KING. (Commander, 1825. f-p., 17; h-p., 24.)
John King was born 12 Sept. 1793. He belongs to an old and very respectable family.
This officer entered the Navy, 26 Dec. 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Princess of Orange 74, Capts. Joshua Sydney Horton and Fras. Beauman, on the Downs station; served in the Channel and Mediterranean, from Aug. 1808 until July, 1810, as Midshipman of the Sparrowhawk 18, Capt. Jas. Pringle; and then joined the Alceste 38, Capt. Murray Maxwell. While in the latter ship he aided, in company with the Belle Poule 38, in destroying, 5 May, 1811, a French national brig lying in the harbour of Parenza, and defended by a galling cross-fire from two batteries; and, independently of many dashing boat-services, he bore a part, 29 Nov. 1811, in an action of two hours and 20 minutes, fought with consummate gallantry, between the Alceste and the Active 38 on one side, and the French 40-gun frigates Pauline and Pomone on the other, which terminated in the capture of the Pomone and escape of the Pauline, after a loss had been occasioned to the Alceste of 7 men killed and 13 wounded. Removing with Capt. Maxwell, in Sept. 1812, to the Daedalus 38, Mr. King continued to serve with that officer until wrecked, off Ceylon, 2 July, 1813, He then joined the Minden 74, flagship in the East Indies of Sir Sam. Hood, who, in Oct. 1814, sent him to England in charge of the Hunter, of Boston, a valuable American prize. On his arrival, in May, 1815, he was received on board the Ramillies 74, Capts. Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy and Chas. Ogle; and in the following Aug. he took up a commission dated on 3 of the preceding March. Unable to procure immediate employment in his profession, Lieut. King soon afterwards assumed command of a merchant-vessel trading to the coast of Africa, where it was his fortune on more than one occasion to prove of service to Sir Geo. Collier and other officers by affording them information relative to the Bights of Benin and Bianfra; in consideration whereof, we understand, he was brought under the favourable notice of the Admiralty. On 19 Nov. 1821 he at length succeeded in procuring an appointment, as Senior-Lieutenant, to the Driver sloop, Capts. Thos. Wolrige and Chas. Bowen. Continuing in that vessel on the African station throughout the whole period of her being in commission, he had constant charge of her boats, and conducted them up nearly all the rivers on the coast. On one occasion he contrived, with only two of them, to cut out a Portuguese brig mounting 6 guns, and having on board a crew of 38 men, together with a cargo of 189 slaves. In July, 1823, when the King of Ashantee was advancing with his hosts upon the British settlements at Cape Coast, Lieut. King volunteered to serve on shore with Major Chisholm, the Governor, who accordingly placed under his orders a body of 3000 men, consisting of the militia, troops in the employ of the native chiefs connected with British interests, and volunteers. Marching with these into the interior of the country, where he remained four months, the Lieutenant succeeded, in unison with a force under Capt. Laing, of the Royal Cape Coast Light Infantry, distant two or three days’ march on his right, in cutting the enemy off from all communication with the sea, and in obliging them to retreat to their capital. In the execution of the duties he had thus of his own accord brought upon himself, he underwent all the hardships and privations attendant upon a campaign carried on in the midst of a barbarous people, under a tropical sun, and in a climate notoriously ruinous. He had the misfortune, too, to receive a severe wound in the calf of the right leg, which entailed so much pain as to produce an attack of the fever common to the country. He was therefore under the necessity of returning to Cape Coast Castle for the benefit of medical aid. Reinforcements having by that time arrived from England, and the Driver being on the eve of her departure for Rio de Janeiro, Lieut. King resumed his avocations afloat. On the return, however, of his ship in May, 1824, he again joined the army, and on 21 of that month was twice wounded in a great battle, in which, although the enemy were repulsed, the British and their black allies had 88 men killed, 678 wounded, and 88 missing.[1] He was promoted for his services to the rank of Commander 25 April, 1825; and from 13 July, 1838, until 5 July, 1843, was employed in the Coast Guard. He has since been on half-pay.
Commander King is a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for co. Monmouth. He married, 5 April, 1831, Margaret, daughter of the late Joseph Harrisson, Esq., of Tydd Mansion, Cambridge, and sister of Everson Harrisson, Esq., of Tolethorpe Hall, Rutlandshire; and was left a widower 25 Nov. 1841.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1824, pp. l011, 1273.