Jump to content

Basil Keith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by RussBot (talk | contribs) at 08:17, 22 August 2019 (Bot: Change redirected category Knights bachelor to Knights Bachelor). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Sir Basil Keith (died 15 June 1777) was a British naval officer and Governor of Jamaica.

He was born the second son of diplomat Robert Murray Keith and the younger brother of Lieutenant-General Robert Keith. [1]

Keith joined the Navy, and was promoted lieutenant in 1756 while serving in HMS ‘'Badger’'. He was raised to commander in 1758 and appointed to HMS ‘'Dover'’. He was finally promoted captain in 1760 and given command in turn of HMS '‘Amazon’', '‘Levant’', '‘Preston’' and '‘Pearl’'.

St Jago de la Vega cathedral, Spanish Town

He was knighted on 10 June 1772 and appointed Governor of Jamaica in February 1773, taking up his post in January 1774.

He died in Jamaica in 1777 and a large marble monument by sculptor Joseph Wilton was erected in his honour in 1780 at St Catherine's Parish Church (St Jago de la Vega church) in the old capital of Spanish Town.

References

  1. ^ "Captain Sir Basil Keith (d. 1777)". Royal Museums Greenwich. Retrieved 21 August 2019.