Hon. Sir Courtenay Boyle

Hon. Sir Courtenay Boyle (1770-1844) Boyle’s aristocratic origins gained him almost constant employment, even during the years of peace after the American Revolutionary War. Most of his service was in European waters where he earned substantial sums of prize...

Sir Josias Rowley 1765-1842

Sir Josias Rowley 1765-1842 After a slow start Josias Rowley (scion of an influential naval family) enjoyed a notably successful career. His 1809-10 campaign in the Indian Ocean was so spectacular that Patrick O’Brian used it as the basis for events in his Jack Aubrey...

Robert Mostyn

Robert Mostyn c1759- 1784. Mostyn was commissioned lieutenant on 23 September 1778 and was aboard the Crescent 28, Captain Hon. Thomas Pakenham, at the second relief of Gibraltar on 12 April 1781. Shortly afterwards, being in company with the Flora 36, Captain William...

James Robert Mosse

James Robert Mosse 1745- 1801. Baptised on 5 December 1745, he came from a naval family, being the son of John Mosse of Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire, and of his wife, Jane Bur. On 6 August 1757 Mosse entered the Navy aboard the Burford 68, Captain James Young,...

George Bowen (2)

George Bowen (2) c1762-1800. He was the third son of George Bowen of Lwyngwair, Pembrokeshire, and of his wife, Esther Thomas. One of his cousins was a namesake, Admiral George Bowen. Bowen was commissioned lieutenant on 23 October 1783, and from September 1793 he...

William Lechmere

William Lechmere 1752- 1815. Born in Powick, Worcestershire, he was the son of an elderly father, Richard Lechmere, and of his wife, Elizabeth Corfield, and was also the nephew of the Whig politician, Lord Nicholas Lechmere, and of Captain Edward Lechmere, both of...

Richard Bagot

Richard Bagot Died 1798. Little is known of his early career, but during the Spanish Armament Bagot was commissioned lieutenant on 28 October 1790 of the Director 64, Captain Edward Dod, remaining with this ship until the following March when he removed to the...

William Browell

William Browell 1759-1831. He was the son of William Browell, a midshipman who had served under Admiral of the Fleet Lord George Anson. His brother, Captain Herbert Browell, died of yellow fever in the West Indies in 1796. In late 1770, Browell entered the navy aboard...

John Maitland

John Maitland 1771-1836. Born in Scotland to a prominent military family, he was the youngest son of Colonel Hon. Richard Maitland, himself a younger son of the Earl of Lauderdale, and of his wife Mary McAdam, who had been born in New York. He was the nephew of...

Joshua Rowley Watson

Joshua Rowley Watson 1772-1818. Born on 17 April 1772 at Topsham, Devon, he was the son of Captain Thomas Watson, who died in action in the Leeward Islands in May 1780 whilst commanding the Conqueror 74, and of his wife Mary Burges, who died in 1774. Following his...

Loftus Otway Bland

Loftus Otway Bland 1771-1810. Descended from an old Yorkshire family, he was born in Ireland, the son of Captain Neville Bland of Dublin, and of his wife, Charlotte Smith. Bland was commissioned lieutenant on 6 September 1794 whilst serving aboard the Lively 32,...

Sir Davidge Gould

Sir Davidge Gould 1758-1847. He was born in Bridgwater, Somerset, to an influential family, the son of Richard Gould of Sharpham Park, near Wells, and of his wife, Susan Maundrell. Gould joined the navy in 1772 as a volunteer aboard the Alarm 32, Captain John Stott,...

William Smith

William Smith Died c1806. Smith was commissioned lieutenant on 4 November 1780, promoted commander on 23 December 1782, and during the Spanish Armament was posted captain of the Danae 32 on 21 September 1790, retaining her until 22 November but not apparently taking...

Adam Littlejohn

Adam Littlejohn Died 1795. Littlejohn was commissioned lieutenant on 31 March 1780. A protégé of Vice-Admiral William Hotham, he served with that officer aboard the Princess Royal 98, Captain John Holloway, from 29 December 1790 until 9 September 1791, at which time...

John Ayscough

John Ayscough 1777- 1863. The son of Commander James Ayscough, he was reportedly born on board the sloop Swan 14 on 12 December 1777 during an action ashore at Southold on Long Island, New York, which saw his father, the commander of the vessel, lose a leg. His...

