James Steuart (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral of the Fleet James Steuart (1678–1757) M.P., was a Royal Navy officer who rose to prominence during the War of the Austrian Succession.

Naval career
James Steuart was born in Ireland in 1678, one of the seven children of Captain James Steuart who was killed fighting for King William's Army at the Siege of Derry, 1689. After the death of his father, he and his siblings were adopted by their uncle, General The Rt. Hon. Sir William Steuart and his first wife Katherine FitzGerald, Viscountess Grandison, grandmother of Prime Minister Pitt the Elder. His twice married but childless uncle chose Steuart to be the executor of his will, 1726.

Steuart joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1697 at the age of nineteen, and passed for Lieutenant in December, 1701, at the age of twenty three. Steuart was given command of HMS Greyhound in 1709 during the War of the Spanish Succession. He later commanded HMS Dartmouth and then HMS Aldborough. He commanded HMS Royal Anne when she escorted King George I on his return from Hanover in 1717. He later commanded HMS Cumberland during the War of the Austrian Succession. From 1741 to 1747 he was Member of Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. He was made Rear-Admiral of the Blue on 10 April 1742, and in 1744 he was second-in-command of a fleet sent to protect the Portuguese from the Spanish Fleet. He was appointed Admiral of the Fleet in 1750.