# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/McCleverty, James Johnstone

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​M‘CLEVERTY. (Commander, 1842. f-p., 17; h-p., 7.)
James Johnstone M‘Cleverty, born 21 June, 1810, is third and youngest son of Major-General Sir Robt. M‘Cleverty, Kt., C.B., K.C.H., formerly Colonel-Commandant of the Royal Marines at Woolwich, who died in 1838, by Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Daniel Maude, Esq., of Wakefield, co. York, and first-cousin of the present John Maude, Esq., of Moor House, near Wakefield. The Commander’s two brothers, William Anson and Robert, are both in the Army, the one a Major in the 48th, the other a Captain in the 79th Regt. His paternal grandfather, Wm. M‘Cleverty, was a Captain in the R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 6 July, 1823, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Hussar 46, Capt. Geo. Harris, employed at first on the Home, and then on the West India station, where, it appears, he shared, as Midshipman, in the capture of numerous piratical vessels. Becoming attached in Nov. 1826, to the Asia 84, successive flag-ship in the Mediterranean of Sir Edw. Codrington and Sir Pulteney Malcolm, he was afforded an opportunity of sharing, under the former Admiral, in the action fought at Navarin 20 Oct. 1827. He continued with Sir Pulteney Malcolm in the Britannia 120, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 1 Nov. 1831; and was next appointed – 2 May, 1832, to the Castor 86, Capts. Sir Rich. Grant and Lord John Hay, with whom he served at home and off the coast of Portugal until Sept. 1834 – and 4 Oct. 1835, as First, to the Aetna 6, Capt. Alex. Thos, Emeric Vidal, employed as a surveying vessel on the coast of Africa, whence he returned to England and was paid off in Nov. 1838. In Aug. 1841 Lieut. M‘Cleverty obtained command of the Hon.E.I.Co.’s war-steamer Phlegethon of 2 guns; his services in which vessel, as they led to his advancement to the rank he now holds, we shall here state:– On 26, then, of the month last-mentioned, he presents himself to our notice as assisting at the capture of Amoy. He contributed, next, to the reduction of Chusan, 1 Oct. following; and on 10 of the same month we find him lauded in the despatches of Sir Wm. Parker for the spirit of enterprise and zeal he displayed at the taking of Chinghae. He subsequently, 10 March, 1842, obtained the thanks of Capt. Rundle Purges Watson of the Modeste, the senior officer present, for the valuable assistance he afforded on the occasion of a night attack made by the Chinese upon the British at Ningpo. In the previous Jan. he had conjoined with the Nemesis steamer in effecting the destruction of the government buildings belonging to the town of Fungwah. Preparatory to the attack made in the ensuing May upon the enemy’s fortifications at Chapoo, he was employed with the same vessel in making a very satisfactory reconnoissance of that city. During the celebrated operations against Woosung, the Phlegethon, having first towed the Columbine to her proper position abreast of the Chinese batteries, again united with the Nemesis, and had the fortune to prove instrumental to the annihilation of 13 wax-junks, each mounting 3 guns. The activity of her Commander on the occasion was exhibited as in all his other performances. He afterwards beheld the fall of Chin-Kiang-Foo; and, prior to the pacification of Nanking, at which he was also present, he was concerned in enforcing (in company with the Starling sloop and Medusa steamer) the silence of a 12-gun battery in the Yang-tse-Kiang river. As a reward for the above and other services, Mr. M‘Cleverty, as already intimated, was rewarded with a Commander’s commission dated 23 Dec. 1842. Subsequently to his return to England he was permitted by the Admiralty to study at the R.N. College. He has been in command, since 23 April, 1846, of the Polyphemus steam-sloop, and is now on the coast of Portugal.
Commander M‘Cleverty married, 2 June, 1846, Sophia, relict of Commander R. F. Cleveland, R.N., and fifth daughter of the Rev. Hubert Oakeley, D.D., of Oakeley, Shropshire.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1842, p. 83.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1842, pp. 394, 396.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1842, p. 2389.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1842, p. 3692.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1842, p. 3399.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1842, p. 3402.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1842, p. 3821.