Rear-Admiral Sir John Lindsay, KB, Kenwood House

John Lindsay was born in 1737, the youngest son of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Evelick, Perthshire, and his wife Amelia Murray, daughter of the 5th Viscount Stormont, sister of William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, who owned Kenwood.

Sir John joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman during the Seven Years’ War. In 1757 he was promoted to the rank of Captain and given command of the 28-gun frigate, HMS Trent. For the next decade or so he was principally stationed in the North America and the Caribbean, protecting British colonial interests. During this time Captain Lindsay fathered five illegitimate children, four of whom were mixed race, including his daughter Dido Elizabeth Belle, whose mother was an enslaved African girl named Maria. In 1766, Sir John brought Dido and her mother to England and placed Dido in the care of his uncle, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, at Kenwood.

Following the Seven Year’s War, Sir John returned to Britain and served as an MP for Aberdeen Burghs from 1767 to 1768. In 1769, Sir John was promoted to the rank of commodore and assigned as commander-in-chief of the East Indies Station. While in India, he was awarded the Order of the Bath, despite still being a relatively junior officer. In 1784 Sir John was made commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean and in the last year of his life, he was promoted to Rear Admiral, although this was an honorary position, as his failing health prevented him from taking up a command.

This portrait medallion by the celebrated Scottish gem engraver and modeller James Tassie (1735-1799) was made in 1791 and is based on a marble bust by the sculptor Michael Foye in 1776, which is also in the collection at Kenwood. Sir John is shown in profile, wearing the sash and star of the Order of the Bath.

Overlooking London’s Hampstead Heath since the early 17th century, Kenwood House was transformed in the 18th century into a grand neoclassical villa. Now restored to its Georgian splendour, Kenwood is home to a world-famous art collection.