Wim van der Meij on 19 May 2006  •  Link

The third Earl of Marlborough; he was killed in the great sea fight with the Dutch, 1665.

Pedro on 17 Jun 2006  •  Link

James Ley.

Mentioned by Sam
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

The Portuguese Governer of Bombay, António de Melo de Castro, was actually conveyed to Bombay to effect the transfer of the island to England in an English five ship squadron, which sailed from Lisbon on the 20th April 1662 under James Ley. En route, Melo de Castro quarreled bitterly with the English commanders and on arrival in Bombay he did everything possible to antagonize the Portuguese allies. He refused to transfer the sovereignty of the island, saying Marlborough’s credentials were not in order, even though they had the broad seal on them. Further he actually boasted of his policy in his letters to Portugal.

(LME Shaw…Trade, Inquisition and the English Nation in Portugal 1650-1690.)

Terry F on 3 Aug 2007  •  Link

Ley, in Beer Ferrers, [Devons.] is said to have been the original seat of this family, and to have been repurchased by Sir James Ley, who was, in 1624, created Baron Ley of Ley, and in 1626, Earl of Marlborough. These titles became extinct, in 1679, by the death of William, the fourth earl. His daughter and heir married Tristram.

From: 'General history: Extinct noble families', Magna Britannia: volume 6: Devonshire (1822), pp. XCV-CVIII. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/… Date accessed: 03 August 2007.

Michael Robinson on 3 Aug 2007  •  Link

Per L&M Companion:

(1618-85) An officer in the royalist army and navy and active in colonial ventures. He attempted to settle the Caribbean islands; served on the Council for Trade from 1660 and the Council for Foreign Plantations from 1661; and lead the expedition to take over Bombay 1661-2. In 1664 he was nominated Governor of Jamaica but was killed in action (as captain of the 'Old James') in 1665. His thoughts before battle were published in Henry Smith, 'Fair warnings to a careless world' (1665), pp. 1-3.

Pedro on 6 Jan 2008  •  Link

Michael’s note above mentions ‘Fair warnings to a careless world’ (1665), pp. 1-3.

This may be the same as the letter sent from the coast of Holland written by Ley to Hugh Pollard and mentioned in the Memorials to William Penn by his grandson Granville Penn…

(enter page 340)

http://books.google.com/books?id=…

Bill on 21 May 2014  •  Link

MARLBOROUGH, James Ley, earl of,—was the grand-son of James Ley, earl of Marlborough, so created by Charles the first, in the year 1626. Having entered into the sea-service he was, in 1661, appointed to command the Dunkirk, and made commodore (or, as it was at that day called, admiral) of a squadron sent to the East Indies, to take possession of Bombay for Charles the Second, as being part of the portion given by Portugal, with the Infanta his intended queen. After his return from thence, he was, in 1665, appointed commander of the Old James, a second rate of seventy guns. He served in this ship as a private captain, in the fleet fitted out the same year, under the duke of York, and unfortunately fell in the action, which took place on the 3d of June, with Opdam. ... Both Basnage, and the author of Tromp's life, bear the most honourable testimony to the gallantry of this noble earl; and give us, as an anecdote relative to his death, "that he was killed in the act of retaking the Montague, a third rate of fifty-eight guns, commanded by captain Carlstake, of which the enemy had taken possession."
--- Biographia Navalis, J. Charnock, 1794.

Bill on 6 Mar 2016  •  Link

LEY, JAMES, third Earl of Marlborough (1618-1665) naval captain; grandson of James Ley, first earl of Marlborough; succeeded to the title, 1638; royalist commander, 1643; established a colony, which soon failed at Santa Cruz, West Indies, 1645; commanded the squadron which went to the East Indies to receive Bombay from the Portuguese, 1661; nominated governor of Jamaica, 1664; killed in naval action with Dutch, 1665.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.