A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Huntley, Henry Vere
HUNTLEY, Kt. (Commander, 18-38. f-p., 23; h-p., 15.)
Sir Henry Vere Huntley is third son of the late Rev. Rich. Huntley, A.M., of Boxwell Court, Gloucestershire, by Anne, daughter and sole heiress of the Venerable Jas. Webster, LL.B., Archdeacon of Gloucester; and brother of Major Wm. Warburton Huntley, who fought at Waterloo, was afterwards Captain of the 3rd Dragoon Guards, and died in 1844, while serving in India with the 9th Lancers.
This officer entered the Navy, 10 March, 1809, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Thalia 36, Capt. Jas. Giles Vashon, of which ship, stationed in the West Indies, he became Midshipman 17 Sept. following. From Aug. 1812 until the receipt of his first commission, 10 Oct. 1818, he served, part of the time as Acting-Lieutenant, in the Victorious 74, Capt. Sir John Talbot, Albion and Northumberland 74’s, flagships of Sir Geo. Cockburn (under whom, after serving on the coast of North America, he escorted Napoleon Buonaparte to St. Helena), Havannah 36, Capt. Gawen Wm. Hamilton, Spey 20, Capt. John Lake, and Queen Charlotte 100, flag-ship at Portsmouth of Sir Geo. Campbell. He then joined the Forth frigate, Capt. Sir John Louis, at Halifax, and was afterwards appointed – 10 Nov. 1820, to the Redpole 10, Capt. Pat. Duff Henry Hay – 28 March, 1826, as Senior, to the Parthian 10, Capts. Henry Byam Martin and Hon. Geo. Fred. Hotham, on the Mediterranean station, where he actively cooperated in the suppression of piracy, and was eventually wrecked, off the coast of Egypt, 15 May, 1828 – in 1829-30, to the Childers 18, and Ganges 80, Capts. Wm. Morier and John Hayes – 24 May, 1830, again as First, to the Dryad 42, bearing the broad pendant of the last-named officer on the coast of Africa – and, 23 Sept. 1833, to the command, on the same station, of the Lynx brigantine of 3 guns. While in the Dryad, Mr. Huntley had successive charge of the Seaflower, Fair Rosamond, and Black Joke tenders, in the second of which, mounting but 1 gun, and having only 21 effective men on board, he very gallantly took, on 10 Sept. 1831, the Regulo and Rapido slavers, carrying between them 13 guns and 140 men. In the Lynx, which vessel he paid off in 1837, we also find him making several captures. Since the attainment of his present rank, 28 June, 1838, he has been on half-pay.
Sir Henry Vere Huntley, who afterwards received the honour of Knighthood, 9 Oct. 1841, very ably assisted Capt. Robt. Craigie, R.N., in conducting a difficult negotiation with the King and Chiefs of Bonny in the early part of 1837, on which occasion he was sent home with intelligence of the proceedings. In 1839 he was appointed Lieut.-Governor of the settlements on the river Gambia; and, while there, he repelled an irruption made into Cartabar by the barbarous chiefs of Dunkasseen. Since Aug. 1841 Sir Henry has filled the office of Lieut.-Governor of Prince Edward’s Island. He married, 20 Sept. 1832, Anne, eldest daughter of the late Lieut.-General John Skinner, and sister both of Lieut.-Col. Thos. Skinner, C.B., of the 31st Regt., who figured in Affghanistan, and died from the effects of the hardships he there underwent, and of the late Capt. Jas. Skinner, chief Commissariat officer at Cabul, who had the good fortune, through his interest with Akbar Khan, to preserve Lady Sale and her friends from destruction in the disastrous retreat from Affghanistan. He has issue two sons and a daughter. Agent – J. Hinxman.