became a Post Captain in 1822, he did not go to sea again for nine years, when he commanded Magicienne on the East Indies Station 1831 to 1835. In 1841 he became Superintendent of the Packet service at Falmouth.

At the 1837 general election he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in the Penryn and Falmouth, but he won the seat in 1841. He did not seek re-election at the 1847 general election.

He then returned to the East Indies, with the rank of Commodore. He was raised to the rank of Rear-Admiral in 1852. In 1854, in the Crimean War, he was assigned to the fleet headed by Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Napier for operations in the Baltic to command a detached ‘flying squadron’ of steamships. Flying his flag in the frigate HMS Leopard, Plumridge operated in the Gulf of Bothnia, bombarding a number of Finnish settlements to destroy fortifications, telegraph apparatus, and capture enemy shipping. He was afterwards sharply criticized for firing on civilian settlements. Furthermore, the destroyed Finnish commodities were for the greater part actually bought by British customers and often paid in advance, Plumridge effectively pillaging on his own nations's goods. On 21 June his force bombarded the fortress of Bomarsund on the Åland Islands, expending most of their ammunition for little result. It was on this occasion that a midshipman of the gunboat HMS Hecla won the first-ever Victoria Cross. In common with the other commanders of the 1854 Baltic campaign Plumridge's command was not renewed in 1855, but he was awarded Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. He became a Vice-Admiral in 1857 and Admiral in April 1863, but died in November of the same year.

His maternal niece Catherine German married Hermann Philip Rée and their great-great-great-grandson is Rt.Hon David Cameron MP.