Admiral of the Fleet Richard James Meade, 4th Earl of Clanwilliam, GCB, KCMG (3 October 1832 – 4 August 1907), styled Lord Gillford until 1879, was a Royal Navy officer.

[1] Promoted to lieutenant on 15 September 1852, Meade was appointed to the frigate HMS Impérieuse in which he served in the Baltic Sea during the Crimean War.

[2] He transferred to the frigate HMS Raleigh in September 1856 bound for China and, although the ship was wrecked near Hong Kong, all the crew survived.

[2] Meade transferred to the second-rate HMS Calcutta, flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station, in August 1857 and, having landed with the naval brigade, took part in the Battle of Canton in December 1857 during the Second Opium War: he was severely wounded in the left arm by a bullet fired from a gingal.

[3] Meade became Junior Naval Lord in the Second Disraeli ministry in May 1874 and, having been promoted to rear admiral on 31 December 1876,[5] was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 2 June 1877.