Johnstone, George

JOHNSTONE, GEORGE. (1730–1787). British naval officer. Born in Dumfriesshire, England, in 1730, Johnstone joined the navy in 1744, gaining a reputation for bravery in King George's War. He became a lieutenant in 1749, but left the navy until called back in 1755. He became governor of Western Florida from 1763 to 1767, and was then elected to Parliament in 1768, where he became a thorn in the government's side. A gross public insult to George Sackville Germain resulted in a bloodless duel in December 1770. His conduct as member of the Peace Commission of Carlisle in 1778, wherein he repeatedly attempted to bribe influential Americans, led the American Congress to resolve on 11 August that it could not honorably deal with him any longer, and he resigned on the 26th.

Despite his lack of professional qualification for high command in the navy and his continued opposition to the government, on 6 May 1779 Johnstone accepted command of a small squadron for service off the Portuguese coast. In 1781, after operating off the Cape of Good Hope and scoring some successes, he retired on half pay and returned to Parliament. Having been violent in his attacks on Admiral Richard, Earl Howe in 1779, he now turned on Edward Clive, Earl of Powis, and the conduct of affairs in India. In 1783 he became a director of the East India Company. About two years later he became an invalid and passed unlamented from the public scene, dying at Bristol on 24 May 1787.

SEE ALSO Peace Commission of Carlisle.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fabel, Robin F. A. Bombast and Broadsides: The Lives of George Johnstone. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: The University of Alabama Press, 1987.

                                 revised by Michael Bellesiles