George Duff

George Duff
Captain George Duff by Henry Raeburn
Born	(1764-02-01)1 February 1764 Banff, Scotland
Died	21 October 1805(1805-10-21) (aged 41) Trafalgar
Cause of death	Killed in action
Resting place	Buried at sea
Nationality	Scottish
Occupation	Royal Navy Officer
Spouse(s)	Sophia Dirom 1764–1827
Children	Norwich Duff 1792–1862 Mary Anne Fotheringham Duff 1794–1796 Jemima Duff 1799–1803 Georgina Helen Duff 1803–1832 Anna Margaret Duff 1805–1827

Captain George Duff RN (c. 1 February 1764 – 21 October 1805) was a British naval officer during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, who was killed by a cannonball at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Born at Banff, Scotland, the son of Banff Sheriff Clerk James Duff (1729–1804) by his marriage to Helen Skene 1734–1764, he was a kinsman (first cousin once removed) to the second and third Earls of Fife.

George Duff had a passion for the sea from early childhood, stowing away on a merchant ship for a voyage when not yet a teenager. At thirteen he joined his great uncle Captain (later Admiral) Robert Duff in the Mediterranean, and was commissioned lieutenant at sixteen, breaking several fleet regulations but made possible by his uncle's interest in his career. During these years, Duff saw action thirteen times on both sides of the Atlantic, including at the Great Siege of Gibraltar and culminating in the battle of the Saintes in 1782 when he was serving on HMS Montagu.

With a reputation thus secured and plenty of family interest in his career, Duff had little difficulty progressing, being promoted to commander in 1790 and then Post Captain in 1793, a meteoric rise resulting from the growth of the Navy in the buildup to war during this period. It was at this time that he married his childhood sweetheart, Sophia Dirom (sister of Alexander Dirom) in Edinburgh, and that his son Norwich Duff (later to become an admiral in his own right) was born. In the next ten years, Duff commanded HMS Duke, HMS Vengeance and HMS Glenmore all very capably, but without winning the acclaim of some of his contemporaries, particularly those in the Mediterranean under Nelson.