Monument at Church of St Mary and St Nicholas, Leatherhead commemorating Admiral James Wishart d. 1723

Location

Church of St Mary and St Nicholas, Leatherhead, Surrey, England

Transcript

[Translation from Latin) 'Beneath this place are buried the remains of James Wishart, a most illustrious man. Descended from an ancient Scottish family, he migrated to Holland in early youth. He crossed to England in command of a company with that great Prince of Orange, later King William III, to free the English churches and laws from Roman superstition and tyranny. Later devoting himself entirely to service at sea, he fulfilled the duties of a ships's captain under the King of most illustrious memory with such constant skill in naval affairs, such loyalty, such courage and good fortune that he never surrendered, either to the seas or the enemy, any ship to which he was commissioned either as officer or as commander. If he was not honoured by King William as he was by his successor, that is to be attributed to the premature death of the King, whose opinion of him was fully equal to his deserts. But what William left unfinished was completed by Her Serene Majesty Queen Anne of blessed memory. The distinction of capturing or firing French and Spanish ships in the Port of Vigo was chiefly his, though having been sent elsewhere he had no part whatever in the disaster. The Queen appointed him Rear-Admiral of the Blue; then, on his return from successfully escorting Charles III to Barcelona, and after the victory won over the French at Malaga, where he had command of a flagship, she knighted him. Later she appointed him as naval member of the Council of her most illustrious husband George, Prince of Denmark, Lord High Admiral of England. On his death she appointed Wishart one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and Admiral of the Blue squadron, and finally Admiral of the White and Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean. Struggling long against ill-health, he preserved the same courage and constancy which he had shown in prosperity, and triumphed over death with the same intrepid spirit with which he had shown his contempt of the enemy. He died on 31st May 1723 at the age of 64. William Wishart Principal of Edinburgh University, gave instructions for this monument to be erected to the memory of a most dear brother who had served his country so well'

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