Admiral Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, 3rd Baronet (14 October 1781 – 14 March 1861) was an officer in the British Royal Navy, who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
[1] Beauchamp-Proctor entered the Royal Navy on 4 September 1794, with the rank of able seaman, aboard the 32-gun frigate Stag under Captain Joseph Sydney Yorke.
[1] Beauchamp-Proctor was commissioned as acting-lieutenant aboard the ship Foudroyant, flagship of Admiral Lord Keith, in August 1800, and on 22 October was transferred to the frigate Diana under Captain Thomas Stephenson.
[1] On 21 November 1808, at sunset, Dédaigneuse was stationed off the Isle de France when she encountered the French 36-gun frigate Sémillante returning from a cruise in the Indian Ocean.
When the commander-in-chief expressed himself dissatisfied with his conduct, Captain Beauchamp-Proctor requested a court-martial, which was held aboard Culloden in Bombay harbour on 27 March 1809.
Every officer of his ship gave strong evidence in the captain's favour, and the court acquitted him of all blame, laying responsibility squarely on the poor sailing qualities of Dédaigneuse.