Richard Meade, 4th Earl of Clanwilliam

Admiral of the Fleet Richard James Meade, 4th Earl of Clanwilliam, GCB, KCMG (3 October 1832–4 August 1907) was a British Royal Navy officer and peer, known as Lord Gillford from birth until 1879.

Lord Gillford was the eldest son of Richard Meade, 3rd Earl of Clanwilliam and his wife, Elizabeth. After finishing Eton, he joined the navy in 1845 and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1852. Later that year, he was appointed to HMS "Impérieuse", on which he served in the Gulf of Finland during the Crimean War.

In 1856, Gillford was appointed to HMS "Raleigh" bound for China for the Second Opium War and when the ship was wrecked near Hong Kong, he joined Henry Keppel during the campaign at Foshan in 1857. He was afterwards appointed to HMS "Calcutta" and took part in the storming of Guangzhou where he was severely wounded in the left arm by a bullet fired from a gingal. He was then mentioned in dispatches and was appointed to HMS "Hornet" on his promotion as Commander in 1858.

Gillford was further promoted to Captain in 1859 and from 1862-66 he commanded HMS "Tribune" in the Pacific and HMS "Hercules" with the Channel Fleet from 1868-71. In 1872, he became an aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria and the command of the steamship reserve at Portsmouth. He joined the Board of Admiralty on the formation of Disraeli's ministry in 1874, where he sat until Gladstone was elected again in 1880. He was appointed a CB in 1877, succeeded to his father's titles in 1879 and promoted to Vice-Admiral in 1881. He was appointed KCMG in 1882 and Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies station on his promotion to Admiral on 1886. Following his appointment as a KCB in 1887, he became a commissioner of the Royal Patriotic Fund Corporation in 1888, was Commander-in-Chief of Portsmouth from 1891 and promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in 1895, being further promoted to GCB later that year.

Lord Clanwilliam retired in 1902 and died from pneumonia in 1907 in Henley-on-Thames. He was buried at the family vault at Wilton, Wiltshire and his titles passed to his eldest surviving son, Arthur.

Family

On 17 June 1867, Clanwilliam had married Elizabeth Kennedy (the eldest daughter of Sir Arthur Kennedy) and they later had eight children:

*Lady Katharine (d. 1954)
*Lady Beatrice (d. 1952)
*Lady Adelaide Jane (d. 1960), married Hon. Stanley Colville.
*Lady Elizabeth Selina Georgiana (d. 1924), married Hon. Edward Dawson.
*Richard Charles, Lord Gillford (1868-1905)
*Hon. Arthur Vesey, later 5th Earl of Clanwilliam (1873-1953)
*Hon. Herbert (1875-1964)
*Hon. Edward Brabazon (1878-1963)

ources

*L. G. C. Laughton, "Meade, Richard James, fourth earl of Clanwilliam (1832–1907)", rev. Roger Morriss, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34968 accessed 14 Nov 2007]