Richard Incledon Bury

1757-1825. He was born Richard Incledon to an established Devonshire family, the third son of a Barnstaple attorney, Chichester Incledon, and of his wife, Christian Mervyn.

Incledon entered the Navy in 1772 and was commissioned lieutenant on 23 May 1778. He was wounded when second lieutenant of the Agamemnon 64, Captain Benjamin Caldwell, at the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April 1782.

On 26 August 1789 he had the good fortune to be the first lieutenant of the Magnificent 74, Captain Richard Onslow, when she was attendant upon the King at Weymouth, and accordingly he was promoted commander at the behest of the monarch. In October he was appointed to recommission the sloop Childers for service in the Channel, commanding her through to 22 November 1790 when he was posted captain of the Emerald 32 for purposes of rank only.

In January 1793 he was appointed to the Ceres 32, capturing the privateer Petit Victoire in the North Sea in June and commanding her in Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis West India campaign of 1794, where he served in Captain Josias Rogers s squadron that captured the islands of the Saintes on 10 April. He then removed into the Vengeance 74 in order to bring home the trade, and upon arrival at Spithead in September his new command was paid off.

After a long period of unemployment Incledon was appointed to the Texel 64 in the early winter of 1800, watching over the Dutch squadron at Helvoetsluys and serving in the North Sea. From July to November 1801 he was stationed off St. Helens to examine any vessels coming into Portsmouth following the suspension of licences to individuals travelling to or from France, and thereafter he briefly flew the flag of Admiral Mark Milbanke at Portsmouth during November. His command was paid off in the spring on 1802 upon the peace and he did not see any further service.

In 1803 Incledon took the additional name of Bury when inheriting Colleton Manor, Chulmleigh in Devon after the death of the last male member of that family, although he continued to live nearby at his residence at Dennington near Swimbridge. He also became a magistrate.

He was advanced to the rank of rear-admiral on 31 July 1810, vice-admiral on 4 June 1814, and he died at Dennington in April 1825 a few minutes after being thrown from his gig, this following an accident five years earlier when he had been reported as being seriously ill following a fall from his horse.

Incledon married his second cousin, Jane Chichester, at Bishop s Tawton, Barnstaple in June 1792. One daughter, Jane, died at the age of 17 in 1812, and she was survived by another two daughters.