Robert Clephane (1771-1827)
Although born into a large and influential Scottish family, Clephane made a surprisingly slow rise through the ranks. He eventually achieved the rank of post captain in his fortieth year, but despite a few brief temporary appointments was unable to obtain a permanent ship.
Clephane was born in Cupar, Fife, one of many children of George Clephane of Carslogie and of his second wife, Ann Jean Douglas. His oldest brother was Major-General William Douglas MacLean Clephane, the MP for Kinrosshire from 1802 until his death in Grenada a year later. Another brother, Brigadier-General David Clephane, then inherited the Kinrosshire seat and held it in the government interest with one brief break for the next eight years.
Clephane’s entry into the navy and early career are unknown, but he was commissioned lieutenant on 23 May 1795, two years into the French Revolutionary War. Following the capture of the French ship of the line Censeur 74 at the Battle of Genoa in 1795 he was appointed her second lieutenant and thus was aboard the vessel when she was recaptured by Rear-Admiral Joseph de Richery’s squadron on 7 October. The French placed some of their British prisoners aboard a cartel vessel under Clephane to deliver them on parole to Gibraltar, and eventually they made the north-western coast of Devon from where they marched south to Plymouth
By February 1798 he was the second lieutenant of the Glory 98, Captain James Brine, serving with the Channel Fleet, which vessel on 12 March was almost the subject of a mutiny. Plans to slay the officers and carry the ship into Brest were only averted by a marine’s refusal to contemplate the murder of the captain’s popular young son.
Clephane probably continued in employment as a lieutenant during the remainder of the French Revolutionary War, and the early stages of the Napoleonic War. During Commodore Sir Richard Strachan’s defeat of a French squadron at the Battle of Cape Ortegal on 4 November 1805 he was severely wounded while serving as the senior lieutenant of the Courageux 74, Captain Richard Lee. Along with all the other first lieutenants present at this encounter he was promoted to the rank of commander, his seniority taking effect from 24 December. He seems to have needed several months to recover from his wounds.
In February 1807, Commander Clephane was appointed to command the hired ship Charles 14, and a month later escorted a convoy from the Humber to the Baltic. There, he joined the Sally 14, Commander Edward Chetham, and Falcon 16, Commander George Sanders, in entering the River Vistula to afford valuable assistance to the defence of Danzig against a French army under the command of General of Brigade Charles Lefėbvre-Desnouëttes. After returning from the Baltic the Charles spent most of the rest of the year in the Humber River, where Clephane acted as senior officer.
He next joined the new Bideford-built sloop Acorn 18 in March 1808, sailing on 27 May with urgent dispatches for the Mediterranean from Plymouth, where she had been fitting out. His boats assisted those of the Excellent 74, Captain John West, and Bustard 16, Commander John Markland, in the cutting out a convoy from Duino near Trieste on 28 July 1809. A month later the Acorn assisted Captain Murray Maxwell in the Alceste in an abortive attempt to spirit the Pope out of French control, an attempt that failed because of poor planning and lax security. In December 1810 the Acorn cruised in the Adriatic, and she later escorted a convoy of Austrian vessels carrying emigres from Trieste and Fiume to Malta, following the Austrian armistice with France. Early the next year, Clephane was part of Captain William Hoste’s squadron, just missing the Battle of Lissa. When Hoste reported to the Admiralty the victory of his squadron over a Franco-Italian force, he expressed regret that Clephane and the Acorn were not present, saying they would have been of great help, and few of the enemy would have escaped.
However unknown to Hoste, Clephane had just been promoted to post captain (on 14 February 1811) and thus would soon leave the Acorn. In April he briefly commanded the Cumberland 74 in an acting capacity whilst remaining in the Mediterranean. From June he commanded the Cerberus 32 in the Adriatic in succession to Captain Henry Whitby, but without any opportunity for distinction. In October he was appointed to the temporary command of the Ajax 74, serving with the fleet off Toulon prior to Captain Sir Robert Laurie joining her towards the end of the year. Thereafter he did not see any further employment.
On 5 June 1817 he married Anna Borthwick at Broughton Park near Edinburgh, and he died at Inveresk in Scotland on 29 November 1827. He left no children, but his will is lengthy and complicated, indicating that at his death he possessed considerable property.