a British naval officer whose career extended from Trafalgar to the Crimean War, and a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP). In 1854, during the Crimean War, he was assigned to the fleet headed by Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Napier for operations in the Baltic, commanding a detached "flying squadron" of steamships. Flying his flag in the frigate Leopard, Plumridge operated in the Gulf of Bothnia, bombarding a number of Finnish settlements to destroy fortifications, telegraph apparatus, and capture enemy shipping. He was afterwards sharply criticized for firing on civilian settlements.
