Admiral Sir Francis Laforey, 2nd Baronet, KCB (31 December 1767 – 17 June 1835) was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, whose distinguished service record included numerous frigate commands in Home waters and in the West Indies.

His exploits in command of frigates during the French Revolutionary Wars and his capture of Dutch colonies in South America garnered wealth and esteem among his colleagues, and his later success as a battleship captain only continued this trend.

At the outbreak of war in 1793, John Laforey realised the excellent opportunity the unprepared French possessions in the Caribbean made, and so marshalled local troops and volunteers and captured the island of Tobago within days.

As Spartiate and her companion Minotaur arrived in battle they found themselves alone against the van squadron of Admiral Dumanoir le Pelley, consisting of the French ships Formidable, Duguay-Trouin, Scipion and Mont Blanc and the Spanish Neptuno.

Unlike many Trafalgar officers, Laforey remained with his ship, returning to the Mediterranean, where he participated in several blockades under Collingwood, before being made rear-admiral himself in 1810[4] and taking up his father's old post of naval commander in chief of the Leeward Islands Station in 1811.