Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/327

 He had accumulated a handsome fortune, and for the remaining years of his life devoted himself to improvingand adorning the estate of Tullyallan, on the north bank of the Forth, which he had purchased some time previously, in reclaiming land, and in building embankments and piers, at a large outlay. In 1821 he received from the king of Sardinia the grand cross of the order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus, in recognition of his services at the siege of Genoa. Two years later, 10 March 1823, he died at Tullyallan, and was buried in the parish church, where he had constructed a mausoleum.

The numerous appointments of the first Importance which Keith held during his long service, and the many tangled and difficult affairs with which his name is connected, give his career an interest far above what his character seems to warrant. Steady, persevering, and cautious, equal to the necessities of the moment, but in no instance towering above them, he made few serious mistakes, he carried out satisfactorily the various operations entrusted to him, and left behind him the reputation of a good rather than of a great commander. His portrait by Hoppner has been frequently engraved; a copy of it in photogravure is given in Allardyce's 'Life.' Another portrait by Owen is in the Painted Hall at Greenwich, the gift of his widow.

By his first marriage Keith had one daughter, Margaret Mercer Elphinstone [q. v.], who in 1817 married the Comte de Flahault, aide-de-camp of Napoleon, and French ambassador in London. The Comtesse de Flahault was in her own right, on the father's side, Baroness Keith, and on the mother's side Baroness Nairne. On her death in 1867 the barony of Keith became extinct; that of Nairne descended to ber daughter Emily, wife of the late, and mother of the present, Marquis of Lansdowne. By his second marriage Keith had also one daughter, who married, first, the Hon. Augustus John Villiers, second son of the fifth Earl of Jersey; and secondly, Lord William Godolphin Osborne, brother of the eighth Duke of Leeds.

[Allardyce's Life of Admiral Lord Keith (1882), a clumsy, crude, and inaccurate compilation; Marshall's Royal Naval Biography, i. 43; Naval Chronicle, x. l; Nicolas's Nelson Despatches; James's Naval History (edit 1860); Chevalier's Hist. de la Marine Française; Official Documents in the Public Record Office.]  ELPHINSTONE, HESTER MARIA, (1762–1857), the eldest daughter of Henry Thrale by his wife Hester, afterwards Mrs. Piozzi, was born in 1762. From 1765, when Dr. Johnson first became intimate with her parents, she figured constantly as 'Queenie,' Johnson wrote childish rhymes for her, played horses with her, wrote to her, and directed her education. The death of her only brother in 1776 made her a rich heiress. In 1778, her sixteenth year, Miss Burney describes her as 'a very fine girl, about fourteen years of age, but cold and reserved, though full of knowledge and intelligence.' In 1781 her father died. She remained with her mother, and in company with her young sisters at Bath continued her education under her by reading history and the poets. When her mother agreed to marry Piozzi, Hester retired to her father's Brighton house, where she saw no company, and studied Hebrew and mathematics. In 1784, when her mother and Piozzi were in Italy, she took a house in London for herself and her sisters. On 10 Jan. 1808, at Ramsgate, she married Admiral Lord Keith [q. v.], who had then been a widower some years, her new homes being Tulliallan, on the Firth of Forth, and Purbrook Park, Edinburgh; and on 12 Dec. 1809, in Harley Street, London, she gave birth to her only child, a daughter.

Lady Keith was one of the original patronesses of Almack's. She became viscountess in 1814, on the elevation of the admiral to the English peerage, and, together with her stepdaughter, the Hon. Margaret Mercer Elphinstone [q. v.], she was prominent in society during the regency and the next two or three decades in London and Edinburgh. In 1823 she was left a widow. Towards 1850 she retired from company and devoted herself to works of charity. She died on 31 March 1857 at her house. 110 Piccadilly. The viscountess's daughter (Georgiana Augusta Henrietta) married the Hon. Augustus Villiers, second son of the Earl of Jersey.

[Gent. Mag. lxxviii. i. 85. lxxix, ii. 1173; 3rd ser. ii. 615-16; Annual Register, xcix. 299; Allardyce's Memoirs of G.K.Elphinstone, p.349; Boswell's Johnson (1823 ed.). iii. 9, iv. 310; Mme. d'Arblay's Diary (1854 ed.), i. 49. 58, 88. 102, &c., ii. 256, 274, vii. 244-5, &c.; Russell's Moore, v. 8-13, 183, vii. 292, &c]  ELPHINSTONE, HOWARD (1773–1846), major-general, sixth son of John Elphinstone, lieutenant-general and vice-admiral in the Russian service, who commanded the Russian fleet in the Baltic in 1769, was born on 4 March 1773. He entered the army as a second lieutenant in the royal engineers on 17 Oct. 1793, and first saw service in the capture of the Cape of Good Hope in 1795. He was promoted first lieutenant on 5 Feb. 1796, and proceeded to India, where he became captain-lieutenant on 1 July 1800. In the following year he accompanied the