Sir Henry Hotham

Sir Henry Hotham 1777-1833. He was born on 19 February 1777, the third and youngest surviving son of Beaumont Hotham, the second Baron Hotham of South Dalton, Yorkshire, a judge and M.P., and of his wife, Susanna Hankey. He was the nephew of Admiral Lord William...

Sir Pulteney Malcolm

Sir Pulteney Malcolm 1768-1838. He was born at Douglen, Dumfriesshire, on 20 February 1768, the third son of seventeen children of a farm manager, George Malcolm of Burnfoot, Dumfriesshire, and of his wife, Margaret Pasley. Of his older brothers, John Malcolm was an...

Sir David Milne

Sir David Milne 1763-1845. He was born on 25 May 1763 at Musselburgh near Edinburgh, the son of David Milne, a silk merchant, and of his wife, Susan Vernor. After an education in Edinburgh, Milne entered the Navy in May 1779 aboard the Canada 74, Captain Hugh...

Frederick Watkins

Frederick Watkins 1770- 1856. He was born on 14 October 1770. Watkins was one of the many officers commissioned lieutenant on 20 November 1790 at the conclusion of the Spanish Armament, and he was appointed to the Vigilant 64 for apparent purposes of rank only. On 7...

Sir Edward William Campbell Rich Owen

Sir Edward William Campbell Rich Owen 1771-1849. He was born on 19 Feb 1771 at Campobello, Nova Scotia, the illegitimate son of Captain William Owen, who was from a Welsh family long established in Montgomeryshire, and of his housekeeper, Sarah Haslam. His father lost...

Thomas Eyles

Thomas Roger Eyles c1769- 1835. He was the son of Thomas Eyles of Stratton Audley in Oxfordshire, and of his wife, Ann Woodward Baxter. Eyles was commissioned lieutenant of the Hero 74 for purposes of rank only on 22 November 1790, being one of many officers advanced...

Anselm John Griffiths

Anselm John Griffiths c1769-1842. He was the son of the Rev. John Griffiths of Kingston-upon-Thames. In January 1781 Griffiths joined the Navy aboard the Juno 32, Captain James Montagu, serving in home waters, and on 22 November 1790 he was commissioned lieutenant of...

Robert Haswell

Robert Haswell c1724-1800. Haswell appears to have joined the Navy in May 1737, and he was commissioned lieutenant on 8 July 1744. On 26 March 1762 he was promoted commander of the bomb vessel Thunder 14 by Rear-Admiral George Rodney in the West Indies, serving at the...

George Miller Bligh

George Miller Bligh 1780-1834. He was born on 4 May 1780 at Alverstoke, Hampshire, the only surviving son of Admiral Sir Richard Rodney Bligh and of his first wife, Ann Worsley of Gatcomb Park, Isle of Wight. Having entered the Navy in 1794, Bligh served with his...

Herbert Browell

Herbert Browell Died 1796. He was the son of William Browell, a midshipman who had served under Admiral of the Fleet Lord George Anson. His brother was Captain William Browell. Browell was commissioned lieutenant on 8 October 1779, and in April 1783 he was briefly...

Sir Robert Laurie

Sir Robert Laurie 1764-1848. He was born on 25 May 1764, the only son of Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Laurie, 5th baronet, the M.P. for Dumfriesshire from 1774 to 1804, and of his wife, Elizabeth Mary, the daughter of the 6th Lord Ruthven. Laurie joined the Navy on...

William Duddingston

William Duddingston 1740-1817. He was born in November 1740 in Kilconquar, Fifeshire, the third born son of fourteen children of James Duddingston, and of his wife, Margaret Gillespie. After service in the merchant marine on the Fifeshire coast from 1752-5,...

Robert Dudley Oliver

Robert Dudley Oliver 1766-1850. Born on 31 October 1766 to a prominent Limerick family, he was one of at least nine children of John Oliver and of his wife, Elizabeth Ryder, and was related to Silver Oliver of Castle Oliver, the M.P. for Limerick in the Irish...

Sir Charles Adam

Sir Charles Adam 1780-1853. He was born on 6 October 1780 at Blairadam House, Kelty, Fifeshire, the second but eldest surviving son of the Whig lawyer, Rt. Hon. William Adam of Blair-Adam Kinross, and of Eleanor, a daughter of Lord Elphinstone, who was a sister of...

Jahleel Brenton (1)

Jahleel Brenton (1) 1729-1802. He was born in Newport, Rhode Island on 22 October 1729, the fourth son and one of a dozen children of Jahleel Brenton, who died in 1766, and of his wife, Frances Cranston. He was the father of Vice-Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton and...