into Plymouth or Spithead, as the trophies of what was perhaps the most dashing and brilliant feat of the whole war (Beatson, Nav. and Mil. Memoirs, vi. 319; Chevalier, Histoire de la Marine française pendant la Guerre de l'Indépendance Américaine, p. 279).
On Lord Howe's taking the command of the fleet in April 1782, Kempenfelt hoisted his flag on board the Royal George as one of the junior admirals, and continued with the fleet during the summer cruise. On 15 Aug. the fleet anchored at Spithead, and was ordered to refit with all possible haste and proceed to the relief of Gibraltar. While so refitting, it was necessary to give the Royal George a slight heel to get at a leak a few inches below the water-line. This was done on 29 Aug. by running her guns over to the other side. The ship was old and rotten, and the disturbance of her weights brought on her crazy structure a strain which it could not stand. With a loud crack it gave way; a great piece of her bottom fell out; and the ship sank almost instantly (Minutes of the Court-Martial) [see Durham, Sir Philip]. Besides the crew, a very large number of people, tradesmen, women and children were on board; the exact number lost was not known, but it was estimated at not less than eight hundred. The admiral was at the time in his cabin, and perished with the others. The disaster is commemorated in Cowper's ‘Loss of the Royal George.’
It will have been noticed that almost the whole of Kempenfelt's service as a captain was in immediate connection with a flag officer. His attention had thus been directed towards the very imperfect and clumsy system of signalling which had been in vogue from the time of Charles II; and during his later years, as captain of the grand fleet, he had introduced a radical alteration, which was afterwards adopted and improved on by Lord Howe. A manuscript copy of Kempenfelt's signals is preserved in the library of the Royal United Service Institution. Kempenfelt also wrote a few ‘Original Hymns and Poems,’ which were published in 1777, under the pseudonym of ‘Philotheorus.’ His portrait, the bequest of his brother, is in the Painted Hall at Greenwich.
[Charnock's Biog. Nav. vi. 246; Ralfe's Naval Biog. i. 215; Gent. Mag. 1846, ii. 39–41; Thicknesse's Autobiography; Commission and Warrant Books P. R. O.]
KEMPT, Sir JAMES (1764–1854), general, born 1764, was son of Gavin Kempt of Botley Hill, Southampton, and of Edinburgh, by his wife, the daughter of Alexander Walker of Edinburgh. On 31 March 1783 he was gazetted ensign in the lately raised 101st foot in India, in which he became lieutenant 16 Aug. 1784, and was placed on half-pay when the regiment was disbanded in April 1785. Nine years afterwards he was brought on full pay into the 58th foot. According to a story current in the service, he was at one time a clerk in the house of Greenwoods (afterwards Cox & Co.), army-agents, and in that capacity was favourably noticed by the Duke of York. On 30 May 1794 he was appointed captain 113th foot. He helped to raise that regiment in Ireland, was appointed major in it 18 Sept. 1794, and when the regiment was afterwards broken up, was retained on full pay as inspecting field-officer of recruiting at Glasgow. He was placed on regimental half-pay in 1798, and the year after became aide-de-camp to Sir Ralph Abercromby [q. v.], then commanding the forces in North Britain, whom he accompanied to Holland with the advance of the Duke of York's army. He brought home the despatches from the Helder, and was present in every engagement except that of 10 Sept. 1799, when he was in England. He returned with Sir Ralph Abercromby to Scotland, and was his aide-de-camp and military secretary in the Mediterranean in 1800, and in Egypt in 1801, and held the same post under General John Hely-Hutchinson, baron Hutchinson [q. v.], after Abercromby's death, during the rest of the campaign, including the advance and capture of Cairo and the siege of Alexandria; he received the Turkish gold medal. In April 1803 he was appointed aide-de-camp to Sir David Dundas (1735–1820) [q. v.], then in command of the southern district, with headquarters at Chatham, and in May the same year was made major 66th foot, and on 23 July lieutenant-colonel 81st foot. In command of the 1st battalion of that corps he went to the Mediterranean with Sir James Henry Craig [q. v.], and served in the expedition to Naples in 1805, and in Sicily, including the descent on Calabria, where the light brigade under Kempt bore the brunt of the fight at the battle of Maida, 2 July 1806 (see Bunbury, Narrative). He was quartermaster-general in North America in 1807–11, and having obtained the brevet of colonel during that period (1809), was appointed to the staff of the army in the Peninsula, with the local rank of major-general, in November 1811. Wellington wrote, ‘I have a high opinion of General Kempt from all I have heard of him’ (Gurwood, v. 387), and appointed him to a brigade of Picton's division. Kempt became major-general on
