Vice-Admiral Keith Stewart (1739 – 3 March 1795) was a Scottish Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons on two occasions. Having began his naval career in around 1753, Stewart was promoted to commander in 1761 and then advanced to post-captain in 1762 because of political negotiations undergone by his father Alexander Stewart, 6th Earl of Galloway. Stewart commanded HMS Berwick at the Battle of Ushant in 1778 and in 1781 was appointed Commander-in-Chief, North Sea only to be superseded by Hyde Parker soon afterwards. As such he served at the Battle of Dogger Bank as a volunteer on Berwick. Resuming his command in the North Sea after the battle, Stewart resigned his position towards the start of 1782 when he failed to stop a Dutch convoy escaping him in the Downs. Instead given command of HMS Cambridge, he served at the Relief of Gibraltar and the subsequent Battle of Cape Spartel. Apart from a very brief command of HMS Formidable Stewart saw no further service after 1783, but was promoted to rear-admiral in 1790 and vice-admiral in 1794. An active politician when not at sea, Stewart served as member of parliament for Wigtownshire from 1768 to 1784, generally as a supporter of the government. He resigned to take up post as receiver general of land tax in Scotland, a position he held for the remainder of his life. Early life Keith Stewart was born in 1739, the fourth son of Alexander Stewart, 6th Earl of Galloway and Lady Catherine Cochrane, who was the youngest daughter of John Cochrane, 4th Earl of Dundonald. The second surviving son, his elder brother John would go on to inherit the family earldom. Naval career First commands Stewart joined the Royal Navy in around 1753. He was promoted to lieutenant on 2 January 1759 and appointed as the fourth lieutenant of the 64-gun ship of the line HMS Nassau. He subsequently served at the invasion of Guadeloupe later in the year. He departed Nassau on 25 August, and did not see active service again until 11 February 1761 when he was promoted to commander. At the same time he was given command of the out of commission 8-gun sloop HMS Speedwell, in which he stayed until 4 March when he transferred to the brand new 10-gun sloop HMS Lynx. In Lynx he served in the Downs, and in August